Intro 0:14 – Intro

Welcome to "“Scene Change”", a podcast by the National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts division. All about equality, opportunity, accessibility, and the arts. Here, you'll learn about the techniques from performers in the know. We are changing what it means to be blind at one stage at a time. Thank you for joining us today.

Lizzy 0:41 – Introduction of Sammi Grant

Welcome to “Scene Change”, a podcast by the National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts division. All about equality, opportunity, accessibility, and the arts. Here, you'll learn about the techniques from performers in the know. We are changing what it means to be blind at one stage at a time. Thank you for joining us today. Hello, everyone, and welcome to “Scene Change”. My name is Lizzie Muhammad Park. I am the Vice President of the National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts division and your host of the show. Today we will be talking about acting, namely voice acting. We're so fortunate to have Sammi Grant with us. She is an adjunct professor of voice and speech at both DePaul University and Illinois Wesleyan University. She also works as a dialect and vocal coach for theater, TV and film with her most recent project as a Netflix film called Rescued By Ruby. It starring Grant Gustin. She is also a junior board member for the Voice and Speech Trainers Association. Welcome to the show, Sammi.

Sammi

Thank you so much. I'm happy to be here.

Lizzy 1:37 – Sammi’s background

Awesome. So why don't we start with a bit about your background in acting. I understand that you have a BFA in acting from Illinois Wesleyan University. You know, one of the places where you teach these days, and I was wondering, what prepared you before deciding to go in for your bachelor's? What kind of preparation did you have beforehand, if any.

Sammi

So I started acting when I was 10. In drama camps, and school plays and such, and I always knew I wanted to be an actor. But it was really, solidified in high school. So in high school, I had a mentor named Lauren, at the time, Mrs. Rowlets. But now Lauren Now I'm an adult. So I call her by her first name, and she directed a bunch of our shows, and she ran the playwrights club, and she was really the first one, particularly in high school that seemed to see past my disability. A lot of other folks I had worked with, saw it as a hindrance, or as something risky, or that would, you know, they were afraid that I would get hurt, or they just couldn't perceive me playing any of the characters, and Lauren was really the first one to will say, give me a chance, and she gave me my first lead role, and, you know, at the time as a teenager, I had a lot of insecurities on of my own around my blindness. So there was a lot of internalized ableism going on. But working with her is really what pushed me to believe that I could be an actor, and what led me to pursue my undergrad.

Lizzy

What was your first lead role? I’m curious.

Sammi

So it was Tennessee Williams first full length play, which no one's heard of, it's called Candles To the Sun, and we were the, I think fourth production ever of it first high school production, and I played the female lead, whose name was Fern.

Lizzy 4:10 – What accommodations did Sammi need

Wow, and what accommodations did you use for that very first role? Was it was my first question is what accommodations that you use, but then I also want to know like, how did you all agree upon the accommodations? Was it sort of the two of you just working together and saying, you know, figuring out what you need, was there a blueprint that you connect with other blind actors actresses, how did you figure out what accommodations you needed? And then what accommodations did you end up using?

Sammi

So like I said before, at that time, this was when I was 16. I was very resistant to my blind identity, my sounds weird, my identity as a blind person and asking for the accommodations that I did need and accepting the accommodations I needed. So for example, I probably should have been using a cane at the time, I had enough vision that I could kind of get away with not using it, but I really should have been. So when I talk about, you know, to answer your question, what I'll say is, I didn't ask for a lot of the accommodations I probably should have. But what I was willing to ask for and receive was someone assisting me on and off stage during blackouts, and that's something I knew that I needed, you know, and that's something I had needed all along from when I started acting when I was 10, and that I would have my script memorized on the first day, because I couldn't read, you know, a printed script, and at the time, I didn't really accept any other solution, and anything else, you know, in terms of how I moved around on stage, we kind of figure it out together, Lauren and I in the moment, in terms of how we planned my blocking.

Lizzy

Wow, that's really cool, and it sounds like she was a really adaptable teacher, which, in my opinion, those are oftentimes the best teachers to have. So what advice would you give to a budding actress be they blind, sighted, or, you know, otherwise abled?

