Shakespeare Academy @ Stratford to Present TWELFTH NIGHT and HENRY V

Shakespeare Academy @ Stratford (SA@S), an interdisciplinary theater training program for college students, will return to Stratford, Connecticut for a second season this summer, under the leadership of Artistic & Program Director Colleen Sullivan.

Students will perform Twelfth Night and Henry V on the grounds of the former American Shakespeare Festival Theater, Sullivan announced. The program is currently accepting applications from college students and recent graduates to join the 2015 program. The deadline to apply is April 1.

SA@S began its inaugural season last year on July 1, 2014, with fifteen college students traveling from around the U.S. to study Shakespeare performance and contemporary ensemble theater-making on the historic theater property. At the conclusion of the summer, they performed Shakespeare's Hamlet and Cymbeline in rotating repertory for the public.

In a new take on traditional Shakespeare training, SA@S offers a uniquely interdisciplinary, collaborative, and ensemble-based course of study. The launch of the program last summer marked the first time in decades that young actors have had the opportunity train and perform Shakespeare in Stratford, once home to American Shakespeare Academy.

The rigorous, collaborative six-week program includes daily classes and rehearsals, as well as masterclasses with visiting professionals and academics from institutions around the country. In 2015, Sullivan will direct Henry V, and Los Angeles-based theater director Amanda McRaven will direct Twelfth Night.

A theater director based in New York City, Sullivan holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and an MLitt in Shakespeare Performance from Mary Baldwin College and the American Shakespeare Center. McRaven is Artistic Director of the ensemble theater Fugitive Kind and formerly the Director of Education at the American Shakespeare Center.

As a project of The Mighty Quinn Foundation, SA@S honors the passion for learning and love of theater of Quinn Rooney, a Stratford resident who passed away from a rare form of brain cancer in 2012 at age 19. It was Quinn's wish to see Shakespeare study and performance revived in his hometown.

The Foundation will award two full scholarships, known as the Quinn Rooney Shakespeare Scholarships, to students attending the program this year.

For application and scholarship information, or to learn more, please visit the program's website at www.shakespeareacademystratford.org.

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