Jess’ approach to accent and dialect work goes beyond the technical. She helped me root my performance in the emotional and cultural worldview of my character so that the accent work was more seamlessly connected to my character. I’ve never worked with someone who did more extensive research, and was also able to coach me with actionable, easy-to-understand techniques. 

Jess centers accent work around your skills - whether you’re new to accent work or have past experience. She built an actionable, easy-to-understand set of steps and tools that allowed me to feel confident in my accent, and focus

on the emotional performance on stage. She knew what was useful as an actor because she is one herself! And I’ve never met a coach who did more research on the cultural, social, and historical elements of an accent -- I’ve never felt more empowered and prepared! 

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--Genevieve Simon

 

I worked with Jess at the Tenement Museum. She coached me to acquire two incredibly specific accents. One

was of a 14 year old woman who speaks Ladino, comes from Kastoria, and moved to America.

I interacted with visitors as if it were 1916 and I'd been in America for three years. She also coached me on

acquiring an 1868 Irish accent. For both dialects I needed to interact with individuals through improvisation,

utilizing slang from that time period. In just a few sessions Jess had me feeling so comfortable with both of these dialects that I apparently was speaking as these two characters in my sleep! I was especially nervous to start

dialect coaching with Jess because I have a hearing disability and had some very negative experiences with

coaches previously. It is very difficult for me to hear myself accurately and that makes acquiring accents an incredibly difficult and stressful process for me. I shared my concerns with Jess and she adapted her teaching to fit my needs. Rather than asking me to hear the differences between sounds, she instructed me using visual and physical terminology. We discussed tongue placement and sensations instead of sounds. I'm a classically trained actress and I've had about four years of intensive voice and speech work. Those few hours I shared with Jess were the best voice and speech training that I received. I felt so confident and supported the entire time. Working with

her didn't just help me acquire those dialects, it helped me become confident in a skill I never thought I could

possess. I strongly recommend training with her.

 

--Lily Lipman

 

During my time working with Jess I was able to master several dialects including some particularly difficult ones including Yiddish, Italian, Irish, and Ladino. Jess works with you in a practical way where the accent becomes something to play inside of, embracing it as another part of your character's identity and personality. Her

wonderful patience and creativity make her an excellent teacher and a pleasure to work with.

 

--Rebeca Miller

 

Jess is an excellent voice and accent coach. She is personable and knowledgeable, and she

makes the process accessible and informative no matter what level of mastery you have. Jess was able to quickly assess my strengths and challenges with my accent work and then provided multiple sources of support. Whether using aural review or charting IPA., Jess adapted her teaching to my individual needs and gave me several different tools (that I still use to this day!) to arrive at the right sound. 

 

--Shayna Vercillo

 

In June of 2013, I was hired by Jess to serve as a Costumed Interpreter/Educator at the Tenement Museum in lower Manhattan, New York. In this role, I portrayed multiple residents who once lived in this historic building. In order

to portray these residents, I was required to learn the accents of the residents from Ladino to Yiddish to Irish. I had not received any formal accent training before being hired by Jess in this role. Her dedication, passion, and knowledge of languages and accents helped me to only master these accents but also instilled in me the passion

to become a lifetime educator and first person interpreter. Jess's warmth, humor, and kind heart make working

with her one of the biggest joys of my entire life. 

 

--Alex Delare

 

Jess has been my accent coach for 5 years. She’s trained me on 4 different dialects for acting roles where sounding like a native speaker was top priority. She is absolutely dynamite. She’s deeply knowledgeable, easy to

understand, a delight to work with. Training with Jess has made mastering a new accent on a short timeline

worry-free. Jess is the real deal—I would recommend her work to anyone.

 

--Rose Connelly

 

I worked with Jess for many years at the Tenement Museum, during which time she provided me with coaching

for three different accents. She is incredibly thoughtful in her process - providing a range of resources and

expertise - and works closely to ensure a deep comfort and comprehension of the accent.  

 

--Kathleen Fletcher

 

Over the past several years, I've had the honor and pleasure to work with Jess as a dialect coach at the Tenement Museum. Jess provided ample materials, including basic vowel and consonant changes, practice sentences as well

as recordings, and I always felt well prepared going into every new role. Most notable is her exceptional warmth and patience, which in turn built my confidence and made the sessions so enjoyable. I highly recommend Jess as a dialect coach for any project, I credit her with all of my success in learning dialects at the Tenement Museum and my professional acting career.

 

--Lauren Schaffel

 

I had the wonderful opportunity of working with Jess at the Tenement Museum to learn two specific (and two

very different!) accents: Dublin-Irish and Kastoriali-Ladino.

My experiences with Jess as an accent coach were both joyful (despite the stress of working to acquire a new, challenging skill) and extremely instructive. She is an incredibly thorough teacher, who gave me multiple tools to work with on my journey. I particularly appreciated the wide range of her insights, which spanned from very physical understandings of how different accents should feel in one’s mouth and face to more academic analysis of the differences between various vowel and consonant sounds in my own natural accent versus my target accent. This range in tools really allowed the sessions to feel personalized towards what was working for me as a student, and gave me much-needed confidence going into my work.

All throughout the process, Jess was unfailingly patient, encouraging, and empowering.

I would whole-heartedly recommend her to anyone as an accent coach!

 

--Alexia Antoniou