Each summer, Young Shakespeare Workshop gathers students together to create a new community bound by a love of words. Because we charge no tuition, we are uniquely positioned to draw together students from all walks of life. Our only requirement is a passion for language.
Young Shakespeare Workshop empowers its participants to take ownership of rich, exciting, beautiful, subtle, dangerous, passionate language. The kind of ownership that only physical performance can give, spoken to an audience, lived in the moment of performance, breathing the life within the words as your own. Students begin work with sonnets, progressing to speeches and scenes during their first year, to work on an entire play as a returning student. The First Year Students meet for seven weeks, five days a week, three hours a day for text, voice, and fencing classes, culminating in a recital of sonnets, speeches, and scenes at the Broadway Performance Hall. The Returning Students produce and perform a Shakespearean play, touring it to a variety of venues indoor and out. Last summer's play was Much Ado About Nothing (see performance page for photos).
During the academic year, Young Shakespeare also provides school and after-school based residencies.