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| February 19th 2009 | Workshop |
| Campus | UM |
| Title | Hampshire Shakespeare Company & the Renaissance Center Theater Company present Spring 2009 Children's Theater Workshops |
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Amherst-- School vacation week workshops, COMEDY FOR ALL AGES, will once more be offered by Hampshire Shakespeare Company and the Renaissance Center Theater Company. The first session will be February 16-20, 2009; the second will be April 20-24, 2009; children may enroll for one or both. The workshop is for children ages 8-12 and seniors 65+ and meets from 9 am to 1 pm.
Participants will draw inspiration from the gallery exhibits at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art; then work together at Applewood Retirement Community in Amherst to come up with an improvised play which will be performed for family, friends and the public on the last day of the workshop on stage at Applewood. This unique intergenerational program brings together young and old to create theater together under the direction of comedian Steve Henderson, best known as Jerry Atric for his one-man shows at the Majestic Theater in Springfield. In addition to being a popular stand-up comic, Steve is an actor, director and theater educator, and is Education Director for Hampshire Shakespeare Company. Tuition $130 a week; includes museum admission and snacks. Class size limited to 12. Register by February 9 for the February workshop; by April 13 for the April one. For registration and information, call Steve at 413-788-4750, the Renaissance Center at 413-577-3600, or email slcomedy@comcast.net. For younger children, ages 6-8 years old, we offer SATURDAYS WITH SHAKESPEARE. The workshop will meet March 14, 28, April 4, 11, 18, and May 2 from 10 am to 12 noon at the Renaissance Center, 650 East Pleasant Street in Amherst. Words, words, words -- kids love them! Especially when they can play with them! But of course, many of Shakespeare's characters and stories are equally fun. In these workshops, little folks will learn theater games and the joy of improvisation as they put together their own production drawn from such favorite tales as A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night. Practical jokes, masks and disguises, mistaken identity, malapropisms -- all the Bard's best stocks-in-trade will be incorporated into the children's production which they will perform at the Renaissance Center's Shakespeare Festival on Sunday, May 3. Classes will be held at the Renaissance Center at 650 East Pleasant St., Amherst, under the direction of veteran theater educators Barry Magnani, who teaches at Pioneer Valley Performing Arts and has directed the Hampshire Shakespeare Young Company, and Lucinda Kidder, Managing Director of the Renaissance Center Theater Company and a director and teacher for over thirty-five years. $100; pre-registration required class size limited to 8. Register by March 6. For registration and information, call Lucinda at 413-577-3600, or email renaissance@english.umass.edu. |
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