RICHARD III: Play-in-a-Day Success!

Our lastest Play-in-a-Day endeavor was another smashing success!
A big round of applause for our fantastic cast that brought the show to life:

Kyle Oram

Brett Merritt

Chelsea Frandsen

Annie Pulsipher

Haleigh Cole

Leviticus Brown

Zoe Wilde

Lianna Manibog

Paul Wuthrich

Katie Sue Sullivan

Ellesse Hargreaves

Aaron Gaines

Mara Davi Gaines

Kat Webb

Amy Smith

Greg Larsen

Bonnie Larsen

Eric Phillips

Matt Carlin

Alex Ungerman

Daniel Whiting

Aubrey Warner

 BRAVO!

We'd also like to acknowledge those behind the scenes who put in some serious blood, sweat, and tears pulling this all together:

Script Editors:

Trevor Robertson

Kyle Oram

Daniel Anderson

Alex Ungerman

Jessamyn Svensson

Casting:

Kyle Oram

Trevor Robertson

Alex Ungerman

Daniel Anderson

Costuming/Props:

Daniel Whiting

Alex Ungerman


Registration:
Elisa Bushman


Fight Choreography:
Matt Carlin


Catering:
Elisa Bushman
Eric Phillips


 Photography:
J Kelly Oram
Elisa Bushman

To see more pics of this epic show, Check out
our album on Facebook!

And last but not least, thanks to the great audience that turned up to see the show!

Once More Unto the Breach, Dear Friends!

Enrollment now open for
Henry V: Play-in-a-Day
Join us onstage as we rehearse and perform Shakespeare's beloved history!
If you can commit to memorize a scene or two, we'll send you a script and give you a part in what may prove to be the merriest and most entertaining Battle at Agincourt you'll ever see!

To sign up, send us an e-mail at:
Workshops@GrassrootsShakespeare.com

or head over to our flashy new online sign-up form at
GrassrootsShakespeare.com

How Grassroots Workshops Began: Throw a few cue scripts out and see what happens

Who in their right mind wouldn't want a crack at playing Hamlet?

Last summer, during our tour of Much Ado About Nothing we found ourselves with an open week in the middle of June. Several of our cast members had committed to other projects and were unavailable to perform and we had all this great momentum coming off our first two weeks of shows. We were so excited about the response Grassroots was receiving, and we wanted to keep the excitement up in any way we could.
The following is a gChat brainstorm between Mark Oram and myself where we discuss how to get the word out about Grassroots during our week without shows.

6/10/09
8:27 PM
mark: i want to organize some kind of advertising blitz. see if we can get fans to help spread the word... so if you think of any ideas along those lines, let's talk about them. i was thinking maybe another event, uploading some posters and flyers to the blog, and urging people to help us get our name out...a grassroots campaign, if you will. thoughts?

alex: hmmm.

an event this week is out--unless we combine it with one of the shows at one of the fests...

we could have some sort of non-performing event next week...?

mark: oh, i just meant a facebook event, but a bbq or something for the fans could potentially be fun, although probably not cost effective.

unless we made it a fundraiser too...

alex: what if we held some sort of workshop for people who were interested

mark: ooooooh, that's a cool idea!

alex: I've had a lot of people come up to me at shows saying "I want in, how can I get involved?"

mark: yeah! same. we could totally do something like that... throw a few cue scripts at them and see what happens...

alex: yeah, that could be super fun to try out another one hour cutting via cue scripts...

really time intensive to prepare, but it could be a blast

and could help us fill that dead week

mark: right. right.

alex: and cast attendance would of course be voluntary

mark: yes. (totally unrelated ps)\ - did you watch this yet? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS6G1vkhc9Y&feature=player_embedded

it's hilarious.

anyway, i think we should do this. totally.

alex: what if: we get a list of people who would be committed to participating, and divvy-ed up the script and had each person only memorize one scene--switch out roles every scene.

