Acting Shakespeare: Process, Priorities, and Performance

Online class: October 18 - November 22, 2020
Class meetings will be held Sundays from 3-6 pm on Zoom

NOTE: This will be a special online version of the class, with class meetings taking place on Zoom each week. For work on scenes toward the end of the class, each participant will have the choice to continue working online or do a limited amount of in-person work (provided that we can match up scene partners for in-person work).

Any in-person work will be held at the Just BeCause Center, 1013 W. State Street, and will strictly follow all recommended health and safety protocols regarding face coverings, social distancing, etc.

This is ISC's advanced acting class, aimed at actors who have some experience and/or training (but not necessarily in Shakespeare).

The goal of this class is to help actors develop the skills to approach any Shakespearean role with confidence. The focus will be on:

  • developing a consistent, repeatable process for preparing roles and scenes
  • delivering the language effectively and getting the most out of it
  • being an effective contributor at each stage of the rehearsal process
  • creating performances that have the strongest impact on the audience

Actors will practice each step of the process in the real-world context of work on a specific character and scene.

“A super-enjoyable, very challenging, immersive college-level seminar
on acting Shakespeare, with a lot of personal attention.”
"Wonderful and fun...I loved the handouts and walking away with practical tools that I can use from here on out. The aspect of going from “being hired” to “performance day” with all the steps in between, was very helpful
and made the process seem less daunting."

We’ll also cover some practical topics such as:

  • how to audition - what to do and what not to do
  • how to memorize lines
  • vocal training
  • basic principles of movement on stage

Some out-of-class preparation and line memorization will be necessary.

Actors who have taken the class before are welcome to take it again at a discounted price to work on different characters and scenes. If this applies to you, please e-mail us for more information.

Registration for this class is now closed. We will be offering this class again in early 2021. For more information, e-mail us at info@ithacashakespeare.org or watch this page for more details.