Educational Resources
Workshops for Theatre Artists and Aspiring Artists
Rosebriar Shakespeare Company serves Central Ohio's theatre community by providing free acting workshops for actors of all experience levels. Each director who works with Rosebriar holds a free workshop about one week prior to auditions for the upcoming production. These sessions provide seasoned veterans a chance to dust off old monologues (or to try out new ones) and allows newbies and those who haven't acted since high school to learn tips and strategies for landing that juicy role. In addition to general acting technique, these workshops focus specifically on handling Shakespearean text in performance.
What to Expect
Because we let each director run the workshop, each workshop will be a little
different than the last. (So why not attend them all?) Rosebriar
requires each director, however, to spend the time helping the actors to prepare
for the upcoming audition.
Some directors might ask you to
memorize a monologue (or two!) prior to the workshop. These directors will
likely ask you to perform your monologue, give you feedback, and then work
with you to improve it
Other directors might not ask you to prepare
anything. These directors will probably focus on helping you to succeed at
doing "cold readings," a common practice at auditions where the director hands
you a script, gives you a few minutes to look it over, and then asks you to
perform it, script in hand.
Current Workshop
Rosebriar Shakespeare is offering a general Shakespeare workshop in
anticipation of our upcoming Romeo and Juliet auditions. This is for
all levels so bring a monologue, or we can give you one. You can work with other
actors on a scene or just observe. This is a chance to practice working with
Shakespeare in a supportive workshop. The workshop will be held on Saturday,
November 14 from 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM at the Southeast Branch of the Columbus
Metropolitan Library.
This workshop will be led by director Steve
Emmerson, who most recently directed RSC’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream to
rave reviews and record audiences. An Ohio native and Ashland University
graduate, Emerson brings extensive Chicago acting experience, including work
with Chicago Shakespeare, Strawdog Theatre, American Theatre Company, and many
others. While living in Madrid, Spain, he performed for The English Theatre
Workshop and served as Artistic Director for TransAtlantic Theatre Company, a
bilingual theatre company. His work as a dialogue coach for film and television
includes credits with The Queen of Swords, One of the Hollywood Ten, with Jeff
Goldblum, and John Malchovich’s The Dancer Upstairs.
