Saving the world through iambic pentameter... Atlanta Shakespeare Company Education Programs

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1 Saving the world through iambic pentameter... Atlanta Shakespeare Company Education Programs

2 INSPIRED! delighted! thrilled! Students at the Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse enjoying A Midsummer Night s Dream matinee performance/asc

3 Our Performance Approach... The Atlanta Shakespeare Company is the only professional theater company in Georgia actively producing the classics throughout the entire academic year. Our down-to-earth Shakespeare performance style, known as Original Practice, engages students in a manner consistent with the playwright s original intent. We base our productions on Shakespeare s First Folio of plays, published in 1623 by his fellow artists. Original Practice at the Tavern ensures that students and teachers will: Sit in the region s only Elizabethan-style playhouse, inspired by Shakespeare s own Globe Theatre. Watch productions featuring actors in Elizabethan period costumes. Hear period music on live instruments and live actor-created sound effects. Thrill to dynamic, dramatic sword fights. Participate in a living, breathing, and exciting theatrical experience, made more engaging by an active relationship between actor and audience ASC Education Programs Inside this Issue... Why Original Practice? How to Reserve Tickets to a Performance Mainstage Performance calendars New Programming: Shakespeare 4 Kids S.L.A.W Shakespeare, the Language that Shaped a World How to Book Shakespeare on Location In-Class Playshops Design Your Own Residencies More Ways to Explore Theatre Studying and watching Shakespeare in performance this way inspires enthusiasm for clear and insightful interpretations of classical drama. We make sure that nothing gets in the way of understanding the story or characters language, motivations, and lives. And no museum-like recreations of the plays here - for us, as for Shakespeare s original audiences, poetry is a living thing actively created anew through the relationship between actor and audience during every performance!

4 Daniel Parvis, Matt Felten, and Nicholas faircloth in 2013 production of The Tempest/ASC

5 Why Original Practice?!! 1. We try to honor the original playing conditions of Shakespeare s own company. Set on our Elizabethanstyle playhouse stage, our productions feature period costumes, live period music, and thrilling sword fights. When Rosalind wonders what to do with her doublet and hose, she s actually wearing a doublet and hose. When characters challenge one another to draw their swords, they draw periodappropriate weapons. When a king calls for a song to be played on a lute, we play an actual lute. We often hear from teachers that our Original Practice Shakespearean productions are an excellent choice for students, particularly for those who are new to Shakespeare or his plays in performance. We think there are four really good reasons for this: 2. We believe that setting a Shakespeare play in the 1990 s or the Arctic can be a really cool experience for scholars and audiences who are already comfortable with Shakespeare s work (and trust us, we have seen some very cool productions like that!) In our experience as educators, however, the Original Practice agreement between what s referenced in the text and what appears onstage can be extremely helpful for students who are still grappling with Shakespeare s countless references to Elizabethan society. Our dynamic performance style: our actors are always aware of everyone in the room. Students will feel the performers excitement, experience the stories with them, and in true Elizabethan fashion, they will always be included in the joke. Even though you as an audience member don t have specific lines to say, we view Shakespeare s text as a conversation rather than a lecture. You become an active part of that conversation, and we ve found that goes a long way towards making Shakespeare s language accessible and clear. the play you teach is the play your students see You will be treating your students to essentially the same full-length productions, featuring our top actors, that we present to our evening patrons. Come experience it for yourself!

