Monday, March 20 at 6pm
Tuesday, March 21 at 6pm
Wednesday, March 22 at 6pm
Thursday, March 23 at 6pm

Locattions: TBD

Tailored to individual actors, beginners to more experienced. Upgrade your performance toolkit by exercising your vocal and physical range, and your character building skills through directed monologue and scene work.

Goals: Identify skills and provide tools used in the performance of Shakespeare.

Practices: Exploration, examination, discussion, and engagement in 3 primary areas.

1. TEXT: Understanding the world of The Tempest: Explore and discuss information in Shakespeare’s prompts and stage directions in The Tempest that delivers insights about the play and the playing of it. We will also consider the numerous special effects in the Tempest such as magic, storms, swordfights, pageantry, and illusion.

2. STORYTELLING: Examine the performance and storytelling choices available to us through investigation of early theatre conventions and comparison to contemporary practices.

3. ACTOR SKILLS: Beginning with Rhetoric, we will decode Shakespeare’s wordplay to find clues about characters’ point of view, speech, and movement. Introduction to practical ways to utilize the varying patterns of iambic pentameter will guide you to stronger character choices.

Participants will develop character building skills through dynamic individual and group practice incorporating text, voice, body, and memory work. The aim is to produce intellectual and emotional content that connects the actor to the text. We will explore how this work significantly enriches our collaboration with the audience. As a complement to your more muscular character building skills, there will be the opportunity to “out your inner clown” by developing a physical and vocal vocabulary unique to your own Clown. And, in the Shakespearean tradition of doubling characters, we will practice differentiating multiple characters.