Education: Dialects
Western Washington
Ellen Taft (ADVS)
(206) 323-6983
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.publicspeakingskillsinstruction.com
Ellen holds an Advanced Diploma of Voice Studies from the Central School of Speech and Drama, London. She lived in the U.K. for 3 years (Yorkshire, London and Bristol-the West Country) and in Germany for 4 years. She speaks German fluently, French semi-fluently and some Spanish, and has directed American actors in Spanish and German language plays.
As an actor, she has performed in French and Spanish language plays as well as in plays with accents. She has also been married to an Englishman for 40 years. Ellen teaches R.P or Received Pronunciation-Standard British English; Skinner speech or Standard American English; regional accents of England, Scotland and Ireland; American accents-Southern, New York etc.; and European accents-German, French, Spanish, etc.
Gin Hammond (MFA)
(646) 283-8033
Website: www.Ginhammond.com
Gin holds an MFA in acting from The American Repertory Theatre Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University/Moscow Art Theatre where she was a student of Catherine Fitzmaurice. Her performance credits include regional theatres such as The Guthrie and Arena Stage, the Moscow Art Theatre and the Roadside Theatre, in Heidelberg, Germany. In Seattle, Gin has worked as a voice and dialect coach for Book-It, Stone Soup, Annex, and Capitol Hill Arts Center. Additionally, she has worked with former Seattle Repertory Theatre Artistic Director, Sharon Ott, at Horizon Theatre in Atlanta and at Kansas City Repertory. Ms. Hammond has taught voice at Freehold, and was certified as an associate teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework in 2006.
Michael J. Loggins
(206) 819-2476
Email: [email protected]
A graduate of London’s Academy of Music and Drama (LAMDA), Michael J. Loggins has been a stage and film actor as well voice and dialect teacher for over 30 years. Michael Loggins works with students ages pre-teen to adult.
Mary McDonald-Lewis (MFA)
(206) 295-4997
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.Marymac.com
Mary McDonald-Lewis has worked in Los Angeles and Portland as a voice talent, dialects coach and voice-over coach for over 30 years. In L.A., she has worked in both film and television. In Portland, she has worked at Center Stage and for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She has an MFA from the University of Portland.
Orla McGovern
Email: [email protected]
A Native of southern Ireland, Ms. McGovern, an actor, polishes Irish and British accents.
Judith Shahn
(206) 650-6270
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.vibrantspeaking.com
Judy Shahn is a designated Linklater teacher (certified in 1991) Ms. Shahn taught at the University of Washington’s PATP program, Cornish College of the Arts and at most of Seattle’s theatres as well as for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She teaches dialects of the British Isles, the U.S. and other international dialects
Dialect Materials
www. ku.edu/idea
IDEA: International dialects of English Archive, sponsored by the Department of Theatre and Film at the Unviersity of Kansas, was created in 1997 as a repository of primary source recordings for actors and other artists. All recordings are of native speakers.
www.UseMyAccent.com
UseMyAccent.com will commission an actor who will record a short script in the accent of any specific region in preparation for an audition. Native speakers of the accent are used to make the recording.
Seattle Public Library
The downtown branch of the Seattle Public Library has a large selection of recorded books, plays and folk music which can be useful for finding dialect material.