6 Reserve Your Tickets Today! The play that you teach is the play you see when you bring your students to one of our performances: Call our Box Offif ice at ext. 0 or boxoff ifice@shakespearetavern.com. Tell us your preferred date/show and the TOTAL number of tickets. Please leave a message if there is no answer. Titles, Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol, Romeo and Juliet, Wilder s Our Town, and Twelfth Night. Performances Pricing: $14.00/ticket; General admission. Seating begins at 9:30am. Payment for groups of 100 or more may be in two installments. A nonrefundable $500 deposit is due upon invoice. The remainder is due thirty days before the performance. Payment for groups of less than 100 students must be paid in full one month prior to the performance date. Receive 1 free adult matinee ticket for every 25 tickets purchased. We recommend at least one adult chaperone for every 25 students. We will have an American Sign Language Interpreter at a select number of performances - please ask the Box Office for more information. Box Lunches for s All food must be ordered in advance. Each lunch contains a turkey wrap sandwich, potato chips, fruit, cookie, and fruit drink. Special dietary needs accommodated. Pricing: $7 per lunch (not included in ticket price.) Give your students a treat with our hot apple crisp and ice cream at intermission! Must be ordered in advance. $6 each. Evening Performances We can most easily accommodate student groups on Thursday and Sunday nights. Student/Educator prices for evening performances (prices subject to change based on availability): Thursday: Main floor seats: $15 Saturday: (no discount) Main floor: $39; Box: $33; Balcony: $25 Friday: Main floor seats: $30; Box seats: $24; Balcony seats: $18 Sunday: Main floor seats: $29; Bos: $21; Balcony: $15 THE FINE PRINT: Reservations without a credit card must be paid by cash/check within 7 days of making the reservation or tickets will be released. Tickets are nonrefundable. If payment is made by school check/credit card it is a tax exempt sale. If cash, a personal check/credit card is used, 8% sales tax is applied. ASC will make every effort to work with your group when placing your reservation. However, if payment has not been received by the due date, cancellations/rescheduling may occur at ASC s discretion. Invoices are mailed to you for your records and to ensure the accuracy of your reservation information. Reservations are cancelled by returning your invoice to us with CANCEL written on the invoice. Cancellations must be received no later than thirty days before the performance date. ALL DATES, TITLES, AND PRICES SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

7 Two sets of twins, one case of mistaken identity and a nun walk onto the stage. No, it s not the start of a joke, but it is hilarious! The Comedy of Errors takes Shakespearean funny to such slaphappy heights, you ll be dizzy with laughter. This tale of the merchant twins Antipholus and the servant twins Dromio is full of errors, upsets, and fun. The Comedy of Errors Pericles, Prince of Tyre A dark and troubling riddle starts the heroic adventure of one man s lifetime, a story of love gained, lost and gained again. Shakespeare woos us with his most epic theatrical journey. Join us as we follow the noble Pericles over continents and through the decades with goddesses, pirates, jousts and tempests. Mon SEP 1 Tues 2 Wed 3 Thurs 4 Fri Sat 5 6 Sun 7 Mon 8 Tues 9 Wed 10 The Comedy of Errors 15 & & Pericles, Prince of Tyre Thurs Sat 13 Sun 14 Pericles, Prince of Tyre 22 Fri 12 $15 preview $20 Preview Opening Night Pericles, Prince of Tyre

8 A haunting saga most rich and strange. grapples with power, greed and his ambitious wife. Nature has more to teach us than we admit. Mon 13 Tues 14 Wed OCT 1 15 Thurs 2 Fri Sat 3 4 Sun 5 Pericles, Prince of Tyre Mon = Sold Out Date Wed 8 Thurs 9 Fri 10 Sat 11 Sun Tues 7 $15 Opening preview Night NOV 1 2

9 NOV Twelfth Night 9 Twelfth Night A shipwreck, separated identical twins, mistaken identities, romance and one pair of yellow stockings welcome to Orsino s court and the zany world of Twelfth Night. *All Mainstage Titles and Performance Dates subject to change* Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Twelfth Night Twelfth Night Twelfth Night 30

10 Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol A Holiday Tradition at The Shakespeare Tavern, ASC is proud of this very special adaptation of a timeless classic. A handful of actors bring the wondrous art of storytelling to life, transporting you to Scrooge s London counting house that fateful Christmas when Scrooge meets three Ghosts and a certain little boy named Tiny Tim. This enchanting holiday experience will bring the magic of the season to Scrooge, to The Tavern, and to you. Join us for some Dickens, a bit of song, and a lot of holiday cheer. Mon DEC 1 15 Tues 2 16 Wed 3 Thurs 4 Fri Sat 5 6 A Christmas Carol Opening Night :00p A Christmas Carol Sun 7 Mon 8 Tues 9 Wed 10 Sat 13 Sun 14 2:00p A Christmas Carol Fri 12 A Christmas Carol A Christmas Carol 22 Thurs 11 2:00p

