ABSTRACT
This chapter talks about an actor whose purpose is to illuminate character and text and to tell a story, not to fool the indigenous speakers of the accent. It provides improvisation and technique: getting the accent into actor body and imagination. First and foremost: engage actor sense of humor and sense of play. Be willing to commit and enjoy broad strokes at the beginning of actor transformation into character with the accent. Studying accents can get overly analytic, therefore be conscious in allowing the accents to inform actor entire psychological and physical being. The chapter brings the accent work to text by presenting a conversation between the accent and the text. Choose a scene or monologue that uses the accent and transcribe at least six lines using International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) or the sound symbols in the accent breakdowns. It is very easy to fall into a melody or rhythm when working on a role with an accent.