Sammi

The advice I'd give to any actor, or actress today, is to really identify what roles you want to play, what stories you want to tell, I think, oftentimes in theater and in the entertainment industry, and really, just like in our capitalist society, in general, we work from a place of scarcity, thinking, Oh, I have to take any role I can get because there's, you know, so few out there, and so many actors, and there are many, many, many actors, and not as many roles. But to view it as, rather than viewing it as scarcity, and I have to take whatever I can get, view it as you being proactive about the stories you want to tell. So yes, there might be some roles you take, because you need a paycheck, and there's nothing wrong with that. But to really be conscious of is this a story you feel comfortable telling is a story you're proud of telling, and what kind of stories you want to be telling aside that, aside from that, and to really look at creating your own work, or creating your own collaborations, you know, to not just say, Oh, I have to work at these established theaters, you know, start finding the people you want to work with, and think about how you want the industry to be a lot of times in acting school, and I hear this amongst my colleagues in the schools that I've worked for and have worked for, there's a lot of times this message of, well, this is how it is in the industry. So they have to be prepared for that, and I really reject that. I say that the students we are teaching now are the ones who are going to form the future of the industry, and so for actors who are, you know, just starting out or who are in school, take that power, know that you are the future of the industry, and, you know, I as a teacher, or as a mentor and a guide, and I can offer suggestions, but to not sort of take anything as this is how it is and this is how it's always going to be.

Lizzy

I like that. So I'm wondering if you took that attitude in with you as you were going and auditioning for different schools to get your BFA then?

Sammi

No, I definitely didn't. This is the thing I've really come to since I have graduated and become an adult and gotten my masters. But this was definitely not the attitude I had when I went for my BFA, I was very much in the scarcity mindset, and I was very much in the mindset that I had to hide my blindness. I had to, um, you know, or otherwise I wouldn't work that I had to be able to look sighted on stage. So, you know, I can speak from this place of, I don't want to say wisdom that sounds like really (inaudible), but this place of experience now, and I look back on my past self with compassion, knowing you know, that's where I was then. But I yeah, I certainly was not in this mindset when I was auditioning and, you know, was convinced that no school would want to take me and was, you know, so excited that I was accepted anywhere.

Lizzy 10:14 – Auditioning process

Wow, I want to delve a little bit deeper into that into that audition process, and I know it sounds like you, you kind of had a bit of the same I mean, it's around at the same time. But the same mindset that you had in high school, where you sort of wanted to, you know, keep it keep it quiet, you know, not talk about the blindness thing. So, did you receive any accommodations when you were auditioning? Or did you just kind of do the best you could? And also, what, you know, as you're teaching and mentoring students who are auditioning for these programs, I guess, because they're going to be feeling that same. It's okay to call it fear that you are feeling when you are auditioning. They, what sort of like comfort can you give to them? Like, how can you? How do they know that someone will take them? I don't know, it's kind of a hard question to ask, because it's hard to word, you know, I mean

Sammi

Yeah

Lizzy

But what sort of comfort can you give them is saying they will accept you anyway, you know, even if you are blind, they will accept you. Because, you know, or maybe there's a different way of even putting it, what sort of, you know, experiences have you had where you can tell people that it is not maybe as big of an issue as they may think it is, or maybe that things are changing?

