Young Shakespeare Players

The Young Shakespeare Players

Present…

Shakespeare Acting Workshop

Now Registering!

‘Shakespeare’s One-On-One: Great Two-Person Scenes’

Starting session: Saturday, February 27, 1:00-2:30 p.m. Central Time

Regular rehearsals start Saturday, March 6: Saturdays and Sundays—all 1:00-4:00 p.m. Central Time

Performances (online — and in-person, if safety permits): Late April (ending May 2)

A new Acting Workshop of Shakespeare’s dominantly two-character scenes starts soon! We will conduct it both online (on Zoom), and, later, in-person if safety permits … so, wherever you are, you can take part with us, safely!

Some of Shakespeare’s very greatest writing came when he placed just two characters together. Just think of:

Macbeth — Lady Macbeth

King Lear — Cordelia

Viola — Olivia

Romeo — Juliet

Autolycus — Young Shepherd (Clown)

Hamlet — Ophelia

Falstaff — Prince Hal

Brutus — Cassius

Othello — Iago

Angelo — Isabella

Our YSP Spring Workshop concentrates on Shakespeare’s great scenes that were dominated by just two characters — some scenes light and comic, some deadly serious. The two-character format in each scene simplifies staging and blocking problems, and allows us to concentrate on the understanding, speaking, and acting in an exceptionally focused way.

Please email rdiprima@ysp.org if you plan to take part!

Download a registration form here: YSP registration form Fall 2020

Safety Procedures:

1. During each rehearsal, we will divide our actors and directors into three groups at the YSP Playhouse — the upstairs stage, the downstairs stage, and the outside yard (or, if it is raining, the inside ramp area).

2. At no time will there be more than 10 people in any area.

3. To preserve “social distancing,” we will specially mark seats (and enforce the markings) so that actors will not sit next to one another at rehearsals — and in fact will remain at least six feet apart.

4. Every actor and director will wear a face mask throughout each rehearsal.

5. We will temporarily modify blocking so that characters who are normally close together during a scene will be kept further apart during rehearsals.

6. We will have hand sanitizer available throughout the theater, and we’ll insist on its use.

7. We will ask each actor to go, one at a time, to wash his/her/their hands several times during each rehearsal.

8. We will do certain special rehearsals, with individual characters or scenes, online on Zoom, for those actors who can do so. This will further reduce overall exposure.

9. We will sanitize all of YSP’s doorknobs, bathrooms, kitchen area, etc. daily, after each rehearsal.

Email ysp@ysp.org for more information!

The Young Shakespeare Players (YSP), a non-profit theater program founded in 1980 by Richard DiPrima, invites youth, ages 7-18, to perform full-length, original works of Shakespeare, G.B. Shaw, and Charles Dickens. There are no auditions or rejections. Any young person who registers will receive one or more substantial speaking roles. Designed to show participants, their families, and the community that these plays are delightful, accessible, and fun, YSP is the only year-round program of its kind. Actors learn to appreciate both the language and the drama in these great works as well as the technical aspects of acting and stagecraft. Special programs are also available for veteran actors, ages 14-26, and adult actors.

YSP fully incorporates each participant in every phase of production: rehearsing, directing, memorizing, providing technical support such as make-up and stage management. Performances are always admission-free, offering an affordable cultural and creative experience to participants and audience members. YSP furthers the emotional development of young people and provides them a community in which service and volunteerism is essential to the organization’s viability.