Join us in June for a 3-week deep dive into Shakespeare and theater arts, focusing on basic stagecraft and carpentry, stage voice and movement, and scene and text analysis, all grounded in rehearsal and performance of Shakespeare’s Henry V along with trained professional actors during the 3rd Annual Viroqua Shakespeare Festival here in beautiful southwestern Wisconsin.
The Thoreau College Summer Shakespeare Intensive is a course designed for actors of all ages and experience levels. Whether you’re a high school or college student interested in studying Shakespeare outside of the school year, or an experienced actor seeking an opportunity to re-engage with actor training or add to your repertoire of skills, this course is for you.
Program participants will engage with an experimental and emerging initiative in American higher education, in the context of a vibrant rural culture in southwestern Wisconsin, while contributing to the development of the Viroqua Shakespeare Festival in its 3rd year. In addition to the course of study, the summer months in Viroqua, Wisconsin are packed with live music, farmers markets, craft fairs, and abundant opportunities for hiking, camping, swimming, and more.
The course will integrate offerings from guest instructors alongside core work of the Thoreau faculty, fellows, and our scholar-in-residence, together embracing an embodied rhythm of morning stretching and team communications, reading and discussion, cooking or baking, some shared meals, and physical activity through rehearsal, set building, acting study, and more. Theatrical activities may also be put on pause here and there, for a walk in the woods, or an arts and crafts workshop.
Program Elements:
A daily routine of morning stretching, check-ins, and team communications.
Basic carpentry, set construction and stagecraft in preparation for the production of Henry the Fifth.
Afternoon movement and voice workshops, as well as unstructured free time with opportunities for 1-on-1 sessions with the director and assistant director.
Participants will synthesize the fruits of their studies during evening rehearsals for Henry the Fifth, which will be presented during the final weekend of June at the 3rd Annual Viroqua Shakespeare Festival.