Sammi

Yeah, so, to answer your first question, in terms of the accommodations I got, when I was auditioning, that is, when I started to use my cane, my vision had reached a point where I really had no choice. But it was really the first time I started actively using my cane was the summer before college, or, you know, kind of the months leading up, so when I'd be auditioning, um, and so I would say, I went into the room with a lot of discomfort and not quite knowing what my access needs were, and really, it came down to me being assisted, you know, with sighted guide in and out of audition rooms, and then, you know, checking in to make sure I was standing in a good spot to be seen by those who were auditioning me. That was, I think it I don't know, if even if I did that now, if I would need much more, because for college auditions, you know, you bring in your own material. So it's not like they're handing you scripts on the spot to read. It's not like a callback, you prepare your own monologues or songs if you're doing musical theater, or whatever it is. So I think I really did have all the accommodations I would even need now. But I would say I asked for them in it, like in a way of like, what not wanting to be noticed, you know, I would try to do it in sort of this, this geekiest way possible, I suppose. So I would not recommend that. For people pursuing undergrads now, and I think the you know, you were kind of struggling to phrase the question, and I think because we've been given this narrative of, they will accept you to spite or they will, you know, even though you have blank, they'll still accept you, and I, and I could tell I'm like, I don't think that's the language you want to be using. But yeah, I don't quite know how to say it otherwise, because that implies like, that the disability or whatever your like, thing is, whatever the identity is, that you're worried about, is a problem, and that the school will need to sort of get over it, to accept you or, you know, look the other way about it and be like, well, even though she's blind, I, you know, she's still a good actor, so I guess we'll take her and we'll figure it out, which is kind of the attitude I felt when I was accepted. Not necessarily when I was accepted, actually, but like once I got to the school. Um, so what I would say and this is for an actor auditioning for undergrad for grad school for professional theatre, or disabled actors, is to be really upfront about all of your access needs, and say for the audition, I need this, this and this and not put it as a question. Put it as a statement, this is what I need not can you provide this, but this is what I need, and if they can't provide that, then that is not a good school for you to go to. Then they don't deserve to have you, and I know that can be really hard to hear because it's so competitive. But if you if just at the audition, they're already having issues with their access to that tells me that it's going to still be an issue when you get to the school, and so you really have to think through is this the atmosphere I want to be entering?

Lizzy

Wow, and that is that's going to take a lot of soul searching, that's going to take a lot of, you know, because if you get accepted to a really good school, but then they kind of give you this hard way to go, you know, is, do I feel like fighting that battle every day, and for some, some people, they could say, you know, if it means that I'm going to have these connections or this network, they could say, yeah, and that they are willing to do it, but isn't that they have to be aware of, and they have to be willing to do, because otherwise that that will be an experience that they may not want to have they just it's informed choice, I guess, is really what it is.

Sammi

Absolutely and something further I'll add is like, if a school is having issues, meeting access needs that are reasonable and simple, like I need assisted guide, or I need a large print script, or I need an accessible bathroom or whatever it is, and, and this school is pushing back on that, that tells me that the way that they train their actors is going to have embedded ableism. So it's not just the access needs, it's also the training. So when you were saying like, well, if they're accepted to a really good school, a 'good school' might have a reputation, you know, of turning out great actors. But like, do you want to be trained in a method or technique structure that is going to reinforce ableism?

Lizzy 16:41 – What made Sammi switch from acting to voice acting

Wow, a program with embedded ableism. That's a topic that I've never discussed before, but I will be doing some research on it, and it's definitely something that's going to come back certainly on this show again, and just in other conversations that I have, I have not thought about that extensively. So that's, that's really good. Thank you for that. Now, after undergrad, you went on to get an MF, er, sorry, you went on to get an MFA and voice studies, and that one was from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. You also graduated with distinction. So did you go there directly after undergrad? Or did you take some time off did you what made you switch from acting to voice acting.

Sammi

So I waited six years between undergrad and grad school. Um, in those six years, I worked in Chicago, I worked for an actor, I worked as an actor for a couple of years, and then I started pretty quickly moving towards dialect coaching and voice coaching and voiceover acting, and there's a number of reasons for that I even in undergrad, I really loved the voice work and voice classes the most, and so I was really drawn to that there's a lot more work and less competition in the world of dialect coaches, and when I was doing dialect work or voiceover acting, I wasn't experiencing the same prejudice and ableism that I was experiencing when I was doing acting, whether it be auditions or shows, and at the time, you know, I even then wasn't where I am today in terms of the acceptance of my own identity, my activism, for disabled rights and representation in entertainment, and so I just wasn't mentally at a place to fight that fight within the acting world. So I worked primarily as a dialect and vocal coach for six years, and I decided to go for the MFA. Because, you know, most of the work I was doing, and sort of the methods I was using were self taught, and I also saw, I wanted to get a little more, you know, sort of formalized training, and I also wanted to start teaching in academic settings, and I really needed an MFA to do that. So that's what caused the switch. But I'm really grateful that I took those six years to develop, you know, who I wanted to be and the work I wanted to be doing and to just live a little bit outside of an academic institution

