production dialect design & coaching
for stage, screen, & other media
what is dialect design?
Researching and selecting from a range of authentic speech patterns, and/or devising new speech patterns, to create a community or family sound for a full cast of characters, or individual speech identities for one or more characters in a production.
Tailoring the selected speech pattern(s) to the needs of your production and the abilities of your performers, to achieve the most believable and illuminating spoken performances possible for your project.
what does the coaching part involve?
Training/Actor prep: In person or over Zoom; groups or individuals.
Materials: Accent/dialect breakdowns, audio-video recordings of native speakers, links, playlists, background (see below) and so forth.
Notes & Feedback: Stage: In rehearsal, post-rehearsal, post-performance. Screen: In rehearsal; in production, on-set, in-studio; post-production. Offered in person, by remote hookup, or sent in writing and/or recording.
Background: Linguistic, idiomatic, historical, cultural, religious, political … If your actors need it to help them understand what they’re talking about, as well as how their character would pronounce it, I’m on it.
Anything I can do to help your actor or cast fully embody and express their new identities through speech—credibly, comfortably, and consistently.