11 = Sold Out Date The lecherous Sir John Falstaff sets his sights on the Wives of Windsor, leading to a side splitting evening filled with mischief, schemes, a buck basket, a wood full of fairies and one pair of horns. The Merry Wives of Windsor Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun JAN 1 $15 preview The Merry Wives of Windsor Opening Night The Merry Wives of Windsor The Merry Wives of Windsor The Merry Wives of Windsor FEB 1 The Merry Wives of Windsor 2:00p

12 We invite you to join us for our 15th anniversary of performing this timeless play about young lovers, feuding families and one Friar with good intentions. Missed out on a matinee because it sold out early? Book the next best thing: one of our Education Tours or Playshops in Performance. We bring the story and actors to your classroom. No extrafi field trip to plan! The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet Contact Kati Grace Brown , ext. 57 or katigrace@shakespearetavern.com. Mon FEB 2 16 Tues 3 17 Wed 4 Thurs 5 Fri Sat 6 7 Sun 8 The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet Opening Night The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet Mon 9 Tues 10 Wed 11 Fri 13 Sat 14 Sun 15 The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet 23 Thurs MAR 1 The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

13 = Sold Out Date The Winter s Tale I have drunk and seen the spider. As winter sets in, The Tavern is proud to bring this rarely produced play to our stage. Watch as a man s unfounded jealousy loses him his wife, children and best friend. Yet, in this mellowest and least cynical of the mature Shakespearean masterpieces, love, Arcadian innocence and magic are triumphant in the end. Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun MAR R&J R&J $15 Preview 19 6 $20 Preview 7 The Winter s Tale 20 Opening Night 21 The Winter s Tale R&J R&J 11 R&J 25 R&J The Winter s Tale 28 The Winter s Tale 15 29

14 The Tavern stage becomes small town America this spring. Our stage set will be stripped bare to bring the love story of George and Emily to life including all of the characters in their lives... in our lives... in our town. Narrated by Artistic Director Jeff Watkins as Wilder s Stage Manager, The Tavern s production of this modern classic is sure to warm your heart, make you smile and bring a tear to your eye. Thornton Wilder s Our Town Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun APR $15 preview 16 3 Our Town Opening Night Thornton Wilder s Our Town Thornton Wilder s Our Town Thornton Wilder s Our Town 12 26

15 Can t Come to Us? We ll Come to You! Shakespeare: the Language that Shaped a World

16 New Programming!! By Erin Hurley Sheffield Music by Andrew Kane Originally produced at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival At the ASC, we think it is never too young to introduce students to the magic of Shakespeare. This 50 minute performance, specifically geared towards elementary school students, offers a dynamic (and sometimes wacky) but always fun-filled way to get your students excited about learning the classics. You supply the space (A large classroom or auditorium works just fine!) and we will provide the Bard s most enduring stories in a kid-friendly package that will spark the imagination of your students. A production filled with music, mayhem, some friendly sock puppets, crazy costumes, a magic plot easel named Pleasel and a special show robot (aptly named Sho-bot ), your students may even leave quoting some Shakespeare and singing in the aisles. Either way, we know you ll all leave smiling. We will be offering two different version of S4K with limited dates available, so act fast! September 2014, December 2014: A Midsummer Night s Dream February 2015: Romeo and Juliet Price: $5.00 per student, 150 student maximum per performance For more information and to schedule your performance, contact Tony Brown: tony@shakespearetavern.com

17 S.L.A.W!! Shakespeare: the Language that Shaped a World Bring your students the best of what the Bard has to offer with a 50-minutes live performance called Shakespeare: the Language That Shaped a World. Four ASC professional actors will bring a collection of Shakespeare s most famous characters to life while simultaneously providing your students with essential knowledge about the life world s most beloved playwright and his lasting impact on the language that we speak today. Whether as an introduction to Shakespeare s work or as a supplement to continuing classroom study, this program is appropriate for grades Set-up is simple too: you provide the space (a stage or auditorium space works best!) and we will take care of the rest. Our actors are also available for a 10 minute Q & A session with your students after each performance. Price: $5.00 per student, 200 student maximum per performance To bring this unique performance experience to your school, contact Kati Grace Brown: , ext. 57 or katigrace@shakespearetavern.com.

