University students work with actors ages 8-18 in a laboratory setting to produce a Shakespearean play.

Offered each summer, the Young Actors Shakespeare Workshop serves as the laboratory for university student directors and designers to work with young actors. However, the idea for the program was born in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1974 when a group of parents recognized the need for an activity for youg people that combined the elements of recreation, cultural education, and exposure to their literary and theatrical heritage. They developed a neighborhood children's theatre program, called Shakespeare in the Backyard, that focused on the value of participation in all aspects of theatrical activity, not just performance before and audience. 

Like Shakespeare in the Backyard, the Young Actors Shakespeare Workshop offers a professionally-guided theatrical and literary introduction to the plays of William Shakespeare in the poet's oriinal Elizabethan English; a practical aquaintance with the techniques for the production of Shakespearean plays; rudimentary training in voice and movement; and the opportunity to share in the cooperative, goal-directed experience of producing a play.

The Young Actors Shakespeare Workshop has shown hundreds of young people that the plays of William Shakespeare are not "boring" or "above them," but are entirely delightful and accessible. Through this program, children learn that opportunities to participate in theatre need not always be contingent upon auditions demonstrating extraordinary talent, or extensive training. They learn that by simply expressing a desire, they can share in a natural, joyful, cooperative theatre experience.

For more information about the workshop, contact the Valparaiso University Department of Theatre at 219-464-5213. 

Past Productions of the Young Actors Shakespeare Workshop