Lizzy 19:29 – The difference between acting and voice acting

Yeah, I think that's something that can actually really enrich a Master's experiences if you kind of had that time in between. Could you tell our listeners the differences between the major differences between acting and voice acting besides you know, just one you're not in front of a camera or you know, for the audience.

Sammi

So there's a few different types of voiceover acting. I'm the one I worked in mostly was commercial, which is literally voiceovers for commercials. So for TV ads, radio ads, sometimes internet ads, and that while it is acting, it is not quite the same as like stage or film or TV acting, where you're in front of an audience or camera. Because in commercial acting, the story is about a product, right. So usually add sort of craft some sort of story or narrative. But in the end, you are selling a product. So it's just a different type of voice and different type of storytelling. Then there's also of course, animation, so doing voiceovers for cartoons, or different animated things, and oftentimes, not always, but oftentimes those characters are a little more in the extremes or in character, land, because you have the freedom of animation you don't have sort of the limitations of humans and what humans are able to do. So those voices are a little bit more silly or extreme. Or just kind of outlandish, then I would maybe do for a typical stage or screen acting role, and then there's also audio book narration, and so that's like, you listen to audiobooks, that's the person who's reading the audio book. I don't do that work. It's just not of interest to me. But that's also that where you're mostly in narrator and then occasionally doing some character voices.

Lizzy 21:36 – Differences between a dialect coach and a voice coach

Wow. You know, it's so funny because as blind people, you know, we'll get our, you know, different audiobooks from like, we'll have services that specifically do audiobooks for blind people, just to make them accessible. For those who don't know, who are listening, and you can totally hear the difference between someone who was just volunteering, you know, just to read the book, which is nice, you know, but you can totally hear the difference between you know, that person and a voice actor, but I, all this time, I've been listening to, like, you know, I'm like, oh, wow, the readers are getting a lot better, you know, realize those are actual there's a reason for that, you know, they went to school for it, they're professionals. When you say that you are a dialect slash voice coach. What's the difference between being a dialect coach and a voice coach or is it sort of the same thing.

Sammi

So the differences is that when I'm doing specifically dialect coaching, I'm training an actor to do an accent that is not their own. So that could be anything I've done probably 100 different dialects thus far in my career, and if I'm just doing voice coaching, that is something where the actor is using their own voice but needs to do a particular vocal thing. So I brought in I've been brought in to do voice coaching when someone has to have a severe cough attack on stage and to work with them on making sure they do it in a really healthy way because coughing itself is not a super healthy thing you know, when we do it naturally, it's it's fine, but if you're doing it, you know, eight times a week, every night, um, and having a huge cough attack that can start to you know, strain your vocal cords a little bit. So, kind of vocal health things or if you need to scream a bunch in a show, a voice coach can help with that on how to do it in a healthy way. Or it can be if you're performing in a particular setting, like if you're doing outdoor theater to an audience of 1000 and you need to really work on projecting your voice across that open space. That also might be something a voice coach helps with sometimes I dialect and voice coach at the same time. So I might, you know, be fulfilling both roles. I do dialect coaching for the majority of my work, and then I also am doing voiceover coaching which is specifically for voiceover like I just talked about.

Lizzy

Wow, so I assume that if you're coaching over 100 dialects, you can do over 100 dialects Is that right?