18 Matt Felten and Mary Russell in 2013 Touring production of A Midsummer Night s Dream/ASC

19 Shakespeare on Location!!! This Season s Play: A Midsummer Night s Dream Your date must be confirmed (with a signed agreement and a 50% deposit) no less than two months prior to the date of your event. We recommend reserving your Shakespeare On Location no less than 3 months in advance of your preferred dates! Can t bring your students to us for a matinee performance? Does your school have a 400+ seat theatre? Can t deal with the never-ending hassle of a school field trip? Never fear, the ASC is coming to the rescue! Our unique Shakespeare On Location program brings the magic of live theatre (complete with a full set, costumes and props) to your students in the comfort of their own school. And just think, you don t have to pay for buses or worry about departure times, traffic or who forgot to pack a lunch! Want your kids to speak Shakespeare, too? Add playshops to your event. Contact Tony Brown at ext 55 or Tony@ shakespearetavern.com for more questions and special requests! Cost: $14.00 (400 student minimum), Early Bird Specials available. Add a playshop: Additional $4.00 per student Available Dates: Sep 24 & 25, Apr 9 & Apr 16 Back From Break Special (300 tix/min): Jan 7, 8, 14, 15, 27 & 28

20 14 Actors on-site, Shakespeare In-Depth The Atlanta Shakespeare Company Playshops A team of our ASC Education Artists come to your school and your students work closely with them in smaller groups to unleash an exciting, immediate, and personal experience of Shakespeare s language, which they quickly make their own in the acting and performing process. Students at all levels of reading, comprehension and language skills can fully participate in any of our playshops. Our playshops fulfill a number of College and Career Readiness Standards, as well as ELACC2 RL1/RL4, ELACC6 RL1/RL4/RL12, ELACC6 SL1 and ELACC6L4 (among others)! Availability: Entire school year. Bring your Lesson Plans to Life!

21 The Playshop in Performance (grades 3-12) In brief: The Playshop in Performance is a 55-minute event in which the students will be active and on their feet for the entire time working on a piece of text from a Shakespeare play which will then be performed for their classmates. Play Selection: Any Shakespeare title and Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol. If the students haven t studied the play yet, they will get a solid introduction to most of the characters and situations in the play, as well as key language. If the students have begun studying the play, a Playshop will help them appreciate it in different and more in-depth ways, reinforcing the work teachers have done in class. The Playshop Space: A space that is large enough for the whole group to form a large circle and divide up into smaller groups to work apart. Normally, the school s auditorium works well. Playing Shakespeare Funny (grades 10-12) Designed for older students who have had some exposure to dramatic literature or acting. They will explore one of Shakespeare s popular high comedies (Much Ado about Nothing, A Midsummer Night s Dream, OR The Taming of the Shrew) for all types of funny. We discuss comedy rules to follow or break at will! This Playshop is fabulous for ELA classrooms investigating how Shakespeare s own actors might have approached the scripts, characters, language and situations in some of his greatest plays. This program will allow you to prove that Shakespeare s plays really ARE meant to be heard out loud and in front of an audience! Students will discover: Why Shakespeare appreciated the creative art of the outrageous insult. Contrapuntal argument--what happens when we use the energy of a silly argument about absolutely nothing to energize Shakespeare s language? What is rhetoric? How does Shakespeare use it in his comedies? Comedy is not just following rules but breaking them! We require a minimum two weeks notice to schedule your Playshop, so please contact us as soon as you can. We can accomodate up to 50 students in each Playshop; additonal Playshops can be added as needed. Cost: $7.00 per student, 20 student minimum. For these and any other playshops, Contact Kati Grace Brown at , ext. 57 or education@shakespearetavern.com