(watching)

that's a riot

mark: it would be easier to hand out cue scripts at the event, but it would be more fun if we had committed people who could come memorized... do you think we could get such people?

alex: if they only had to memorize one scene--yes

mark: okay, let's try it.

alex: but for that to work, we need to either a) get a LOT of committed people so that we'll have enough for everyone to play one scene or

(more likely) b) we'll have them memorize some of the more exciting/memorable scenes from the play and just fill in the others on book.

by the by--if you have any down time at work, there's a book you've GOT to read

it's worth ordering off amazon

Peter Brook's 'The Empty Space'

just brilliant, you'd love it.

he's a former RSC director and the book is a collection of lectures he gave on the nature of theatre--really incredible insights

mark: thanks for the recommendation, i'll look it up!

also, b) sounds like a good mix.

alex: yeah, I think that could work.

I think it could be fun to pick a tragedy

mark: i was thinking the same thing.

alex: awesome. I knew there was a reason we were friends.

mark: hamlet, othello, lear?

alex: what about a week from thursday, in the evening. 6-10

mark: let me check that date...

Yep, June 18th looks good for me.

alex: just thinking out loud--a week day could be better than a friday or saturday evening because no one wants to give up date nights

mark: yeah, i think you're right.

alex: and good luck doing anything with a large group of people on sat afternoon--it's the default scheduling landfill of the week

selection...hmmm

what about trying a lesser known

there's so many that I've never even seen before

I'd love to expand the repertoire

and workshop could be a good time to do it

mark: sure, but we don't want to spend all our time untangling a plot at the expense of fun characters...

alex: true true

so true

mark: so histories are out.

alex: for sure

what about winter's tale?

on second thought--hamlet could be a great draw

who in their right mind wouldn't want a crack at playing one scene as hamlet

in fact what if we only gave out hamlet's lines to memorize?

everyone else plays auxillary lines on book

mark: that sounds GREAT. also, gender-blind okay with you?

alex: absolutely! that's what would make it fun!

mark: fantastic.

alex: also, what if we ask Chris Clark if we could have permission to use the Young Company cutting of hamlet?

mark: good call, that would save untold hours.

alex: so we can spend our time on cue scripts versus cutting

mark: yeah. 

alex: I'll bet we can get all the c-web kids in on this

fading flower cast members too.

mark: Absolutely. Yes. Oh, this is going to be good.

alex: we should try to extend individual invitations too before we send out an e-blast

could help our attendance

mark: for sure.

alex: ring. "Hello?" "hi! we want you to play hamlet!"

who wouldn't bite on that?

mark: agreed. it's a great draw. i'll get that script from Chris and start the cue scripts cooking. tonight we could get cast members calling around, and then this weekend we could create that e-vite to get everyone else...

alex: SO

let's start calling/messaging peeps and see what kind of a response we get

then we'll distribute cue scripts on monday(?) to give everyone enough time to memorize a scene for thursday

mark: hopefully i can get them out before then, but yeah, monday is a good deadline.

alex: and on second thought, perhaps we should try to get entire scenes memorized--I mean all the parts--it would work so much better for a workshop format

that way we can actually block and tweak some scenes

AND get through the whole play

mark: it would definitely work better. are we supposed to cast it, then?

alex: let's see who we can drum up--and then draw names out of a hat

I don't know

mark: :) casting is always the best part.

alex: yeah--let's cast it

we know we want to.

mark: alright, and depending on interest, we have a different cast for each scene? or at least different principles?

alex: yes--I think that's a great idea

mark: alright. let's get our list of takers, divvy up the parts, and make it happen.

alex: done and done.

now to figure out how to sell it...
9:16 PM

And that was the beginnings of our workshop experiences. Hamlet turned out to be such a great success that we kept on doing workshops all year long, following with A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Winter's Tale, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, and Julius Caesar.
Last week we opened enrollment for our eighth Play-in-a-Day production by revisiting A Midsummer Night's Dream in a new workshop cutting--which will rehearse and perform on Saturday July 31st.
Participation is, as always, open to all.
Come play with us!

Check out details for A Midsummer Night's Dream on Facebook, then sign-up here to participate as an actor!

Et tu Brutus?

