Name: Amy Stoller

Work Address:
New York NY
USA

Phone:  (917) 319-7448

Email Address: amystoller at stollersystem dot com

Current Affiliation:
Freelance. Please see my website.

Training: Accents and Dialects: Individual research.
Continuing professional education: LAMDA Shakespeare Workshop/Andrew Jack (UK); Verberations Workshop/Doug Honorof (NYC); Joy of Phonetics-Bringing Speech to Life Workshop/Louis Colaianni, Claudia Anderson (Kansas City, MO); Speech Methods/Dudley Knight, Gillian Lane-Plescia, Louis Colaianni (Williamsburg, VA); Voice Methods/Phil Thompson, Louis Colaianni, Nancy Krebs (NYC).

Selected Work Experience: Production Dialect Designer and Coach, New York City: Resident Dialect Designer, Mint Theater Co. (since 1997). Other clients include Let Me Down Easy (Anna Deavere Smith), Long Wharf (New Haven, CT), A.R.T., (Cambridge, MA), Pearl Theatre Co., Drama League DirectorFest, Peterborough Players (NH),  Fringe NYC, Summer Play Festival, New York Musical Theatre Festival. Touring productions include Doctor Dolittle starring Tom Hewitt, Love Arm'd, Aphra Behn and Her Pen, and Cheer from Chawton (Co-Director). For more information, please see my website.

Areas of Specialization: Production Dialect Design & Coaching; Private Instruction in Accents, Dialects, and Stage Diction, for performers and non-performers; Dramaturgy (Text Analysis and Research) for Directors, Writers, and Performers.

Professional Organizations: VASTA, Actors' Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild, League of Professional Theatre Women; NY Coalition of Professional Women in the Arts & Media, Theater Resources Unlimited, Fractured Atlas, Freelancers Union

Selected Publications: Author, "Marni Nixon: More Than You Know," article in Voice and Speech Review (2003); Publisher: VASTA, Inc. Distributor: Applause Books/Hal Leonard Corporation. Author, Internet Resources for Voice and Speech Professionals. Senior Writer, The New York Public Library Literature Companion (2001); Publisher: The Free Press (Simon & Schuster). Contributing Editor, Multimedia Hitchcock (1999); Permanent Collection, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY.

Statement of Philosophy:
My approach for productions and performers is based on authenticity – modified for the needs of the project, the comprehension of the local audience, and the abilities and comfort of the performer. Aspects addressed include vowel and consonant shifts, pitch, placement, phrasing, and linguistic considerations; plus discussion of underlying cultural assumptions, particularly class consciousness and social history. I provide personal instruction, supplementary resources, and guidelines for continued improvement. And I encourage early acquisition of any new dialect, preferably well before it is needed for audition/rehearsal/performance – so it becomes second nature and the actor is using the dialect, not the other way around!

For non-performers, my focus is on increasing my clients’ understanding of the way they speak now; then, paying detailed attention to articulation and phrasing, guiding them toward more effective everyday speech.