Knight-Thompson Speechwork Workshops

2025

Production Coaching

"Andrea Caban is a gifted dialect coach and a pleasure to work with; intelligent, insightful. I trust her. She has an ear and heart for this work like few others.” - Francis Ford Coppola

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Books and Publications

Purchase your copy of Experiencing Speech and Experiencing Accents now

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THE LIVING SPEECH SERIES

An Innovative, Integrative Speech Course for the ALS Community from Voice, Speech and Accents Specialist Andrea Caban

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COACHING FOR PROFESSIONALS & EXECUTIVES

Executive Presence Work, Accent Reduction (Modification) & Communication Design

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Individual Coaching

Andrea coaches individuals and groups interested in gaining more freedom, dexterity, and variety in vocal expression and speech & accent choices.

ARE YOU A PROFESSIONAL OR EXECUTIVE?

Andrea works with people from various industries and disciplines to enhance their communication skills and confidence in their leadership. Whether you are interested in gaining more confidence when interacting with clients or patients, or you’re a non-native speaker of English interested in improving your skills of intelligibility, Andrea has clear and practical tools for you.

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ARE YOU AN ACTOR OR PERFORMER?

Andrea offers private and group coaching in voice work, connecting to text, speech & accent work, and solo performance development.

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ARE YOU OR IS A LOVED ONE LIVING WITH ALS?

Andrea helps people living with ALS prolong the ability to speak without the use of assistive technology for as long as possible.

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Contact Andrea

Professional History

Andrea is Co- Director and designated Master Teacher of Knight-Thompson Speechwork™. She also serves as the Speech and Accents Professor at UC San Diego.

Caban is also known as a professional accent/dialect coach for film and theatre. Notable coaching credits include productions at the Tony-award winning theatres La Jolla Playhouse (Three Summers of Lincoln, The Recipe, The Heart), Berkeley Rep (All My Sons, The Thing About Jellyfish, Covenant), The Old Globe (Appropriate, Decieved), and South Coast Repertory Theatre (Absurd Person Singular, Chinglish, Death of a Salesman, Madwomen in a Volvo & Peter and the Starcatcher). She is the accent expert on HowCast.com, demonstrating over 30 accents. Recent film projects include Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, Dr. Mason Miller, and Dangerous Games to Play.

Andrea has been invited to teach master classes at Royal Academy of Dramatics Arts (teaching staff and BA actors) and the Royal Central School for Speech and Drama in London (MFA pedagogy students) and at the National Institute for Dramatic Arts in Sydney (MFA pedagogy students). She has been an artist-in-residence at University of Cape Town, Penn State University, the MotherTongue Project- South Africa, and SWEAT- South Africa (Sex-workers education and Task Force), among others.

She has performed and presented research at conferences and institutions in London, England, Bogota, Colombia, Cape Town, South Africa, Barcelona, Spain, San Ramon, Costa Rica and Istanbul, Turkey.

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Testimonials

““Andrea Caban is a gifted dialect coach and a pleasure to work with; intelligent, insightful, knows what you’re trying to accomplish and very effective in helping you do just that. I trust her. She has an ear and heart for this work like few others.””

— Francis Ford Coppola, 6-time Oscar Winner

““I came across Andrea’s book - Experiencing Speech: A Skills-based, Panlingual Approach to Actor Training - and knew immediately this was the work I wanted to study. Andrea and I forged a relationship which led to her holding the 3 KTS Pre-requisite courses at RADA. The core team at RADA, me included, attended the course and this is now the main way through which we explore Accents in this institution. Feedback from students has been excellent and the students report being listened to, that the work is inclusive, and the results of their learning are obvious in their ability to own their learning at the end of the course.”
”

— Kay Welsh, Lead Voice Tutor, Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts

““Andrea is inarguably an expert and a leader in the international field of Voice and Speech.””

— Julie Foh, David Geffen School of Drama at Yale

““Andrea’s work is such a huge and valuable contribution to the present and future of voice and speech.” ”

— Barbara Houseman, Voice Master Teacher (RSC, Young Vic)

““Andrea is a leader like no other; dynamic, innovative, compassionate, and forward- thinking. With her fantastic coaching skills, she brings out the best in others. She is a mentor who is indefatigable in her mission to make sure every student in her care receives the very best.””

— Katie Heath, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama

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““She has been an incredible mentor to me and helped me hone my teaching skills in speech and accent work, and I owe a lot of my success now to the guidance she gave me, and her continued support and interest in my teaching and coaching career.””

— Nathan Croker, Head of Voice and Speech, The Old Globe/USD

““Working with Andrea Caban was a pure joy. Andrea is brilliant: highly skilled, knowledgeable, creative and flexible, thorough and precise. You know you are in the very best hands. Andrea will get you there no matter how challenging the task. A true master of her craft.”
”

— Kathryn Hunter, Olivier Award-Winning actor and director

Andrea's Story

Hi, thanks for visiting. I’m a coach for film and theatre productions, an educator, and an artist/researcher. I’m interested in helping actors and other professionals gain more vocal freedom, accent choices and public speaking skills. I’m interested in helping people with ALS prolong the ability to speak without the use of assistive technology for as long as possible. I’m interested in making art in collaboration with other risk-takers. And I’m interested in cultivating a sense of ease, joy and play in all those things. That’s how we learn best.

The coolest thing that’s happened to me recently was when Francis Ford Coppola cold called me to work with him on his film. I loved collaborating with him. and the incredibly accomplished actors he hired to work with him on his film.

I’ve won some awards, I’ve traveled around the world coaching, teaching and performing, I run a speechwork organization (Knight-Thompson Speechwork) that values all humans over standardized accent models, and I serve as the Speech and Accents Professor at UC San Diego. Through all that, my real skill is in listening and speaking to the person or persons in front of me and figuring out how I might be of service.

I live in Southern California and South Florida, and spend a lot of time in London. On days I’m not working, I’m hiking with my husband or eating food he made me (yum) or teaching my puppy Paloma that my socks are not her socks.

Performing & Speaking

Andrea is an award-winning solo performer available for bookings. Her plays speak to her own personal engagement with the world. Often her plays work well with a lecture component accompaniment.

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