I would like to pay homage to my extended community of support: Maggie Surovell for her eagle eyes, keen ears and stellar editing skills.
When you have 3 weeks to do an accent that you are not familiar with ON BROADWAY you can trust Maggie to give you exercises, research, tapes, and sessions that will get you where you need to be fast. I became so confident with my Russian accent because of my work with Maggie. It was way better than working with a Russian speaker (which is what the production provided) because with Maggie you can build on what you already know from phonetics or not. Either way Maggie got me to the place where I could love my job and not worry about my accent.
Working with Maggie is like working with a close friend. She is attentive, generous, invested, and pushes you to be better than you think you are. She challenges your ideas about the work and brings out the real connection you have to it, no matter how small. She is a joy to have in the space and I feel safe to push the limits of my art with her.
For a last minute audition Maggie was able to give me the specific tools and sounds I needed to feel confident for two dialects in one hour.
Thorough out not only my acting career, but my life, I’ve had a deep insecurity around all things regarding my voice, and a deeper belief that it was too late for me to change it. And then I met Maggie Surovell. A teacher of such extraordinary compassion, patience, and unique insight. Her work continues to teach me what my voice is capable of through presence and connection with the breathe. Maggie has helped me, not change, but rather uncover and speak with my truest, most vulnerable, authentic sounds. She is a true gift to the teaching and voice world. I am forever grateful to her.