A peek behind the scenes: teaching accents and creating scenic designs

For the first show of 2023 Diana Moxon chats with two people who the audience never gets to see on the stage or screen, but whose work has a huge influence on both actors and audiences. Paula Vanlandingham (https://www.accentpaula.com/) is an accent and dialect coach to actors all over the world from her home in Columbia Missouri. She speaks 6 languages plus English and coaches in over 50 global accents including coaching an American actor who doesn't speak any Spanish to speak 19th century Mexican Spanish with an Irish accent. Ryan Zirngibl (http://www.ryanjzirngibl.com/) is the resident scenic designer at the Lyceum Theatre in Arrow Rock and has created hundreds of complex stage sets for theatres across the state and in New York City, including one with 9 rooms and 2 secret passageways, one with moving train cars, and one for a play that had so much fake blood that the set had to have a moppable floor. Opening and closing music credits with thanks to guitarist Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com)