2004 Shenandoah Shakespeare Company Workshops

The Two Gentlemen of Verona Workshop:
Cupid is Not a Player Hater: How Actors Find the Love On Stage
Monday, February 23, 10:10 a.m., Bellamy Theatre
The actors present scenes from The Two Gentlemen of Verona; taking suggestions from the workshop participants on how the scenes should be played. There is only one word for love in the English language, but there are a million kinds of love. Which one works best for the young lovers in the forest? What about Launce and his dog? Find out how actors must improvise even when they know all of their lines. An, oh yeah, your students get to play the dog.

Henry IV, Part One Workshop:
Who’s Your Daddy? A Shakespearean Custody Battle
Monday, February 23, 11:15 a.m., Bellamy Theatre
Using the text of the play, SSE actors will show the relationship Shakespeare created between Hal and his real father, King Henry IV, and the relationship between Hal and hissurrogate father, Sir John Falstaff. Representatives for King Henry and Falstaff will make their respective cases, and the workshop participants vote on which “father” Hal should have. It’s royalty versus rowdiness in the ultimate custody battle, and your workshop participants get to choose.

Acting Shakespeare
Monday, Febrary 23, 1:25 p.m., Bellamy Theatre
Shenandoah Shakespeare actors will discuss some of the differences between acting in a Shakespeare play and acting in a contemporary play. The actors will then, following a brief vocal and physical warm-up with your class, lead participants in exercises on scansion, paraphrasing, using the text to find character clues, and how physical choices can help illuminate the text for the audience. Participants will also examine the differences between verse and prose and how the two styles inform character choices. Volunteer participants will then “get on their feet” to perform a brief scene or part of a scene from Shakespeare.

Stage Combat
Tuesday, February 24, Brooks Theatre
Actors from the troupe will demonstrate techniques of stage combat and explain the decisions that went into choreographing the stage violence in the tour productions. What are the goals of the director and fight coordinator in planning stage combat? How does the text suggest the quality quantity and shape of the stage violence? How does character influence fight choreography?