VOICE, ACCENT & DIALECT COACHING
work with Cynthia
Cynthia tailors her dialect design to the production-- and specifically to each actor-- working from their own idiolect to transform to that of the character--helping the actor create a more truthful embodied performance.
Cynthia has coached numerous actors privately for film, television and theatre. She works as a dialect coach for productions and coaches individual actors internationally. She specializes in accents and dialects of Latinx communities in both English and Spanish helping actors achieve authentic embodied performances with both the pronunciation and music of the accents.
Some of Cynthia's theatrical voice and dialect coach credits include:
[Full Dialect Resume Upon Request]
*La Broa’ (Broad Street) by Orlando Hernandez
Tatyana-Marie Carlo, Director – Trinity Rep
Dialects and voice: Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Mexican, Guatemala
*The Hot Wing King by Katori Hall
Christopher Betts, Director -Hartford Stage Company & Baltimore Center Stage
Dialect and voice coach: Memphis, St. Louis, New Orleans
(performer nominated for Connecticut Critics Circle)
*In The Heights by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes
James Vásquez, Director– Marriott Theater, IL
Dialect coach: Newyorican, New York, Dominican, Cuban, Puerto Rican dialects
*Wish You Were Here by Sanaz Toosi
Sivan Batatt, Director – Yale Repertory Theater, New Haven, CT
Voice Coach
*Quixote Nuevo by Octavio Solis
Lisa Portes, Director – West Coast Tour
South Coast Rep
Dialect coach: Southwest Mexican accent in English and Spanish
Production Nominated production of LA Critic Circle Awards
*Quixote Nuevo by Octavio Solis
Lisa Portes, Director – West Coast Tour:
Seattle Rep
Dialect coach: Southwest Mexican accent in English and Spanish
*Quixote Nuevo by Octavio Solis
Lisa Portes, Director – West Coast Tour:
Portland Center Stage
Dialect coach: Southwest Mexican accent in English and Spanish
*Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles by Luis Alfaro
Laurie Woolery, Director – Yale Repertory Theater, New Haven, CT
Voice and Dialect Coach: Michoacan-Mexico, East Los Angeles Latino
Multiple Nominated performances + Feature actress (Alma Martinez) winner
Connecticut Critics Circle Awards
*Queen of Basel by Hillary Bettis
Cristina Angeles, Director – TheatreWorks Hartford
Voice and Dialect coach: Venezuela (Spanish/English), Cuban, Miami
Feature actress (Silvia Dionicio) nominated Connecticut Critics Circle Awards
*Cymbeline by William Shakespeare [OFF- BROADWAY] Stephen Burdman, Director – NY Classical Theater
Voice and Speech coach
*Laughs in Spanish by Alexis Scheer
Lisa Portes, Director – Denver Center for the Performing Arts
Voice and Dialect coach: Cuban, Miami, Medellín-Colombia
Feature actress (Maggie Bofill) nominated Colorado Theatre Critics Guild Awards
*Hamlet (Bilingual adaptation – Reading Room) Reynaldo Piniella adapter
Tatiana Pandiani, Director -Folger Shakespeare, DC
Bilingual Voice and Text coach
*Quixote Nuevo by Octavio Solis
Lisa Portes, Director – Denver Center for the Performing Arts
Dialect coach: Southwest Mexican accent in English and Spanish
Production nominated + Feature actress (Alexis B. Santiago) winner
Colorado Theatre Critics Guild Awards
*NY, NY (pre-Broadway workshop)
Susan Stroman, Director
Coached characters: Mateo Diaz (Cuban) and Gordon Kendrick (British)
*Today is My Birthday by Susan Soon He Stanton.
Mina Morita, Director – Yale Repertory Theater, New Haven, CT
Voice and Dialect coach
*Quixote Nuevo by Octavio Solis
Lisa Portes, Director – Round House Theater, Bethesda, MD
Dialect coach: Southwest Mexican accent in English and Spanish
*El Huracán by Charise Castro Smith
Laurie Woolery, Director – Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven, CT
Dialect coach: Cuban dialect in Spanish and English
Feature actress (Adrian Sevan Nichols) winner
Connecticut Critics Circle Awards
*I Come From Arizona by Carlos Murillo
Lisa Portes, Director – Children’s Theatre, Minneapolis, MN
Dialect coach: Mexican (Culiacan) in Spanish and English
*In The Heights by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes
Robert Kolby Harper, Director– Phoenix Theater, AZ
Dialect coach, Newyorican, New York, Dominican, Cuban, Puerto Rican dialects
TV
Orange is the New Black (Netflix)
The Affair (Showtime)
Walker Independence (WB)
Nickelodeon
Fitzmaurice Voicework® is a comprehensive approach to voice training. It includes, as needed, work on breathing and the body, resonance, speech, dialects, impromptu and prepared public speaking, text, singing, voice with movement, and presence. This unique path to the mastery of vocal functioning was originated by Catherine Fitzmaurice.
Fitzmaurice Voicework® is currently taught at Yale School of Drama, Harvard University/American Repertory Theatre's Institute for Advanced Theatre Training, New York University's Graduate Acting Program and in several of NYU's undergraduate studios, the University of California-Irvine, and many other institutions and theatres in the United States and abroad.
Fitzmaurice Voicework® explores the dynamics between body, breath, voice, imagination, language, and presence. Integrating physical experience and mental focus, the work develops vibrant voices that communicate intention and feeling without excess effort.
Knight-Thompson Speechwork® is a highly effective, skills-based approach to speech and accent training for actors that places emphasis on developing the speaker’s detailed awareness of—and deep engagement with—the precise physical actions which make up speech. By combining a rigorous investigation of those actions with playful, experiential exercises, this work moves quickly and effectively past the usual interference that can make speech work difficult for many students. The primary guiding principle is curious, attentive interrogation—interrogation of what we’re doing physically when we speak; interrogation of what physical habits we may bring to the act of speaking that inhibit free and flexible expression; interrogation of what it is that makes speech intelligible or unintelligible; thoughtful investigation of what any text, moment, or medium might require from the actor in terms of skilled speech; interrogation of what, precisely, makes up what we call an ‘accent’; interrogation of what it is that allows actors to most efficiently, skillfully, and accurately adopt different accents. http://ktspeechwork.com