Training Programs

Performance Intern Program

Performance Interns in "Measure for Measure"
(2009). Photo: Danny Kurtz.

A Once-In-A-Lifetime Summer

Bridging our Performance and Training Departments, each season a small group of actors is selected by audition to participate in the Performance Intern Program.

Performance Interns will perform in their own show in the 2010 summer season—The Comedy of Errors directed by Director of Training Dennis Krausnick. (Comedy runs for 40 performances as part of Shakespeare & Company's "Lunchbox Shakespeare" series. Interns will also serve as the changeover crew, loading the show in and out of the rotating Bernstein Theatre repertory.)

They will also perform an original, moving, and entertaining compilation of Shakespeare scenes and information about Elizabethan times entitled More Words, More Play. This production will be performed on the Rose Footprint Theatre, a tented wooden stage with the same configuration as its namesake theatre from Shakespeare's time.

Interns will help create and perform a Prelude for the Bankside Festival, a short performance piece performed outside the Founders' Theatre before each evening show.

Interns will understudy roles in one of our mainstage Shakespeare productions, for which Equity Membership Candidate points are available.

This year, Performance Interns will be an integral part of our July 4th celebrations by executing and performing in a program entitled Revolutionary Moments (vignettes illuminating Shakespeare's inspiration and impact on various events in America's founding and history) and assisting and participating in the public reading of the Declaration of Independence later that day. This celebration of our freedoms has been an annual event at Shakespeare & Company for many years and is an inspiring and energizing example of the power of the spoken word.

A Prelude performance outside Founders' Theatre.
Photo: Enrico Spada.

Vocal Warm-Ups, Check-Ins, Tutorials and ongoing performance notes are a key element of the Intern Program. The Performance Interns are a vital component of the summer season and are very much a part of the Shakespeare & Company family. Interns are welcome to attend any performance for free on a seats available basis when their schedule permits. Opportunities to network and interact with members of the acting and production company abound.

Interns are selected by audition (see below). Actors familiar with Shakespeare & Company's aesthetic will be given special consideration, whether that familiarity be through having taken the Month-long Intensive or through having worked with one of our Master Teachers at some point.

There is no tuition fee for the Performance Intern Program. However, in 2010 there will be a housing fee of $1500 for each intern (some scholarship monies are available to help in cases of financial need).

How to Apply

NOTE: The application period for the 2010 Performance Intern Program is now closed. Please consider us next season!

Submit an application, along with a headshot, resume, statement of purpose and $40 application fee. We will also require an audition video, either VHS or DVD, which may be sent separately, containing the following:

Two contrasting Shakespeare monologues: one dramatic (in verse), one comedic (in verse or prose), 15 - 20 lines each.

30 - 60 seconds of you speaking directly into the camera, discussing why you would like to attend this program, any stupid human tricks you can perform, or anything at all you'd like to be remembered by. The purpose of this section is so that while your application is being reviewed and discussed, you can be authentically represented in the room as yourself.

Download the Application Form (Application Deadline: March 15, 2010)

Program Dates

June 1 &ndash September 4
Comedy of Errors: June 30–September 4 (40 performances)
More Words, More Play: August 12–September 5 (14 performances)

Contact the Training office to find out more information:413-637-1199 x114
Or email training@shakespeare.org