Dialects of the Southern US to the Big Apple!

This series is closed for registration. Stay tuned for future Dialect offerings.

American accents! A tour from the South to the Big Apple.

Arizona Actors Academy presents A Three Part Intensive Led by Guest Artist Diane Senffner

Arizona Actors Academy is happy to announce another dialect tour led by Diane Seffner! This time Diane takes us on a three week extended road trip of accents starting in the Southern U.S. and ending in the Big Apple!  Here’s what’s covered:

  • General Southern Accent

  • Deep Southern Drawl

  • New York City

Each student will develop a provided monologue for practice and will read it in class.  This is a great series covering the most useful U.S. accents in the battery of theatre and film.  Ya’ll come out now, ya here?

Dallas, Texas

Savanah, Georgia

New York City, New York

This is an in person class at our location in Phoenix.

Intimacy Workshop

The Dialects of the Southern US to the Big Apple!

A Three Part Intensive! Led by Diane Senffner!

Saturdays, May 15th, 22nd and June 5th   1:00pm-3:30pm MST | $75.00 each | $225 Full Series

Enrolled AZAA Student rates are $65.00 each | $195.00 Full Series

About your coach.

Diane has been working in theater for over 35 years and honed her craft at the venerable University of Cincinnati CCM and the famed Piven Theatre Workshop in Evanston, IL with amazing educator and founder, the late Byrne Piven. She’s also worked with iconic coaches such as Gillian Lane Pleschia and Paul Meier in her journey through various dialects and more recently with Knight-Thompson Speechwork. Diane has coached for Julliard and is proud to have worked with Eve Shapiro on a production of Pygmalion in 2008. She is also a licensed speech therapist.  Diane formed Dialect911 in 2004 and over the years,has professionally coached hundreds of actors and companies all over the U.S. and in the U.K. as well!  As she worked in the U.K., she is especially adept at coaching a variety of British dialects.  In 2019, she won the coveted AriZoni Award for Theatrical Specialization:  Dialect Coaching for my work as a coach on The Elephant Man.

She has coached Emmy nominated Hollywood actors Ron Livingston, Lizzie Kaplan and Matt Walsh to name a few and some you know VERY well.

Closed

Saturday, May 15th  

General Southern Accent

First we’ll visit the accents and the key sounds that are typical of the American South today.  We’ll learn the basics and then some specifics about Texas, Oklahoma, the Ozarks, Louisiana,Tennessee, Kentucky/Appalachia, North Carolina, Georgia and the remainder of the southern states.  The variations AND similarities may surprise you and some of the accents will be much stronger than you’ve imagined!.

Saturday, May 22nd

Deep Southern Drawl

Next we’ll veer our trip off the ‘today’ road and take it back in time to the era where Southerners spoke with the famous ‘drawl’.  It’s not spoken much today, but it exists in many period pieces.  We’ll talk about which pieces of literature reflect this accent – hint: not always the ones you think!

Saturday, June 5th

New York City

We’ll end our trip traveling up East to New York City with a lesson in the basics and key sounds of the accent. We’ll also discuss some variations you’ll hear depending on the burrough you’re in.

Register Now

Registration is closed.