By Avi Dresner
Photos courtesy of Shakespeare & Company

“Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t” is one of Shakespeare’s most famous lines, and it certainly applies to the Center for Actor Training at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox. There, actors learn how—in another line from “Hamlet”—to “suit the action to the word, the word to the action,” which may sound simple, but takes a great deal of effort, especially when you’re speaking in iambic pentameter. The Center’s director, Sheila Bandyopadhyay, said it’s a place for actors who “want to dive more deeply into learning how to act Shakespeare,” but that’s not all. It also frees them to put the “play” in play. She said the skills apply to all actors and even non-actors who want to feel more confident in their public speaking or daily life.

The signature program is its January intensive, geared toward professional actors. Lasting 12 hours a day, six days a week for 30 days, the program begins with awareness of self, then awareness of fellow actors and the audience, and, of course, of the language of Shakespeare. It has a sibling summer intensive, geared toward collegiate actors and emerging professionals. Then there are weekend intensives and specialty workshops in Lenox and locations throughout the country, which focus on areas like breath, voice, dance, intimacy, or fight training.

Like so many of Shakespeare & Company’s staff members, training programs manager Kristen Moriarty began with a weekend intensive—in her case, in Seattle. Then she took the intensive in Lenox and said “I want to teach here.” Now she does. Her experience is not unique; all the long program faculty, who are working actors, directors, and teachers, have done the workshop themselves, sometimes multiple times. That personal experience carries over to their students. “We really craft the experience to the individual,” said Bandyopadhyay.

Gregory Boover has been with the company since 2012. This summer, he’ll perform two original songs in “Shake it Up: A Shakespeare Cabaret.” A 2017 winter intensive alum, he sums it up as “a month of digging in deep and looking inward.” That is a recurring theme in the conversations with the training program’s alumni and staff—that it offers actors a chance to explore Shakespeare’s work from their authentic selves or, as Boover puts it, in more words from “Hamlet,” “to thine own self be true.”

shakespeare.org

All the World’s a Stage

These tips from the Shakespeare & Company actor training pros can help no matter what roles you play in life.

Get out of your head and be in the moment.

Pay attention with your full body.

When you speak in public, ask yourself the following questions:
What am I saying?
Why is it important to me?
Why do I need to speak to these people?
What do I need from the audience?
What do I want them to go out and do when they finish hearing me speak?

And, finally, slow it down. You are allowed to take your time.