Educational Residencies and On-Site Teacher Seminars

The American Shakespeare Center's approach to Shakespeare education embraces both his words and his staging conditions.  Teachers have long recognized the beauty inherent in Shakespeare’s language but struggle to impart the joy of his staging to students, many of whom are afraid of a text that has for so long been divorced from the meaning it has on stage.

By looking at the staging conditions for which Shakespeare wrote, the ASC Education Artists assist teachers and students both in appreciating his plays and in performing them.  The ASC Education model is a partnership between scholarship and art that helps teachers and students engage with the specific moments and performance choices that bring the plays to life.  With master classes taught by ASC actors and staff, students gain the vocal and physical skills needed to develop the choices they have identified into dramatic moments.  The ASC Education residency is a flexible module, and participants can choose a program lasting anywhere from a weekend to three weeks and featuring anywhere from one to three ASC Education artists and scholars.

Educational Residencies

Our ASC Education Residency Program (one to three weeks) supports both teachers and students with hands-on methods and instruction in the course of producing a play. During Educational Residencies, ASC Education artists can work with a variety of ages and experience levels, from introductory to advanced. Teachers and directors can custom-build their students' experience by selecting from our available workshops. We will also work with you to tailor-fit classes or workshops for your group. We also offer rehearsal coaching, and we recommend that our time with you culminate in a final demonstration of skills learned and honed during the week.

"[The students] are still talking about you all.  They consider themselves very lucky to have worked with all of you.  The Assembly was an outstanding success — with the students as well as the faculty.  Your visit has certainly brought more excitement to our upcoming production of Macbeth." -- 2011 Educational Residency Participant

On-Site Teacher Seminars

Our ASC Education Weekend Program focuses on teachers of English and of theatre, preparing them to teach Shakespeare through performance and to stage moments and scenes in class or even, using Shakespeare’s stagecraft mount productions of his plays either outside of the classroom. Teachers will participate in lectures, demos, and workshops covering the basics of Shakespeare's Staging Conditions and why they matter in the classroom. Topics include meter, word choice, rhetoric, embedded stage directions, asides and audience contact, cues, vocal work, stage movement, special effects, music, dance, combat, and rehearsal techniques.

For further information, including pricing and detailed schedule options, please contact Sarah Enloe, Director of Education.

For more pictures and video of our various residencies and seminars, please visit us on Facebook or Youtube

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