Our thanks go out to all of our brave actors and audience members who endured the chilly spring air to commemorate with us the Ides of March and Julius Caesar's tragic downfall.

The workshop was one of our best, and even featured renowned Shakespearean scholar and director Christopher Clark!

 

Professor Christopher Clark joined the action to share his insights on what acting was like in Shakespeare's England

 

Skies were clear for our open-air workshop and performance

Julius Caesar the seventh workshop of this type produced by The Grassroots Shakespeare Company, which was founded to promote the exploration of theatrical practices and techniques utilized by actors in Shakespeare's day. These workshops allow participants to try their hand at acting a variety of roles from some of the Bard's greatest masterpieces.

 

 Participants received scripts on Tuesday evening, just four short days to memorize before meeting on Saturday for the performance. 

Shakespeare's actors would have received a handwritten, incomplete copy of the script to memorize. Each actor received only the lines he spoke, and the end of the preceding line from the character who spoke before to cue him.

 

 Actors gather in the park Saturday evening for a single rehearsal before performing. Just as in Shakespeare's day, there is no director. Actors work together to collaboratively stage and rehearse the material.

At the Globe, actors probably received line readings from a coach as they memorized, but typically only gathered for rehearsal on the day of the performance to practice any staged combat or dancing.

   

 The workshops are open enrollment and are supported by donations and a small cover fee. Seasoned actors and first-timers alike are all welcome to join in the adventure and exploration of Shakespeare's brilliant works.

       

  The Globe Theatre in London was closer to a small, open-air arena than to the indoor, climate controlled theatres of today. Our workshops are rehearsed and performed outdoors whenever possible--even when it is a bit chilly. 

    

 Costuming in Shakespeare's day was rarely accurate according to time and place, but often an amalgamation of contemporary garb layered with accents suggestive of character and setting.

Our actors are invited to bring any costume pieces that suit their roles, and in addition, we supply simple accents that denote character and provide some continuity for the audience. 

 

Women were forbidden from the base and vulgar profession of acting in Elizabethan England, and as a result, all roles were played by men.

To experience what sort of interest, spectacle, and humor this situation can provide, our workshops are cast gender-blind.

If you are interested in participating in one of our upcoming workshops, send us an e-mail at:

Workshop@GrassrootsShakespeare.com


More pics here!

A Grassroots Actors' Workshop: JULIUS CAESAR!

Have you always dreamed of performing in a toga? What about warning someone to "beware the Ides of March?" Or perhaps stabbing Julius Caesar in cold blood?

Well NOW'S YOUR CHANCE!

Sign up for the Grassroots Shakespeare Company's next workshop, JULIUS CAESAR, today. Just send an email to workshop@grassrootsshakespeare.com and we'll take care of the rest!

Whatever your experience level, you're invited to come and try your hand at one of Shakespeare's most famous tragedies. Chris Clark, professor of theatre at UVU, will be there to give us the skinny on Elizabethan acting, and Matt Carlin, our resident fight choreographer, will be sharing his expertise as well. We're working hard to make sure this is our highest quality workshop to date, so make sure to come and invite your friends and family!

Now, if you're new to this whole "grassroots" thing, let me explain:

We're crazy. Once you know that, the rest of it makes a lot more sense. See, we're trying to produce Shakespeare plays in a process similar to that used by Shakespeare's original actors. They only had a couple weeks to memorize their lines, and a few hours of group rehearsal, before performing their furiously fast and witty plays. Our workshops approximate that process. You are given a few roles from different scenes, which you memorize on your own. Then, on the day of the workshop, you simply come play. It's fast, fun, improvisational, and unique. And it's totally safe. Go big, and the audience will love you for it. Fail big - they'll love you for that, too.

If you're interested in learning more about us, email me at Mark@GrassrootsShakespeare.com and I'd be happy to answer any of your questions.

Go Grassroots!

Twelfth Night: Success!

Special thanks go out to:

Our Audience--for laughing with us and at us. We are nothing without your continued support!

