Amy Stoller

Dialect Design/Coaching, Dramaturgy
New York, New York USA; global via Skype

Where do you look for inspiration? I don’t look for it; I let it sneak up on me.

What’s your favorite book / movie / line from a play / cocktail? I never have only one favorite of anything!

Book: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland; Pride and Prejudice

Movie: Casablanca; Some Like it Hot

Line: “We’re actors! We’re the opposite of people!” (Although I probably quote “Sometimes there’s God so quickly” and “Are we all met?” more often); also pretty much anything from Casablanca, The Wizard of Oz, The Cocoanuts, and any other early Marx Bros. film

Cocktail: Never mind the cocktails, bring on the champagne!

What play or production changed your life? All my firsts. In the audience: the original production of My Fair Lady (first Broadway show); Peter Brook’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (first Shakespeare on stage). On stage: The Crucible. As a dialect designer: An Ideal Husband.

Is there anything you still dream of doing? Dialect design for Broadway. Breaking into feature film. Directing the first revival of a virtually unknown seventeenth century comedy by a woman (yes, I have one in mind).

What is your best escape? Reading.

Amy Stoller. Resident Dialect Designer/Coach (and occasional dramaturge) at the Mint. Other New York and regional includes world premiers by Athol Fugard, Paula Vogel, Anna Deavere Smith. Television: children’s animation to documentaries. Current/Recent: Let Me Down Easy, Rutherford and Son, A Moon for the Misbegotten. Officer, Voice and Speech Trainers Association. www.stollersystem.com