News release
Public Information Office
SLU 10880 Hammond,
LA 70402 phone:
985-549-2341 fax:
985-549-2061publicinfo@selu.edu
www.selu.edu/news
Contact: Christina Chapple
Date: 6/20/03
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COACHING COCKNEY – In the Green Room of Southeastern Louisiana University’s Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts, Avril Font, right, works with Brandy Hotard of Port Allen on the Cockney accent that she uses as “Nancy,” the female lead role in Southeastern’s production of “Oliver!” Font, a native of Wales, is dialect coach for the entire “Oliver!” cast. The hit musical will be presented June 27-28 at the Columbia Theatre. TEACHER TEACHES “OLIVER!” CAST TO SING AND TALK “BRITISH” HAMMOND -- Avril Font is an award-winning teacher and a native of Wales. She also loves the theatre. That made her the perfect choice to teach the men, women and children of “Oliver!” how to talk and sing in a variety of British accents. The popular musical will open on the stage of Southeastern Louisiana University’s Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts in downtown Hammond at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, June 27. Additional performances are scheduled for 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 28. The Ponchatoula area resident, who was recently named Louisiana Elementary Teacher of the Year, is motivated to do her job right. “There’s nothing worse than being British and hearing awful imitations of your accent,” she said, laughing. “There are times when I just cringe. It’s like when we all heard (actor) Dennis Quaid’s terrible Southern accent in (the film)‘The Big Easy. What was he doing?” Font said that “Oliver!” guest director Wendy Taucher – who also was at the helm of Southeastern’s hugely popular 2001 production of “Annie” – originally thought that she would concentrate on having cast members employ proper accents in songs, not dialog. But, when Taucher arrived at Southeastern to join the “Oliver!” rehearsal schedule in early June, she found that after a week and a half of instruction from Font, the cast “already had it down pat. We were just polishing,” Font said. Font was tapped by Taucher and “Oliver!” producer Charles Effler to help cast members get a verbal hang on four different British accents. There’s the clipped, sassy Cockney of cast members such as Charles Robert Miller of Hammond and Weston Twardowski of Mandeville, who share role of the street-wise young scoundrel the Artful Dodger. And there’s the softer “country” tones of the Mr. Bumble, Cedric Bridges of Abita Springs, and the Widow Corney, Kay Schepker of Hammond. Tom Anderson of Hammond has to master the upper class accent of Mr. Brownlow, Oliver’s grandfather, which Font describes as “terribly sharp. You have to tighten up the back of your throat.” As Dr. Grimwig, Jonathan Brecheen of Tickfaw has to deliver his lines in the similar, but less pronounced speech of an educated British gentleman. Font said her biggest challenge has been getting cast members to “hear the differences.” As she recites examples of each accent, the nuances are obvious. The audience, she said, will definitely notice the effort that has gone into perfecting the casts’ delivery. “If you are musical, I think you can pick up accents quickly,” Font said. “It’s a case of having the ear for it. The cast is just great.” Brandy Hotard of Port Allen, who has the female lead role, Nancy, said she hasn’t found learning her Cockney speech that difficult, but she has had to remember to slow down so that her lines are understandable. Maggie Rownd of Hammond, who has a duet with Nancy, admits that she finds herself “dropping my ‘h’s’ when I’m singing along with the radio.” Font will be practicing what she teaches on the “Oliver!” set, too. When a cast member dropped out, she agreed to take on the small part of “Old Sally,” “who solves the mystery of Oliver’s identity,” she said. It will not be the first time she’s been on the stage. She also had a role in a 1989 Southeastern Theatre production of “Under Milkwood,” which is set in Wales. She also was dialect coach for the Southeastern Opera-Music Theatre production of “The Secret Garden” and narrated many of the original productions of Hammond’s Fellom Ballet. Her role, however, in Southeastern’s “My Fair Lady” is her favorite theater experience – for a special, personal reason. “My friend Janet Holton Moran (a Southeastern graduate and fellow teacher) was in ‘My Fair Lady’ and got me into it, too,” Font said. “My daughter, Sedley, was home for the summer from LSU and was available when they needed an assistant stage manager.” It was during the production, Font explained, that Sedley Font met her future husband, Hammond attorney -- and Southeastern graduate -- Doug Brown, who was in the cast. “I now have a beautiful 20-month-old granddaughter, Gwenllian,” Font said. “So, you see that I have a secret affection for ‘My Fair Lady.’” A native of Barry, a Welsh town near Cardiff, Font has been a teacher for 38 years. She now teaches first and second grade at LSU Lab School and formerly taught fourth and eighth graders at the Southeastern Lab School. A specialist in reading, she recently was named Louisiana Elementary Teacher of the Year and was Tangipahoa Middle Teacher of the Year in 1995. Font was teaching in Hong Kong when she met her husband, Southeastern biological sciences professor William Font, who was an aviator on a visiting the U.S. aircraft carrier. The couple lived in various places such as California and Wisconsin before returning to Bill Font’s native Louisiana. “I absolutely love Louisiana -- the people, the lifestyle. I would not live anywhere else,” Font said. “Oliver!”tickets are available at the Columbia Theatre box office, located in the theater’s lobby at 220 E. Thomas Street, 985-543-4371. The box office is open from noon to 5 p.m. on weekdays. Ticket prices are $15, $18, $21, and $24. Southeastern students are admitted free with their university I.D. For additional information about the production, contact Effler at 985-549-2249. |
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