With 2023 Tony Award Winner for Best Featured Actress in a Play MIRIAM SILVERMAN (The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window)
ACTING INTENSIVE
SHAKESPEARE'S SCENES with MIRIAM SILVERMAN
6 Wednesday Evenings
March 6 - April 10*
*We request that you tentatively hold April 17th as a potential makeup date, in the event of unexpected scheduling conflicts
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6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
March 6, 13, 20, & 27th
Open Jar Studios | Studios specified below
1601 Broadway 11th floor, New York, NY 10019
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April 3 & 10
The Sheen Center for Thought and Culture | Studio A
18 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012
“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 drinks, or contemplating life's great mysteries. Back by popular demand, Learn how to make Shakespeare’s immortal scene’s jump off the page and invoke delight or dole with 2023 Tony Award Winner Miriam Silverman. Act now to take advantage of this exciting opportunity.
Essential Question:
How do you approach Shakespeare’s text with knowledge and confidence, utilizing the clues and tools in the verse to find the dynamic truth of your character and situation? What aspects of an actor’s preparation are most essential when approaching Shakespearian performance? How do you engage openly and honestly with your scene partner?
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Course Objectives:
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Demystify Shakespeare’s words
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Learn how to use Shakespeare’s verse, text, and rhetoric to find clues about your character
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Learn how to rehearse and work a Shakespeare scene with a partner
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Discover (or remember) the joy and passion in performing Shakespeare
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Enduring Understandings:
Actors will learn that Shakespeare’s language is not an archaic fortress that requires a knowledge of the rules to enter but rather an intensely honest heightened text with a multitude of tools that can aid and assist an actor on their journey to the truth. In this class, actors will learn how to demystify Shakespeare and his verse and find the internal truth of the character. By the end of the class, actors will have confidence they can step on to a Classical stage and deliver dynamic truth to both the audience and their scene partner.
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Instructor:
MIRIAM SILVERMAN is an actress, teacher and born and raised New Yorker. She holds an MFA in Acting and a BA in East Asian Studies from Brown University. Miriam won the 2023 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her critically-acclaimed performance in the Broadway production of The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window. She has been the proud member of countless NY and world premieres including Will Arbery’s Plano, Alice Birch’s Anatomy of a Suicide, Amy Herzog’s Mary Jane, Anna Ziegler’s A Delicate Ship, Clare Barron’s You Got Older, Ethan Coen’s A Play is a Poem, Joe Gilford’s Finks and the Tony-nominated Broadway production of Junk by Ayad Akhtar. With roots in Shakespeare and the Classics, Miriam has also performed at theaters across the US, including The Goodman, Guthrie, Yale Rep, Arena Stage, The Folger and numerous productions at The Shakespeare Theater in DC. She played Winifred in Red Bull’s production of The Witch of Edmonton. Select television and film credits include Breaking, Bad Education, Dead Ringers, Fleishman is in Trouble, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Blacklist, Blue Bloods and NOS4A2. Miriam is the recipient of a TCG Fox Fellowship and teaches Acting, Voice and Text Analysis at NYU in both the Graduate Acting program and the Department of Dramatic Writing.
Schedule:
Class 1, MARCH 6th
Open Jar Studios | Studio: 11C
‘SUIT THE ACTION TO THE WORD’
Class will begin our journey with introductions and group text, voice and body work. After the class concludes Miriam will pair up actors and provide the scenes they will work on. In the following two week you will work with your partner as much as you are able, either in person or online, to explore the text and scene together.
Class 2, MARCH 13th
Open Jar Studios | Studio: 12G
‘WORDS WORDS WORDS’
Students will begin their first pass at their scenes*
*While not required we STRONGLY suggest you attend all classes, including the ones you may not be actively working with Miriam in
Class 3, MARCH 20th
Open Jar Studios | Studio: 11M
‘SPEAK THE SPEECH’
Students will continue their first pass at their scenes
Class 4, MARCH 27th
Open Jar Studios | Studio: 12M
‘HOLD, AS ‘TWERE THE MIRROR UP TO NATURE’
Students will begin their second pass at their scenes*
*Ideally you would be off book by this second pass
Class 5, APRIL 3rd
The Sheen Center | Studio: A
‘THE READINESS IS ALL’
Students will continue their second pass.
Class 6, APRIL 10th
The Sheen Center | Studio: A
‘THE PLAY’S THE THING’
Students will do a final presentation of their scene and receive final feedback with Miriam.
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Preparation:
In the two weeks between the first class and the third you should connect with your scene partner and work on your scenes both together and on your own to the best of your ability.
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Dress and Materials:
You should wear clothes that are easy to move around in. We suggest you bring a water bottle and a notebook.
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Concerns? Questions?
Contact Nathan Winkelstein.
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All of our teachers are committed to these classes. As working performers, unexpected conflicts may arise. If this were to happen, Red Bull would strive to provide an equally qualified replacement to ensure the quality of your experience. We thank you in advance for this understanding.