Sammi

I would I would not say I can do 100 like on the spot because there are some you know that I coached one time like five years ago course you know so it's not like still in me if I had to do it I you know would do the research and everything and yet prep to coach it again. But there's you know, a handful I can do on the spot. But most of them no and will also say is like for every show that I coach, even if it's a dialect, in general that I've done before, like oh, this is another London accent. But for every show there are specific needs so maybe this is a London accent set 50 years ago, and the caste is working class and uneducated or, you know, maybe it's a London accent taking place today, and it's a wide range of race and ethnic identities, you know, so it's, it all requires different research, depending on the show and the characters and the actors.

Lizzy 25:24 – Job searching

Wow. Okay, so I want to jump back to something that we're talking about before, which was, you know, your time in between your bachelor's and master's programs, and, you know, obviously, what you're doing today, and you talked about, you know, how, you know, you did some acting and you know, this and that. So, how did you go about finding jobs? And what access needs did you find yourself facing, and, you know, any advice that you might give for not only the job search, but, you know, actually landing that job.

Sammi

So for acting jobs, I would. I worked in Chicago, and there are a handful of websites that have job postings for actors, so that the theaters will submit, you know, we have this upcoming audition, and then the website will post it. So that's how I did it, and I, you know, I've only worked in Chicago, but I assume there are resources like that for any major city. So I, you know, I don't know what the what they would be for different cities, but I'm assuming they're there. On the access needs I had was that if I had to prepare something, um, that was like the script for the show. So for example, if I was doing a monologue from the show that I was auditioning for, or if I was going to callbacks, and being asked to prepare specific scenes, I would ask to get the material ahead of time. So that I could memorize it, because again, that's just how I work best, and sometimes leaders would say no, and I because what I would do is I would offer a few different options, which is something I don't recommend, actually, I would say, Oh, I would be great to get it ahead of time. If you can't give it to me ahead of time, I can come in early and memorize on the spot. Or I could, you know, do this and like I just gave a few different options, instead of insisting on the actual thing that I wanted and needed, which was to get it ahead of time. So if you're totally fine with with different options, like if, if three different options work equally well for you, that's great, you can absolutely offer them. But if there's one option that you know, is actually what will help you prepare best, don't offer any other options, that is the only option. So um, when I would be able to get ahead of time, that was great, and I can memorize it. But there were times I just had to go in early and memorize it on the spot, you know, with someone assisting at the auditions helping me, and that put me at a major disadvantage, because I would then be really focused on the memorization, and I would get in the room just trying to keep everything in my brain that I had just memorized, and so my acting would suffer, you know, I just wouldn't be as focused on the actual acting and performing because I'd be so focused on just remembering the words, and so anytime I had to do that I would not perform well, and it was really frustrating. In terms of dialect coaching jobs, um, it was really word of mouth. When I first started, I just reached out to people I know that were connected to specific theaters and said, Hey, do you need a dialect coach at all this season? I'm here and just started getting jobs that way, and from there, I you know, developed a reputation and pretty much after my first year, I never almost never sought out a job again, but rather had theatres reached out to me asking me if I was available for their show, because they had someone refer me or they saw a show I'd worked on or something like that. There were a couple jobs I did apply for that there were postings for but that was maybe I think two total in the six years that I worked.

Lizzy 29:30 – How did Sammi join Access Acting Academy

Wow, and now you're at Access Acting Academy teaching voice and speech.

Sammi

Yes, I am.

Lizzy

And how did that come out? How did that come about?

Sammi

So the founder, Executive Director of Access Acting Academy, Marilee Talkington. Is someone I've known for 12 years, just over 12 years. Yeah, she was actually brought to my undergrad, my freshman year to talk to the faculty and the students about working with a blind actor and a blind student, and that is one of the greatest things my undergrad did, and you know, I got to get connected with Marilee and chat with her. It was fantastic that they did that. I don't think the faculty really took to heart her advice, because I wouldn't say a ton changed or got better after her visit, and that's not on Marilee. I think that's on a faculty at the time, you know, this was in 2009, being resistant to change and adapt. But I got connected with Marilee, and we've stayed in touch ever since, and so when she was starting Access Acting Academy, she reached out to me, and asked me to be involved, and so I've been involved since the beginning, she had an in person intensive in the beginning of 2020, before COVID really hit, and I wasn't able to be there for that, because I was teaching, you know, for my universities, but I was able to do a workshop with that group via zoom, and then, since then, we did a virtual session last fall that I taught for, and we're doing another virtual session right now that I'm teaching for, and then this summer, I also started to take on admin responsibilities. So I am now Marilee's associate.

