Joy is a theatre artist, teacher, researcher, and writer who specializes in voice, speech, and identity-conscious work.
what people are saying…
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"Joy is my go-to accent coach. Super patient and adapts to my learning style. Has helped me greatly with several different accents over many years!"
Díana Bermudez, Actor
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"My experience working with Joy was absolutely wonderful. She made the process easy and accessible. She gave me the confidence and reassurance to perform with all the tools I needed to feel great. In part she helped me get a Drama Desk nomination for best featured actress. I will keep her number forever."
Sonnie Brown, Actor
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"Joy is such a warm, wonderful dialect coach! I reached out to her to learn some of the basics of a Mandarin and Cantonese accent. She had already prepared a trove of resources to help me fully understand and practice the accent! She's also very encouraging and goes deep into the technicals of the accent."
Felisha Wong, Actor
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"Joy was so compassionate and insightful during our sessions. I felt not only better about where I was with my character, but better about myself as a performer when we were finished!"
Jennifer Vosters, Actor
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"She helped me to discover nuances in the dialect variations that helped to inform acting choices, and contributed in major ways to the expression of the character. She also led the cast in vocal health education and gave us the proper tools and techniques to preserve and strengthen our voices for those rough double show days. I am so fortunate to have worked with Joy and have her at the top of my short list for all things voice and dialect."
Nick Jordan, Actor
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“As an Asian and queer actor, Asian accents always came with baggage, especially in North America. However, through her support and advocacy, Joy broke down the nuances of a variety of Asian accents and gave me the tools to approach the work with confidence and dignity.”
Tony Tran, Actor
Atlantic Theater's WHAT BECAME OF US rehearsal with Tony Shahloub and Shohreh Aghdashloo.
Atlantic Theater's WHAT BECAME OF US opening night with (L to R) Pearl Sun, Carlo Coronel, Vocal Coach Joy Lanceta Coronel, and Director Jennifer Chang.
WHAT BECAME OF US opening night with Rosalind Chao.
WHAT BECAME OF US opening night with BD Wong.
WHAT BECAME OF US opening night with husband Carlo Coronel. (Atlantic Theater)
Huntington Theatre's THE HEART SELLERS by Lloyd Suh, directed by May Adrales.
In rehearsal for THE HEART SELLERS (L to R): Carol Jeong, Jenny Lee, Joy Lanceta Coronel, May Adrales.
Dialect Coach Joy Lanceta Coronel with Director May Adrales on opening night of THE HEART SELLERS.
Cast and creatives of Lloyd Suh's The Heart Sellers at Huntington Theatre. (L to R): Kristian Epsiritu, Jenna Agbayani, Joy Lanceta Coronel, May Adrales, Lloyd Suh, Christine Mok, and Jenny Lee.
Director Rosa Joshi and Assistant Director Joy Lanceta Coronel at opening night of KING JOHN at Actors Theatre of Louisville.
Cast, creatives, and staff of Actors Theatre of Louisville and upstart crow collective's KING JOHN.
Narea Kang, Nicole Javier, Joy Lanceta Coronel, and Jennifer Chang at Milwaukee Rep.
Nicole Javier (Luna), Jennifer Chang (director), and Joy Lanceta Coronel (dialect coach) in rehearsal for Milwaukee Rep's THE HEART SELLERS by Lloyd Suh.
The Heart Sellers cast and creative team at Milwaukee Repertory. (L to R) Jennifer Chang, Lloyd Suh, Jade Bruno, Emily Pfaff, Emily Newmark, Nicole Javier, Narea Kang, Annika Perez-Krikorian.
Cast, crew, and staff of Dracula: a feminist revenge tale by Kate Hamill at Actors Theatre of Louisville.
current work
the heart sellers
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Joy is ecstatic to serve as Voice and Dialect Coach for The Guthrie's The Heart Sellers, reuniting with May Adrales on this Lloyd Suh piece.
