4TH WALL THEATRE COMPANY HOLDING AUDITIONS
FOR INAUGURAL SUMMER SHAKESPEARE INTENSIVE
4th Wall Theatre Company, Houston’s home for extraordinary performances up close, is proud to announce its inaugural offering of the Summer Shakespeare Intensive for high school actors. The training program will connect 16 to 20 high school age Houston actors with acting students from the Juilliard Drama School in five weeks of rigorous Shakespearean study, training, and ultimately, performance. Philip Lehl, Co-Artistic Director of 4th Wall and alumnus of Juilliard, will serve as the program director and teacher and will share his “Verse Technique” of Shakespearean performance with program participants. Auditions for this program will be held on February 22, 2020 by appointment, and casting for the production will be color- and gender-blind in keeping with modern practices.
During the first week of the program, Lehl and the Juilliard students will introduce the Shakespearean Verse Technique to the high school students and cast them in Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.” Weeks two and three will be used to rehearse the play, and over the course of weeks four and five, both the high school and Juilliard students will put on eight public performances of “As You Like It” in 4th Wall Theatre’s professional studio space.
This program is an exciting learning and mentorship opportunity for Houston high school students. No other theatre education program in the city integrates the three core participants in 4th Wall’s Summer Program: local high school students, advanced conservatory students, and a master teacher.
The program will take place from June 21-July 25, 2020. The tuition cost for the program is $1,750. At this time, 4th Wall is able to offer four full scholarships to the program from the generous support of the Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts and the John D. and Allie Lea Orton Foundation. The scholarships will be awarded to students with demonstrated financial need.
For more information about 4th Wall’s Summer Shakespeare Intensive, please visit
4thwalltheatreco.com or follow @4thwallhouston on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Anyone who would like to audition should email
info@4thwalltheatreco.com to schedule their time. If you are interested in sponsoring a student with a donation, contact 4th Wall at
info@4thwalltheatreco.com.
About 4th Wall Theatre Company: 4th Wall Theatre Company is a professional Equity theatre in Houston, TX, founded in 2011 by married couple Philip Lehl and Kim Tobin-Lehl. 4th Wall is one of only eight Equity theatres in Houston and is proud to offer the Equity Membership Candidate Program for actors who are working towards joining the union. 4th Wall’s original name – Stark Naked Theatre Company – was changed in 2016. 4th Wall maintains an eclectic range of programming, producing standards by Shakespeare and Strindberg, American classics like “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” and several world premieres.
The mission of 4th Wall is to produce extraordinary professional theatrical experiences and to set a high standard for excellence in acting, direction, and design. 4th Wall believes that the highest quality theatre promotes an aesthetic of performance that is truthful and that only by paying artists a fair wage can Houston grow and sustain its community of professional theatre artists.
The company has garnered many accolades for its twenty-seven full productions, including the Houston Press's Mastermind Award as well as three Best Production citations in the annual Houston Theater Awards (“God of Carnage” in 2013, “Lobby Hero” in 2017, and “Jesus Hopped The ‘A’ Train” in 2019). The Co-Artistic Directors have been nominated several times for the Best Artistic Director award, winning once.
The company was incorporated in the State of Texas and is a registered 501(c)(3) with the IRS.
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