Lizzy

Wow, so your undergraduate University calls Marilee in because you are a student there, and they want to tell me if I'm wrong, and they wanted to make things more accessible? Was that the idea? Okay. I mean, but then they didn't want to listen, so didn't exactly work didn't exactly work out the way that you'd hoped. But something great still came of it, because you got to know her and to keep in touch with her over the years.

Sammi

Yes

Lizzy 32:09 – What a class looks like at Access Acting Academy

Wow, that’s so cool. So, could you walk us through what one of your classes would like, you know, what, what might a class look like if someone were to take a voice and speech class with Access Acting Academy.

Sammi

So Access Acting Academy is designed specifically for blind and low vision actors. It's the first training program of its kind, and Marilee is blind, I am blind, and so you know, it's designed for by blind people, blind, working actors, or people working in the entertainment industry. So in my voice class, what I really focus on is, first of all, hearing the goals of the students in the class, because we have a range of experience levels and interest, and so I want to know what people want to focus on, a lot of people want to feel more confident in their speaking voice. Some people want to, you know, have a larger speaking range on different things. So I always designed my class for who is in it. Um, and I wouldn't say I really do anything different for Access Acting than I would for a group of actors, you know, in my university, where it's a mix of mostly non disabled people, and then occasionally a disabled person, and that's really important to me that I'm not like saying, Oh, I'm only going to do this for the blind people give them a special class, instead, I really try to do the opposite, and say, if this is something that this group of blind and low vision actors needs, then this is something I'm going to bring into my other classes, where I have a mix of, you know, disabilities and abilities, and I think that is the, it is imperative that people work in that way. Um, and so for things like providing a description of what I'm doing physically, that's something I do, whether I'm teaching, for Access Acting, or if I'm teaching at one of my universities, you know that I provide documents in multiple formats. That's something I do for Access Acting, and my universities. In terms of the actual content of the class, we look at breathing techniques and explorations of different vocal qualities and resonances, and so some of it is kind of like technical, you know, just looking at how the body functions, but a lot of it is exploratory and really looking at how each person wants to use their voice and the stories they want to tell with their voice. So really getting back to what I was saying, you know, at the beginning of our conversation about helping actors find their way into telling the stories they want to tell.

Lizzy

I love that I love that from top to bottom, I love everything that you just said, especially the part about taking what, you know, what we right now are calling accommodations, but applying them to the entire class, because they really are often times necessary. You know, and that goes for a lot of different instructors, there are things that, you know, if you're, if you are teaching a student with disabilities, and you find that it's something that could be helping other students definitely bring that out into your other classes, too, because it's, it needs to be there, and it needs to become something that is normal, and something that is expected, and I am a huge fan of, you know, you know, Universal Design for teaching is something that I'm, you know, that's always trying to push for that different institutions. But so going back to your classes, specifically Access Academy, what can students expect to take away from? And how long are like a five weeks the program is a five week program?

Sammi

This session, it is a six week program

Lizzy

Six weeks, okay, so in these, you know, like, less than two months sessions, what can students expect to take away from Access Acting Academy, in a voice lesson

