Specialized Workshops

The most valuable Actor training you may ever have!

• it reminds the Actor that the Actor’s job is to PLAY! To Play with all your heart, with all your might, for all it’s worth.
• it frees the Actor to plumb the depths of creativity and self-expression
• it frees the Actor from small, safe, clichéd choices
• it is Fun! And Funny!
• it is the Truth … about our humanity … and about why we go to the theatre.

We begin with the body. We begin with games. We dance. And we play—outrageously and profoundly. We play with the certainty and innocence of the delighted child, in spite of the certainty of Failure. . . and ridicule.

We explore the dynamic between Stillness and Movement; between Actor and Audience; between Self and Other; between Failure and Defeat. We play with Entrances and Exits, the Trick, the Flop, and Status.

Come!! Abandon caution! Embrace failure! PLAY—as though our lives depended upon it!

This course is physically demanding, largely non-verbal, and improvisational and is not recommended for the infirm of Body, Mind, or Spirit.

DATES: February 15 to 17, 2019

TUITION: $350 USD (union, alumni and student discounts available)

SCHEDULE: Friday, 7pm-10pm; Saturday, 10am-9:30pm; Sunday, 10am-1pm

LOCATION: Shakespeare & Company campus in Lenox, MA

HOUSING: $40 per night

INSTRUCTOR: Jane Nichols

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Learn Shakespeare & Company's signature dynamic and visceral rehearsal technique for connecting to the text.

An exercise created by Shakespeare & Company's Founding Artistic Director Tina Packer and strongly influenced by her 14-year collaboration with Shakespeare & Company co-founder Kristin Linklater, Dropping In and its follow-up exercises of Standing Up and Feeding In allow the actor to connect to the depths of the text.

Packer's initial impetus was inspired by a desire to allow the spoken text to have a greater resonance and a deeper reverberation in the psyches of both performer and audience. It can also be used to create a dynamic and visceral alternative to traditional table work. The process reactivates the natural imaging processes of the brain and allows the craft of memorization to become an easier, more creative and regenerative task.

PARTICIPANTS WILL:

• Gain a working knowledge of Dropping In techniques
• Experience the techniques as both actor and facilitator
• Train to use Dropping In and to adapt it for their own rehearsal work

This workshop will be especially useful for actors or directors involved in the creation of High School, University, or Professional productions of Shakespeare’s plays.

DATES: April 5 to 7, 2019

TUITION: $375 USD (union and alumni discounts available)

SCHEDULE: Friday, 7pm-10pm; Saturday, 10am-7pm; Sunday, 10am-4pm

LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA

INSTRUCTORS: Tina Packer other faculty members TDB