2-DAY CLASSICAL ACTING WORKSHOP
PERFORMING SHAKESPEARE'S VERSE: A DEEP DIVE
Saturday & Sunday, December 8 & 9, 2018
12:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Shetler Penthouse
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Instructors: LOUISA PROSKE, CHUKWUDI IWUJI and PETER FRANCIS JAMES
‘Speak the speech as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue’
For four hundred years Shakespeare’s immortal words have had us rolling in the aisles, crying into our beers, or contemplating life's great mysteries. Come learn how to make Shakespeare’s language jump off the page and invoke delight or dole with the director of our upcoming production of The White Devil, LOUISA PROSKE, Obie Award-winning actor CHUKWUDI IWUJI, and legendary Actor and Teacher PETER FRANCIS JAMES. Whether you’re interested in brushing up your Shakespeare chops for your next production, or simply in having a good time this is the intensive for you.
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Essential Question:
How do actors use Shakespeare’s text along with their physical instruments to fully explore the potential of a scene? How can we utilize those same skills to be more effective actors, listeners, and creative communicators?
Course Objectives:
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Increase the flexibility of your physical and vocal instrument
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Develop a greater awareness of your body and voice
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Explore techniques for delivering language from Shakespeare’s plays with nuance and truth
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Explore how Shakespeare utilizes prose or verse to create complex characters
Enduring Understandings:
Shakespearean Plays are universal and have stood the test of time. A flexible, confident voice and body are essential for effective presentation of a character on the stage. A deep understanding of Shakespeare’s prose and verse, his use of rhythms and rhetoric is essential to finding the timing, honesty and humor in his plays.
Instructors:
CHUKWUDI IWUJI. The Public: Othello, The Low Road, Hamlet, Lear, Antony and Cleopatra. National Theatre, London: Hedda Gabler( ‘Lovborg’ Dir. Ivo Van Hove), Welcome to Thebes, Observer(Dir. Sir Richard Eyre) Barbican Theatre: Obsession( Dir. Ivo Van Hove). Royal Shakspeare Company: Henry VI(‘Henry VI’) Richard II, Henry V, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Coriolanus, Julius Caesar. Other credits include: Tamburlaine, (‘Bajazeth’ Dir. Sir Michael Boyd) Richard III (‘Buckingham’ Dir. Sam Mendes), The Misanthrope, Playboy of the Western World. Film/TV: King Lear(Sir Richard Eyre - BBC), Central Park Five, Daniel Isn’t Real, The Split, Quantico, Shine Your Eyes, John Wick: Chapter 2, Bikini Moon, Barry, Rosy, Exam, Madam Secretary, Blindspot, Crossing Lines, Doctor Who.
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PETER FRANCIS JAMES – Broadway: Present Laughter, The Merchant of Venice, On Golden Pond, Drowning Crow, Judgment at Nuremberg. The Public: Stuff Happens (OBIE & Lucille Lortel Awards), Much Ado, Venus, Horatio in Kevin Kline’s Hamlet, Long Day’s Journey... CSC: The Maids (OBIE Award). Signature Theater: The Lady From Dubuque, (Lortel Nomination). U.K: The Lady From Dubuque (w/Maggie Smith), Cymbeline (RSC /TFANA). Film/TV: The Humbling, Song One, The Losers, The Rebound, The Messenger / “Bull” "Boardwalk Empire", “The Mysteries of Laura”, “Oz”, “Royal Pains”, “Gossip Girl”, “Kings”, "The Rosa Parks Story", “Simple Justice”, ”The Ruby Bridges Story”, all three “Law & Order” series. Narration: over 60 books. He has taught Shakespeare at Yale School of Drama since 2000, & BADA at Oxford since 2006. Training: RADA.
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LOUISA PROSKE brings her talent for creating vivid theatrical worlds, her raw passion and her attention to detail to her productions in classical theatre, opera, and new plays. She is the proud Founding Co-Artistic Director of acclaimed New York indie company Heartbeat Opera (“pioneers” – The Wall Street Journal, “a radical endeavor” – The New Yorker, “bold and adventurous” – The New York Times).Opera productions include Agrippina (Lincoln Center debut), Così fan tutte (LoftOpera), Carmen, Lucia di Lammermoor, Daphnis & Chloé, Miss Handel, The Fairy Queen (all Heartbeat Opera), Falstaff (Dell’Arte Opera), Gianni Schicchi, Riders to the Sea, La Voix Humaine (Yale Opera); Invisible Cities (world premiere, Italian Academy New York). Theatre productions include Gaslight (Barrington Stage Mainstage), This, peerless (nominated for a Berkshire Theatre Award for Outstanding Direction) and Engagements (all Barrington Stage Blatt Center), One Day When We Were Young (Assembly, Edinburgh), ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore (The Tank), Cymbeline and As You Like It (Yale Drama), This Same Progeny of Evils/ Midsummer Nights Dream (Hangar Theater), and Macbeth (European tour). Louisa’s work has received raves in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, Opera News, and other publications. A devoted Shakespearean director and teacher, Louisa has studied with some of the most prominent classical scholars at Cambridge University, UK, and trained with some of America’s foremost Shakespeare practitioners, including Kristin Linklater and Peter Francis James. She holds an MFA in Directing from Yale School of Drama, and she is on faculty at Maggie Flanigan Studio teaching Shakespeare Acting and Script Analysis.
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Schedule:
Saturday
12:00 - 2:00: Table Work with Louisa Proske
2:00 - 3:00: Meal Break
3:00 - 6:00: Scene Work with Louisa Proske and Chukwudi Iwuji
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Sunday
10:00 - 12:00: Open Rehearsal Space
12:00 - 2:00: Group Work with Louisa Proske
2:00 - 3:00: Meal Break
3:00 - 6:00: Scene Work with Louisa Proske and Peter Francis James
Preparation:
A scene will be assigned a week before the class. Prepare it as best you are able. Memorization is encouraged but not required.
Materials:
A Copy of the Scene Packet and 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.
Concerns? Questions?
Contact Nathan Winkelstein.
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Faculty subject to change.
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