Sammi

So what I'll say, first of all, in terms of the timing of the classes is every session we've had has been different. So the first in person intensive was five weeks, six days a week in person, the first virtual session we had was four weeks, two classes a week for my class, and then now we're doing six weeks, one class a week, but longer classes. So I will, I just want to honor that Access Acting is still a very young program, and we are still finding, you know, out who we want to be, and how we want to function and what classes will look like in the future, and there are plans for future in person and virtual sessions. So I'll put that up there first, in terms of what actors could expect to leave with, is what I really tried to bring to any voice class I teach, which are two main outcomes. One is for the actor to gain an unawareness, and understanding of their own voice, without judgment, without shame, but simply awareness, and observation. So to say, here is what my voice is currently understanding why you know, your voice sounds the way it does, and then starting to identify, are there things you want to change about it? And if so, I will give you the tools to do that. But I will never dictate and say, Oh, your voice it needs to be more this or less this, right? I believe all voices are beautiful, and full and wonderful, and have amazing stories to tell, and there's no one good voice or right voice. So that's number one is an awareness and understanding, and then number two, is an expansion of your vocal abilities. So if you're coming in, and you have a certain, you know, pitch range in your voice, I want to help you find ways to expand that, not because you need to change your voice for everyday life, but so that you have as many options available to you as possible for when you're going to develop a character. So that if you want a character to sound slightly different than you, you have the ability to do that, and change your voice or adapt your voice in whatever way you want to meet the needs and choices for any character that you're playing.

Lizzy 39:08 – How accessible is voice acting

Wow, as you're saying that I was just reflecting on just how cool it is to work in the arts and just to, to do these different things. Because you're exactly right. Just, you know, changing your voice to suit a character or changing your voice because you want to or, you know, but the first step before you change anything is to accept it, and you know what I mean? And to love the voice that you have, because it's yours. So I love the the philosophy that forms the basis of that class. So before we head out, I want to ask you, how accessible Do you feel voice acting is? You know, is there any, you know, software that people need to learn to use? You know, as far as doing other things on a scale of 1-10, how accessible is it?

Sammi

Are you talking specifically about voice over acting?

Lizzy

Yes, specifically about voice over

Sammi

Yeah, so um, I find it fairly accessible, and I will admit upfront that I am not a tech nerd in any way. So like my abilities with voiceover are minimal. But I also don't have like a massive interest in getting into all the, you know, cool techie stuff that's out there. So I'll speak from my experience, but I'm sure there's like more that I don't know about and that I haven't explored. So the software I use for a recording and editing is called GoldWave, and, of the editing software I've tried, I find it as the most accessible with my screen reader, which is Jaws, um, because it has a Jaws accessibility built into it. So it's not just you know, hotkeys on top of the already developed software, it is built with screen readers in mind with accessibility in mind. So that's been the best for me, I used to use Pro Tools, and for me, and my use of a screen reader, it was a little bit of a mess. Um, I've also tried audacity, and that didn't work quite as well for me. So that would be my recommendation. But again, there are more tech savvy people out there. Um, and yeah, that's, I guess my biggest recommendation is just to find an audio editing software that works best for whatever your access needs are. So if you're someone who does, you know, like a zoom reader type program where you're enlarging the screen and the mouse, you probably have more options out there, and in terms of screen reader, you know, I only know what's working well, for me with Jaws, I don't know. Any other voiceover, screen readers, accessibility for those programs.

Lizzy

Awesome. Well, I think that's a, that's definitely gonna be a good start for our listeners, for anyone who is interested in in voice acting, and I want to say thank you so much for being here today and for bringing your positive energy and outlook to the show, we always love to have that. Thank you so much for promoting Access Acting Academy. We love Marilee Talkington it and work very closely with her in the performing arts division. So thank you so much for being here.

Sammi

Thank you so much for having me. It's been a pleasure.

Lizzy

And thank you all for listening today and joining us for another episode of “Scene Change”. For more information, please email info at access acting dot com (info@accessacting.com) for future program information, and any other questions that you may have.

Katelyn 42:53 – Outro

I'm Katelyn MacIntyre, president of the National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts division. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of "“Scene Change”". If you like what you heard, be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and visit our website at NFB dash pad DOT org (nfb-pad.org). There you'll find links to our social media, membership, and resources for blind performers. Thanks to everyone who makes this show happen. "“Scene Change”" is produced by Shane Lowe, Chris Nusbaum, Seyun Choi, and Precious Perez with music by Ryan Strunk and Tom Page. Remember, you can be the performer you want. Blindness is not what holds you back. We'll see you next time.