Say It Loud: A Roundtable on Accent Training for Racialized Actors
The Department of Theatre at York University’s School of Arts, Media, Performance and Design is hosting A Roundtable on Accent and Language Training for Racialized Actors on Monday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m.
Join the conversation as four prominent accent/language coaches of colour for Theatre, Film and TV discuss inclusion in accent training and coaching for BIPOC actors: Lisa Cromarty, Michelle Lopez-Rios, Joy Lanceta Coronel, and Alicia Richardson (see bios below).
Hosted by York faculty member Eric Armstrong, topics for discussion will include strategies to better serve actors-in-training from Indigenous, Black, Asian, Latinx, and other communities.
How do we decolonize accent training and prepare students to tackle languages they may not know? Tune in as our panellists discuss the wisdom and tools they’ve gained along the way.
Additional support was provided by the “Breaking Stereotypes” project associated with the Tier II York Research Chair in Theatre and Performance.
Click here to register.
Biographies
Lisa Cromarty is anishaabe/oji-cree actor and voice coach residing in Northern Ontario and is a member of Wikwemikong Unceded Territory located on Manitoulin Island. She has trained at the Centre for Indigenous Theatre and Canada’s National Voice Intensive. As a vocal coach trainee, Lisa was invited for two seasons to be mentored by the coaching team at the Stratford Theatre Festival as well as with the Head of Voice at the National Theatre School. Her acting work includes performances with 20WEST, APTN, Fox Pictures, CBC, Anova Pictures, the National Film Board, the National Arts Centre and the Debajehmujig Theatre Company, among others. She most recently played Cammy in Wild Indian, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2021.
She currently teaches voice and text classes at the Centre for Indigenous Theatre and has vocal coached at the National Theatre School and the Birmingham Conservatory. As of January 2022, Cromarty is enrolled in a language master-apprentice program where she will be working one on one with a fluent anishinabemowin speaker in an immersion format to reclaim her ancestral language.
Michelle Lopez-Rios is a teatrista, voice coach, director, actor and activist. She is an associate professor of voice and speech and the Artistic Director of Chicago Playworks at The Theatre School at DePaul. She is also an associate teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework ®. Some favorite coaching credits include Familiar (Steppenwolf); Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 &3), Measure for Measure (Goodman Theatre); Julius Caesar, Mojada (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); The Foreigner (Milwaukee Repertory Theatre); The Brothers Size, Lobby Hero, The Train Driver (Milwaukee Chamber Theatre); Crumbs from the Table of Joy (Renaissance Theaterworks); and Othello, The Taming of the Shrew, The Comedy of Errors, Hamlet (Houston Shakespeare Festival). Together with Alvaro Saar Rios, she co-founded the Royal Mexican Players in 2004.
Joy Lanceta Coronel is a speech, communication, and dialect coach who has worked alongside Comedy Central, Center Theatre Group, Atlantic Theatre Company, Playwrights Horizons, American Players Theatre, Ma-Yi Theatre, Williamstown Festival, NAATCO, Roundhouse Theatre, American Players Theatre, and Actors Theatre of Louisville. She has served as speech faculty at HB Studio, University of Connecticut, AADA, University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music, and the University of Essex. She also serves as an executive presentation coach for corporate professionals and a communication coach for victims of domestic violence. Her published articles covering topics like racial identity, cultural sensitivity, and inclusive coaching and teaching strategies are available at www.joylancetacoronel.com.
Alicia Richardson is an actor/writer, and vocal coach who hails from Boynton Beach, Florida. She graduated from York University’s MFA Acting & Diploma of Voice Teaching Programs. Now a permanent resident of Canada, Richardson calls Toronto her home. Her body of work spans television, film, theatre and voice-over. As a voice and dialect coach, Richardson has worked for Soulpepper Theatre Company (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; The Brother’s Size; Jesus Hopped the A Train), The Shaw Festival (Trouble in Mind), Cahoots Theatre (Our Place), and as a member of faculty at Sheridan College since 2016. Her work for Sheridan includes: The Mill on the Floss; Metamorphoses; Really, Really; Three Sisters; Clybourne Park; The Glove Thief; This is War; The Hobbit.
