Shakespeare Workshop,
Performance at Chandler

The Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph, will host "Playing With Shakespeare," a one-of-a-kind summer program featuring four professional actor/ teachers from New York City. They will demonstrate to people of all ages how to enjoy Shakespeare’s words and characters, by getting participants up on their feet and speaking them. This fun-filled afternoon will take place Sunday, July 27, with a workshop from 3-5 p.m., a performance at 5 p.m., and potluck dinner following the performance. 

In the two-hour workshop, participants will be treated like an actor about to give a performance, because they will. They will be asked to contribute their newfound knowledge of Shakespeare’s words in a one-hour performance on the stage following the workshop. They will be guided through the Elizabethan structure and learn to unravel the mysteries and meanings behind the words.

The workshop is the brainchild of actor Jamie Ward, who has performed in New York City for the last 20 years and in Vermont for the last five years. "This is a chance to know what it’s like to be a part of an acting troupe, to speak and understand the words of the greatest of English playwrights," Ward said. "There always seems to be such a mystery surrounding Shakespeare’s text, but we hope to get people on their feet, and speaking the words, moving with the play’s flow, understanding it and making it their own."

Members of "Playing With Shakespeare" also include Stephanie Danielson, Jay Devore and Sarah Wentworth.

Ward began studying Shakespeare at the Michael Howard Studio and got in a special class with Eloise Watt, a noted Shakespeare Scholar. The original group from that same class is the core of the ninth annual Shakespeare Retreat in Killington Vermont. Every year 20 actors come up from the city for an immersion in the Bard. The five-day gathering includes developing new exercises, critical readings, writing original verses and even putting on musical versions of Shakespeare’s plays. This group was the genesis for the Playing with Shakespeare workshop and performance, since Ward wanted to find a way to share the games and exercises with everyone who always wanted to speak Shakespeare but never thought they could.

To get involved and to get into the world of Shakespeare, call 728-9878 or email outreach@chandler-arts.org. Participants under the age of 10 should be accompanied by an adult. The registration deadline is Thursday, July 24 for the Sunday, July 27 performance. A minimum of 30 people are needed to run the program.

Participants are asked to bring a favorite dish or bowl of food to share at a pot-luck dinner where they can talk about their experiences with each other.

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