When Luna and Jane run into each other at the supermarket on Thanksgiving Day, they discover they have much in common — they’re both new to America and spending the holiday alone while their medical-resident husbands work the night away. Longing for connection, the two homesick women return to Luna’s apartment for the evening. Over a bottle of wine (or two), they attempt to make a traditional Thanksgiving meal while sharing their stories and dreams. Set eight years after the Hart-Celler Act of 1965 overhauled the U.S. immigration system, this poignant comedy illuminates the Asian immigrant experience and asks, “Would you give up your heart to make a new home?”
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the importance of being earnest
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Joy will serve as Dialect Coach for Kentucky Shakespeare’s THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, directed by Amy Attaway.
hershel and the hannukah goblins
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Joy is ecstatic to serve as Voice and Dialect Coach under Amelia Acosta-Powell’s direction in Herschel and the Hannukah Goblins.
In this playful adaptation of the classic Caldecott Honor-winning children’s book, Jewish folk hero and trickster Hershel of Ostropol confronts the Hanukkah-hating goblins who keep blowing out the candles of every menorah in town. Can he outsmart these wicked creatures who haunt the old synagogue and restore the celebration of the Festival of Lights? Whether you celebrate Hanukkah every year or it’s your first time learning about the tradition, we welcome you to come experience the showdown between Hershel and the King of the Goblins in this imaginative tale filled with wonder, humor, puppetry, and original music.
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a christmas carol
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Joy will serve as Dialect Coach for Theatre Squared's "A Christmas Carol."
Adapted by Amy Herzberg & Robert Ford
From the novel by Charles Dickens
The inventive, magic-filled T2 original—a new Northwest Arkansas family tradition. Three spirits come to visit the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge and take him on a fantastic journey through past, present, and future. But will it be enough to save him? For all ages.
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in the grove of forgetting
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Joy will serve as Dialect Coach for Theatre Squared's In The Grove of Forgetting by Robert Ford.
Summer, 1938. Ilona, a concert pianist known for her sharp wit as much as her musical passion, refuses to be ruled by fear, even as fellow Jewish artists and academics flee Hungary. Surely Budapest is safe from the growing Nazi fervor—isn’t it? Filled with intrigue, music, and wry humor, this world premiere is a taut emotional thriller, as a woman caught in one of history’s darkest moments fights to find a way forward.
recent work
dracula (closed)
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Joy is ecstatic to serve as Voice and Dialect Coach for The Cape Rep Theatre's production of The Heart Sellers, collaborating with Nina Zoie Lam on this Lloyd Suh piece.
Thanksgiving, 1973; over a bottle of wine–or two–and a questionable frozen turkey, Jane, a recent immigrant from Korea, and Luna, a recent immigrant from the Philippines, reminisce and dream of spreading their wings together in the land of opportunity: disco dancing, learning to drive and trying to find their way to feel at home in their new home, America. Lloyd Suh’s The Heart Sellers recently won the 2024 Steinberg/ American Theatre Critics Association Award for best new play.
THE HEART SELLERS is presented through special arrangement with and all authorized performance materials are supplied by TRW PLAYS 1180 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 640, New York, NY 10036. www.trwplays.com
the heart sellers (closed)
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Joy will serve as Dialect Coach for Kate Hamill's Dracula: a feminist revenge story once again, with Jen Pennington directing.
The king of the vampires will once again meet his demise in Kate Hamill's thrillingly inventive Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, based on the novel by Bram Stoker and directed by Jennifer Pennington. Hamill gleefully drives a stake through the sexism in Stoker's time—and our own—by centering the women characters. While pregnant, Mina Harker plays a leading role in confronting the monster, challenging the notion that motherhood diminishes a woman's strength or heroism. You won't find damsels in distress here, but you will find a compelling dose of humor and horror.
drawing lessons (closed)
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Joy served as Dialect Coach Children's Theatre Company's Drawing Lessons.
