Shakespeare & Company Brings Its Weekend Acting Intensive To Chicago

Shakespeare & Company's Center for Actor Training will host its Weekend Intensive for professional actors and theater students at The Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago from Friday, Nov. 15 through Sunday, Nov. 17.

This intensive is led by the Center for Actor Training's Director Sheila Bandyopadhyay and faculty member Marie Ramirez Downing, and integrates voice, movement, and monologue work, in addition to offering an immersive introduction to Shakespeare & Company's Actor Training aesthetic.

A Designated Linklater Voice Teacher, Ramirez Downing is also an assistant professor of Acting, Voice, and Speech at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and is currently the Voice and Dialect Coach for Inherit The Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee directed by Henry Godinez at The Goodman Theatre (through October 20) and Voice Coach for the World Premiere of Ngozi Anyanwu's Leroy and Lucy, directed by Awoye Timpo at Steppenwolf Theatre Company (through December 15).

She noted that the Weekend Intensive offers area actors a chance to play with Shakespeare's text and explore the Actor-Audience aesthetic that Shakespeare & Company is known for.

"Shakespeare & Company's Intensives focus on bringing the individual actor and their unique identity to Shakespeare's text," she said. "The work we do wakes up the actor's imagination - reminding them that their history, culture, and heritage are vital to bringing Shakespeare's characters into the present world."

Shakespeare & Company's Weekend Intensives are held year-round in cities across the U.S., including New York City, Los Angeles, and Atlanta, among others. Voice, movement, and monologue work are integrated throughout the weekend, with attention paid to identifying and offering skills specific to each participant's needs. Shakespeare's language is further explored through dynamic group and individual exercises.

For more information or to apply, visit shakespeare.org/actor-training or call 413.637.1199, ext. 114. Student, BIPOC, alumni, and union discounts are available.

Photo Credit: Christina Lane