Our Participants--for being ready to take a risk and step on stage. For memorizing, Our participants this time around were probably more memorized and prepared than they had ever been before! And for giving us such a great show!

Daniel Whiting--You never would have known it, but this was Daniel's first time running the workshop. And he did a marvelous job!

Julie Garbutt--for finding us a place to hold the workshop! We could not have done it without her!

Jyllian Petrie--for outstanding work on costuming and props! and much help in organizing!

Jordan Vance and Becca Ingram--For tackling the arduous task of casting 24 people in 60 roles! No easy job!

Kyle Oram--for help co-ordinating, advertising, organizing, and excessive awesomeness. Not to mention excellent work on the guitar.

Jason Sullivan--for handling our donations and finances, and for contributing in our preparations!

Matt Carlin--for superb work keeping us both safe and entertained during our stage fights!

Jordan Campbell--for taking our show to the next level with some great music!

Mark Oram and Alex Ungerman--for an excellent and timely cutting! And for writing lots of e-mails and fielding correspondence.

Bill Shakespeare--for writing some great plays.

Kate McPherson--for being our champion and Resident Scholar (and excellent solicitor of donations) We would not exist without her influence.

Trevor Robertson--for advertising and flyers and consistent reliability.

Adam Decker, Claudia and Emily Dorsey, Michael Nagro, Miranda McPherson--for consistently and continually signing-up and contributing great performances!

Mel Leilani Larson--for encouraging her students to come!

Again, Our Audience--for being wonderfully supportive, patient, understanding, and encouraging. We had 75 turn out to see the show! That's fantastic!


Our next workshop is already in the works--join us on our Facebook fanpage to receive updates on developments as they are hatched!

Workshop Enrollment Now Open!

TWELFTH NIGHT--workshop January 16th

e-mail:
workshop@grassrootsshakespeare.com
to enroll.

This is how it works:
1-You sign-up via e-mail. Just send us a message and let us know you want a piece of the action.

2-We randomly assign parts. You recieve a few scenes from us about 4 or 5 days before the workshop. You memorize your lines.

3-You show up Saturday January 16th at 5pm ready to work hard and have a good time. You've read a synopsis of the play, you've done a bit of homework, and you've memorized your lines.
We rehearse for a few hours, then we play.

4-You perform a fast paced and furiously funny one-hour cutting of Twelfth Night. All your friends and family come to see you perform. Good times all around.

SIGN UP TODAY TO RESERVE YOUR SLOT!



questions? Send them on over to bard@grassrootsshakespeare.com

ROMEO&JULIET

Fast-paced, funny, thrilling, and touching!
Come see the one-time only performance of The Grassroots Shakespeare Company workshop production:

ROMEO&JULIET:remixed

It's the culmination of a manic
3 hour rehearsal process
involving 31 actors,
61 parts,
and a 1 hour cutting
of a 400 year old play.

You've never seen Shakespeare done quite like this before!

PERFORMANCE:
Nelke Theatre
Harris Fine Arts Center at BYU
9pm

ADMISSION: Free!
(Voluntary Donations will be collected after the show)

Enroll Today:

ROMEO&JULIET: Remixed

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN
E-Mail: GrassrootsShakespeare@gmail.com to participate!

So....What is this?

-This is an open-enrollment workshop immersion in "original-practice" Shakespeare--That means no director, no designers, and minimal rehearsal!

-Actors will receive scripts and roles six days prior to rehearsal and performance.

-On the day of performance, actors will meet for an intensive three hour rehearsal which will culminate in the performance of an abridged, one-hour cutting of the play.

-The process is fast, demanding, and rewarding.

-Your job: Sign Up. Memorize. Show up.

You MUST email us at:
GrassrootsShakespeare@Gmail.com
if you want to participate as an actor.
Workshop cost is $5, payable on the day of performance.
An optional meal will be provided at an additional minimal cost.

TIMELINE:

Saturday November 14th:
Registration Deadline

Monday November 16th:
You will receive your casting assignment, and your very own cue script.

