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3-DAY WORKSHOP

ACTING SHAKESPEARE'S TRAGEDIES

Friday-Sunday, November 10-12
6:00 PM - 10:00 PM Friday 

12:00 PM - 6:00 PM Saturday and Sunday

MTC STUDIOS

 

Instructors:
SAM GOLD, AMANDA QUAID, JAY O. SANDERS, ANDREW WADE and CHARLAYNE WOODARD

 

Hamlet, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, the list goes on—Shakespeare’s great tragedies are powerfully complex and incredibly rewarding to perform. Come find inspiration with classical theater luminaries in this deep-diving Shakespeare workshop. Master instructors and top working professionals—​Sam Gold, Charlayne Woodard, Jay O. Sanders, Andrew Wade, and Amanda Quaid—will take you from voice and text work to on-your-feet scene study and help you discover how to make Shakespeare’s verse soar! For actors of all ages and experience -- Whether you’re interested in refreshing your tragic Shakespeare chops or simply learning from some masters, these are three days you shouldn't miss.

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Essential Question:

How do actors use their vocal and physical instruments to fully explore Shakespeare’s language and unlock the essential truth of his language and create a unique, fully inhabited character? How can we utilize those same skills to be more effective scene partners, listeners, and, creative communicators?

 

Course Objectives:

  • Increase the flexibility of your physical and vocal instrument

  • Develop a greater awareness of your body and voice

  • Explore exercises for delivering language from Shakespeare’s great tragedies with nuance and truth

  • Explore how Shakespeare utilizes verse, text, and rhetoric to create complex characters

  • Learn how to work with and respond honestly to your scene partner in a way that unlocks your own potential as a performer

 

Enduring Understandings:

Your body and voice are tools to be used, as is Shakespeare’s verse. Like all tools, they require training to hone and use them effectively. A flexible, confident voice and body are essential for effective presentation of a character on the stage. A deep understanding of Shakespeare’s verse, his use of rhythms and rhetoric is also essential to delving the hidden depths of Shakespeare’s language in these seminal Tragic works.  Learning to listen and respond to your partner is a necessary component to good scene work.

 

Schedule and Materials

 

INSTRUCTORS

SAM GOLD: Broadway: A Doll’s House Part 2 (Tony Nomination), Fun Home (Tony Award), The Glass Menagerie, The Real Thing, The Realistic Joneses, Picnic, and Seminar. Recent Credits include: Hamlet (Public Theater), Othello (NYTW), John (Signature, Obie Award, Drama Desk Nomination), Uncle Vanya (Soho Rep, Drama Desk Nomination), The Flick (Playwright’s Horizons, Lortel Nomination), The Big Meal (Lortel Award), Look Back in Anger (Lortel Nomination), The Aliens (Rattlestick, Obie Award), Circle Mirror Transformation (Playwrights Horizons, Drama Desk nomination, Obie Award). Training: Juilliard

 

AMANDA QUAID, an award-winning actress and teacher, has appeared on Broadway in Equus and numerous Off-Broadway productions including; Pericles for which she won the Bayfield Award, the world premiere of The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence, the US premiere of Cock and Luck of the Irish (Lortel Nom.), and Red Bull Theater's The Witch of Edmonton. She has also been seen in major regional Theaters across the country as well as numerous films and TV shows. She has been Faculty for 13 years at HB Studio teaching speech, accents, and heightened language.

 

CHARLAYNE WOODARD: B'way: Ain't Misbevavin'. Off-B'way: Hamlet (Gertrude); War; (Mother); Substance of Fire, (Marge Hackett); The Witch of Edmonton, (Witch); In The Blood, (Hester); Fabulation, (Ondine); The Caucasian Chalk Circle, (Grusha); Twelfth Night, (Maria). Stunning; Sorrows and Rejoicings. Regional: A Midsummer Night's Dream, (Titania,); The Taming of the Shrew, (Katherine). Film: Unbreakable, The Crucible, Eye for an Eye, Sunshine State. TV: "The Leftovers," "The Blacklist," "Law and Order SVU." Wrote and performed four acclaimed solo plays: Pretty Fire, Neat, In Real Life, The Night Watcher. Two Obie Awards and Tony Award nomination. Guest Faculty: Cal Arts, USC. Training: The Goodman School of Drama

 

JAY O. SANDERS, a ubiquitous presence at the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park, recently returned from a world tour of Richard Nelson’s trilogy The Gabriels, also out of the Public, where he has been a regular presence for over 40 years, including Nelson’s Apple Family plays, David Hare’s Stuff Happens, and the title role in Titus Andronicus. In 2015, his own play, Unexplored Interior, had its world premiere as the inaugural production of Washington D.C.’s Mosaic Theater. He has a long list of film and television credits and is a prolific narrator of PBS documentaries.

 

ANDREW WADE joined Royal Shakespeare Company in 1987, as Voice Assistant to Cicely Berry and from 1990 to 2003 was Head of Voice. Since leaving RSC, Andrew has worked extensively in a freelance capacity leading workshops, master-classes and coaching productions. He is now Director of Voice & Speech, Public Theater, Adjunct Faculty at Juilliard and Director of Voice, MATILDA USA tour. With Cicely Berry they recorded WORKING SHAKESPEARE, a series of workshops with leading American and British actors exploring practical approaches to Shakespeare's language. Andrew trained at Rose Bruford College and is a Fellow. 

 

Schedule:

 

Friday

6:00 - 7:30: Voice work with Andrew Wade

7:30 - 10:00: Scene Study with Jay O’Sanders

 

Saturday

10:00 - 12:00: Open rehearsal space for partner work

12:00 - 2:00: Voice work with Andrew Wade

2:00 - 3:00: Meal Break

3:00 - 6:00: Scene Study with Charlayne Woodard

 

Sunday

10:00 - 12:00: Open rehearsal space for partner work

12:00 - 2:00: Group work with Amanda Quaid

2:00 - 3:00: Meal Break

3:00 - 6:00: Scene Study with Sam Gold

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Schedule
Preparation:

A scene will be assigned a week before the class. Prepare it as best you are able. Memorization is encouraged but not required

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Materials:

A hard copy of the Scene packet. A journal is recommended to record notes and observations. Comfortable clothing that you can move and breathe freely in and a water bottle is strongly encouraged.

 

Contact Nathan Winkelstein with any questions.

 

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