22 Design your own Shakespeare Classroom! Our Education Artists work with you to create Residencies. Some recent examples include:»1 class period/week for 10 weeks, with mini-scene and monolgue performance for the school.»an intensive two-week Shakespeare elective course.»a focused curriculum with inclass time 2 or 3 days/week throughout the semester and a final performance for family and students.»the Renaissance Youth Residency: an intensive 8-week after-school Residency with up to 50 students to rehearse and receive training in Shakespearean text, stage combat, madrigal singing and more. We finish with a student production of a Shakespeare play performed both in school and on our mainstage (depending on availability). Nothing helps students forge prsonal connections to Shakespeare s poetry quite so well as the chance to enact his words on stage. If you re looking to give your students a deeper experience with Shakespearean drama than a one-hour playshop might afford, a residency can assist you in bringing the power of this classic literature to your classroom. Our residencies come in all shapes and sizes, but every Residency allows your students to explore Shakespeare s text through personal attention from professional actors/ trained Education Artists. Most teachers request that a Residency culminate in a final performance, but the program goals are entirely up to you!»encourage participation for every student regardless of theatrical experience or academic speciality! ASC EDucation Residencies Will...»Work with students of all ages, from 4th through 12th grade!»help students speak Shakespeare s language with understanding, emotional connection and authority! The options are endless. Simply let us know what would best suit your particular needs. Be sure to check out our website for more information on some of our most popular titles: A Hamlet Whodunnit, MacMurder and CSI: Romeo and Juliet! Design your Residency: Contact Kati Grace Brown at , ext. 57 or education@shakespearetavern.com

23 Question and Answer Sessions Let us know when you are planning a visit to the Tavern and we ll be glad to provide a short Q&A session after your matinee or evening visit at no additional charge. Please allow two weeks to schedule the event. When ordering tickets with the box office let them know you would also like a Q&A. Back Stage Tours Tours of the back stage areas are available on a limited basis. Our space limits groups to 25 or less for back stage tours. To schedule Q&A s, Back Stage Tours, or an Educational Speaker, contact education@shakespearetavern.com Playshop/Theatre Tour Package On select weekdays we can host Playshop/Theatre Tour fieldtrips. Tour backstage areas of our theatre, have fun in your Playshop, and finish with your Playshop performance on our stage (when available). Please allow at least two weeks for scheduling. Education Speaker s Bureau Would you like a professional actor from the Tavern to visit your school to about Shakespeare scholarship, performance or about career choices in the performing arts? Let ASC serve as your education speaker s bureau. A small honorarium is payable directly to the artist scheduled. Even More Ways to Explore Theater!!! Student Volunteer Program You provide approximately six students (and an adult chaperone with middle- and high-schoolers) for an evening at the Tavern (6:00 p.m. to 10:45 p.m., one hour earlier on Sundays). In exchange for volunteer services (taking tickets, handing out programs, maintaining the house before the show, during intermission, and after the show, etc.) we provide a free drink, a discount on food, a tour of the backstage area and/or a discussion with an actor/actors after the show if requested, and, of course, all volunteers get to see the show for free! Please make sure you request a Q&A and tour ahead of time. If you are interested, please send an to Suzanne@shakespearetavern.com or call and leave a message on the ASC Volunteer Hotline at (404) x59.

24 Atlanta Shakespeare Company 499 Peachtree Street NE Atlanta Georgia The Atlanta Shakespeare Company (ASC) is supported in part by the Gerogia Council for the Arts (GCA) through the appropriations of the Georgia General Assembly. GCA is a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art. ASC is funded in part by the Fulton County Commission under the guidance of the Fulton County Arts Council. Major support is provided by the City of Atlanta Mayor s Office of Cultural Affairs. But, PRIMARILY, ASC is funded through the generous support by people just like you.