Saturday November 21st:
Rehearsal -- 5:00pm to 8:00pm.
Dinner -- 8:00pm to 9:00pm
Performance -- 9:00pm


Come join us for food, fun, and friendship -- a taste of fast-paced collaboration that the Bard would have loved!

BUT REMEMBER:
If you want to be involved, you MUST email GrassrootsShakespeare@gmail.com ASAP!

COME PLAY WITH US!

Enrollment for MACBETH opens today!

The next Grassroots workshop, MACBETH, is going to be a bit special. First of all, it's my farewell to all you Grassrooters, as I'll be moving to England just a few days afterward to begin a two-year MFA in Staging Shakespeare. So, tender moment! But still, let's not make this a long, drawn-out affair, let's just remember what we had. And second, we're going to make this the biggest, craziest, and funnest original-practice Shakespeare workshop Utah County has EVER SEEN! Invite your friends, come to the 8pm Barbecue, wear crazy costumes, bring fake blood!! Whatever you can do to help make this the most engaging, creative, and surprising version of MACBETH we can possibly imagine, you do it!


Now, for those of you who are new at this, here's the skinny:

1) You sign up for the workshop by emailing grassrootsshakespeare@gmail.com on or before the 12th of September, whereupon you will receive part of a script, with lines which you will be required to memorize!

2) You arrive at SCERA Park in Orem, just off 600 N and State St., at or before 5:00PM on September 19th. There, we shall rehearse. We'll warm up, play with scene and character choices, and basically throw it together like a hot Elizabethan meat pie!

3) You eat at the delicious Barbecue, provided by the GSC for a mere $5, and talk with your comrades about how awesome you all are.

4) You perform your 1-hour cutting of MACBETH, start to finish, for a real live audience. You stun the world. You go on to greatness. Our lives are changed forever.


That's basically it. Sound crazy? It is. But hey, that's how they did it back in the day, and we think it makes for a supremely entertaining, educational, and enjoyable evening for everyone involved. So sign up, invite your friends, and let's go play in the park!

A Midsummer Night's Dream - ONE NIGHT ONLY!

Thaaaaat's right, ladies and gents, we're doing it again. On Saturday, August 29th, the Grassroots Shakespeare Company is performing a one-night-only showing of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and you're invited to participate!

Try your hand at original practices, and be a part of the fastestand funniest rendition of A Midsummer Night's Dream since 1595!

HOW TO GET INVOLVED:

1) If you'd like to participate, email grassrootsshakespeare@gmail.com immediately. If the workshop fills before you sign up, you are invited to come observe the process, but you might not be on stage.

2) If you sign up and pledge a $5 dollar contribution before Saturday August 22nd, you'll receive your very own cue script, taken from a particular scene in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Memorize it. I can't stress this enough. In order for original practices to work, you've got to be memorized before our first and only rehearsal.

3) Arrive at Scera Park at 5:00pm SHARP on Saturday August 29th, memorized and wearing whatever costume you'd like. You'll then participate in the most invigorating and collaborative rehearsal ever. With the others in your scene, you'll figure out your relationships, your place in the play, your blocking, and everything else about your performance. It's fun, fast-paced, and so 400 years ago!

4) At 8:00pm, we're going to take a little break to enjoy a delicious barbecue! So bring your appetite!

5) At 9:00pm, we will run the entire 1-hour show, from beginning to end. Your scene will fall somewhere in there, so you'll need to be listening for your cue line!

6) Casting is gender-blind, just as it was in Shakespeare's day (because only men were allowed to perform), and you are encouraged to invite friends/family/lovers/bosses to come see your show!

SPREAD THE WORD.

SPREAD THE LOVE.

SPREAD THE GRASSROOTS.

The Winter's Tale - This Thursday Night ONLY!

This Thursday's performance of The Winter's Tale will feature seasoned actors, English teachers, novice performers, and everything in between. In a mere 3 hours, this motley group will conduct its one and only rehearsal, and immediately following that frenzied process, the show will begin.

And, believe it or not, that's how Shakespeare's original performances happened, more or less. The actors would get together with their own lines and cues memorized, and have an incredibly brief rehearsal. Then, they'd perform the show. There was no director. There were no designers. There were only the actors, the space, and the audience. That's the way we like it!