Experience the energy of a graphic novelist’s imagination at work! Dynamic, jump-off-the-page drawings show Kate’s manhwa graphic novel coming together, even as she deals with school, friends, and how her Korean heritage fits into her American lifestyle. Will her contentious friendship with Paul help or hinder her progress? Will either of them ever find their true artistic voice? Get drawn into this innovative story that magically takes place both on stage and on screen!
untimely ripp’d (closedt)
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Joy will serve as Dialect Coach Kentucky Shakespeare's Untimely Ripp'd by Diana Grisanti, Steve Moulds, and Matt Wallace.
Continuing our Halloween production tradition, Kentucky Shakespeare presents a new immersive experience inside our headquarters in Old Louisville. Utilizing headphone technology, audience members will move throughout an interactive production inspired by Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Kentucky Shakespeare commissioned playwrights Diana Grisanti and Steve Moulds to create this hour-long sensory event, conceived by the pair with director Matt Wallace.
what became of us (closed)
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Joy served as Vocal Coach for Atlantic Theatre’s WHAT BECAME OF US by Shayan Lofti, directed by Jennifer Chang. Starring BD Wong, Rosalind Chao, Tony Shalhoub, and Shohreh Aghdashlo.
Two siblings.
One born there. One born here.
How do they maintain their connections to The Old Country, and to This Country, and to each other?
In alignment with the playwright’s vision, this unique production will have two separate casts: one featuring Rosalind Chao and BD Wong, and the other featuring Shohreh Aghdashloo and Tony Shalhoub.
Rosalind Chao & BD Wong perform May 17 – June 15, 2024. Shohreh Aghdashloo & Tony Shalhoub perform June 10 – June 29, 2024.
BOTH CASTS perform in succession June 11–13, 2024. For four performances only, both casts will perform back-to-back as an exclusive double-feature event!
vietgone (closed)
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Joy will serve as Dialect Coach for Cincinnati Playhouse’s VIETGONE by Qui Nguyen.
An all-American love story about two very new Americans. It’s 1975. Saigon has fallen. He’s lost his wife, she’s lost her fiancé, and home as they’ve known it will never be the same. But this isn’t a story about war: It’s a story about falling in love. Based on playwright Qui Nguyen’s family, Vietgone tells the partially true and endlessly entertaining tale of how his parents, Quang and Tong, met in a refugee relocation camp in Arkansas during the Vietnam War. They navigate their very new lives as very new Americans amidst family pressure, the challenges of migration and a culture full of motorcycles, cowboys, fast food and dreams. With irreverent humor, hip-hop and heightened theatrical storytelling, this original story reinvents the romantic comedy genre and captures your heart.
the far country (closed)
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Joy will serve as Dialect Coach at Berkeley Rep’s production of The Far Country by Lloyd Suh. Directed by Jennifer Chang.
Following a critically acclaimed debut in New York, Pulitzer Prize finalist Lloyd Suh brings The Far Country back to its roots in a triumphant West Coast premiere. In the wake of the Chinese Exclusion Act, Moon Gyet has arrived at San Francisco Bay’s Angel Island Immigration Station with an invented biography and a new name, both given to him by a man who made the same arduous crossing several years earlier. But passage to San Francisco — and the dream of a better life for future generations — commands a very high price. Spanning two countries and three generations, Lloyd Suh’s breathtaking account of immigration, identity, and memory has been called “Artful…an act, loving and sorrowful, of reclamation” by The New York Times.
the heart sellers (closed)
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Joy serves as Dialect Coach for this remounting of Lloyd Suh’s THE HEART SELLERS at Huntington Theatre in Boston. Running November 29 - December 23, 2023.
Jane and Luna run into each other in the grocery store on Thanksgiving in 1973 and find they have much in common: each are recent Asian immigrants, a bit homesick and lonely with hardworking absentee husbands, and adjusting to a new country filled with new opportunities. Over sips of wine and a questionable frozen turkey, they dream of disco dancing, learning to drive, and even a visit to Disneyland, and share their hopes and challenges for making a new home in a new land with grace and dignity. A funny, moving, and big-hearted new play.
