SAXTONS RIVER, Vt. – Have you ever wanted to try your hand at some Shakespeare? Main Street Arts will present a series of four workshops in which you’ll have the opportunity to “play” with the works of the Bard. John Hadden, who directed MSA’s production of Hamlet last summer, will hold the workshops on Sunday afternoons in February and March. The three-hour sessions are open to actors of all levels. Participants will begin with short monologues, and move on to bits of scenes. The workshops will include simple group exercises, conversations, and work on the speeches themselves. Class members are not obligated to work “in the spotlight,” rather the level of participation is up to the individual.
Sessions will be held from 1-4 p.m. at Main Street Arts on Feb. 19 and 26 and March 5 and 12. At the end of the final session, a “Shakespeare Tea” will be offered to the public. Willing participants can try out their work in front of a small audience of friends in a relaxed setting. A general conversation about Shakespeare in our time and place will be led by Hadden.
Hadden is a director, writer, builder, teacher, and actor living on a small farm in Landgrove, Vt. He is a founding member of Shakespeare & Co (Lenox, Mass.) and ran the Theater Company at Hubbard Hall in Cambridge, N.Y. He played Romeo, Hamlet, Iago, Richard II, Leontes, MacBeth, Lear, Merchant, Bastard, Fool, Scrooge, and Salieri in regional theaters, as well as roles on film, radio, and TV, and directed about 50 productions here and abroad.
More info about the workshops may be found at www.mainstreetarts.org/shakespeare, and any questions can be directed to johnhadden@gmail.com. Main Street Arts is located at 35 Main Street in Saxtons River, Vt.