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king john (closed)
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Joy will make her Assistant Directing debut alongside Rosa Joshi for upstart crow collective’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s King John .
Unfolding in a treacherous world ruled by self-interest, warmongering, and a lack of moral leadership, this fascinating political thriller follows a scheming monarch battling threats from abroad and within. This visually captivating interpretation from director Rosa Joshi and upstart crow collective—a company reimagining the classics with diverse casts of women and non-binary actors—has been called “a knockout” (Seattle Weekly) that evokes “with surprising clarity the misuses of power that plague us in the present” (The Portland Observer).
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loving & loving (closed)
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Joy worked alongside Actors Theatre of Louisville once again, serving as Dialect Coach for Loving and Loving by Beto O’Byrne and directed by Amelia Acosta-Powell. Running February 7-18, 2024.
The play is inspired by the lives of Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple from Virginia who were arrested in 1958 for the crime of being married. Told from a distinctly 21st-century perspective, the play weaves together the story of the Lovings’ landmark civil rights struggle and interviews with mixed-heritage folx in the Kentuckiana community—thoughtfully exploring the joys and challenges of multiracial identity, and exuberantly celebrating our right to love who we choose.
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in the news
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Wave3 Interview: King John
Joy joins anchor Brian Schlonsky to discuss ATL’s production of KING JOHN and the upcoming season.
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Arts-Louisville op-ed
"By its very nature, theatre is a vehicle for healing and processing our life experiences. It allows audiences to take on varied perspectives and provides a space for critical judgment, self-reflection, and the practice of empathy. Remarkably, ATL upholds this notion by naming ‘the intersection of art and wellness’ as one of their key impact goals…”
-Joy Lanceta Coronel, Arts-Louisville.com
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Inquirer.net Interview
“Currently in rehearsals, Coronel has been working one-on-one with the actors. “We’ve been spending a lot of time researching, discussing, and integrating socio-political events like the Hart Cellar Act and women’s rights, in addition to how women from Korea and the Philippines during the 1970s would think, act, speak, and behave.”
She believes the play is a ‘beautiful, universal story accessible to people from all backgrounds, and is yet still culturally specific and true to the identities represented.’”
- Walter Ang, Inquirer
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Broadway World Review
“That storytelling is brought to life by the genuine performances of two brilliant actors: Nicole Javier and Narea King as Luna and Jane, respectively. Each is making their Milwaukee Rep debut with The Heart Sellers.From their quirks to impressive broken-English accent work (shoutout to voice & dialect coach Joy Lanceta Coronel), Javier and King fully embody these women.”
-Kelsey Lawler, Broadway World
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Wave3 Interview: Dracula
Dialect/Voice Coach Joy Lanceta Coronel and Executive Artistic Director Robert Barry Fleming discuss Dracula with Wave 3’s Dawne Gee.
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Actors Theatre of Louisville Behind-the-Scenes
Behind-the-scenes discussion with the creatives and cast from Actors Theatre of Louisville’s DRACULA.
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Den of Geek
Professional dialect coaches on the importance of authenticity and the best and worst examples of on-screen accents.
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Boston Globe: The Heart Sellers
The simplicity of “The Heart Sellers,” in which two young women talk and laugh while a Thanksgiving turkey roasts, may seem a surprising topic from playwright Lloyd Suh, who has been writing sweeping plays about the Asian American experience.
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New England Theatre Geek
“The dialect coaching by Joy Lanceta Coronel adds layers to the actress’s storytelling. When we hear their characters’ accents, we remember that it’s 1973. Luna and Song face an uphill battle as immigrants with no direct comparison to today’s difficulties. These strong, resilient women have few city resources. It’s wondrous that they now have each other.“ -Kitty Drexel
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Backstage.com
“Wong trained with dialect coach Joy Lanceta Coronel—a step Yee advises fellow creatives embrace: ‘Actors don’t come with their own perfect set of accents, nor should we expect that of him. Giving actors the tools to succeed and being specific and accurate of what your needs are helps an actor feel empowered to play the role.’”