Now, in case you didn't know, The Winter's Tale is one of Shakespeare's "Romances," which essentially means there's at least one shipwreck, a plot spanning decades, and a very "deus ex machina" ending. You may recognize those plot devices from The Tempest, another of Shakespeare's so-called Romances. These plays were particularly popular duing the Jacobean era, and are known for thier perplexing mixture of deep psychological drama and light slapstick comedy. They also reflect the burgeoning popularity of the masque, and often contain elements of magic and redemption. So, look for that stuff.

Also, you should know that the Grassroots Shakespeare Company began in May 2009, and is funded solely by donations. If you like what you see, please consider making a contribution.

We'll see you on Thursday, July 16th, 9pm at SCERA park in Orem, for our One-Night-Only performance of The Winter's Tale!

The Winter's Tale: A Midsummer Workshop!

Thaaaaat's right, ladies and gents, we're doing it again. Next Thursday, July 16th, the Grassroots Shakespeare Company is performing a one-night-only showing of The Winter's Tale, and you're invited to participate!

Try your hand at original practices, and be a part of the fastest and funniest rendition of The Winter's Tale since 1611!

HOW TO GET INVOLVED:

1) If you'd like to participate, email grassrootsshakespeare@gmail.com immediately. If the workshop fills before you sign up, you are invited to come observe the process, but you might not be on stage.

2) If you sign up and pledge a $5 dollar contribution before Saturday July 11th, you'll receive your very own cue script, taken from a particular scene in The Winter's Tale. Memorize it. I can't stress this enough. In order for original practices to work, you've got to be memorized before our first and only rehearsal.

3) Arrive at Scera Park at 6:00pm SHARP on Thursday July 16th, memorized and wearing whatever costume you'd like. You'll then participate in the most invigorating and collaborative rehearsal ever. With the others in your scene, you'll figure out your relationships, your place in the play, your blocking, and everything else about your performance. It's fun, fast-paced, and so 400 years ago!

4) At 9:00pm, we will run the entire 1-hour show, from beginning to end. Your scene will fall somewhere in there, so you'll need to be listening for your cue line!

5) Casting is gender-blind, just as it was in Shakespeare's day (because only men were allowed to perform), and you are encouraged to invite friends/family/lovers/bosses to come see your show!

SPREAD THE WORD. SPREAD THE LOVE. SPREAD THE GRASSROOTS.

Hamlet: One Night Only!

That's right, friends. We're tired of having all the fun. We want you to get up on stage with us and try this! The Grassroots Shakespeare Company invites you to try original practices by helping us stage a 1-hour production of Hamlet in ONE NIGHT!

Here's the skinny:

1) If you'd like to participate, email grassrootsshakespeare@gmail.com immediately. If the workshop fills before you sign up, you are invited to come observe the process, but you might not be on stage.

2) If you sign up before Sunday June 14th, you'll receive an email with your very own cue script, taken from a particular scene in Hamlet. Memorize it. I can't stress this enough. In order for original practices to work, you've got to be memorized before our first and only rehearsal.

3) Arrive at Scera Park at 6:00pm on Thursday, memorized and wearing whatever costume you'd like. You'll then participate in the most invigorating and collaborative rehearsal ever. With the others in your scene, you'll figure out your relationships, your place in the play, your blocking, and everything else about your performance. It's fun, fast-paced, and so 400 years ago!

4) At 9:00pm, we will run the entire 1-hour show, from beginning to end. Your scene will fall somewhere in there, so you'll need to be listening for your cue line!

5) Casting is gender-blind, just as it was in Shakespeare's day (because only men were allowed to perform), and you are encouraged to invite friends/family/lovers/bosses to come see your show!


We hope to see you there! Even if you don't want to perform, it's incredibly entertaining and enlightening to watch this process unfold. Theater without a director is quite a sight. And Shakespeare in the park is certainly worth the price of admission: Free.

As usual, we will be accepting donations, and encouraging you to invite, invite, invite!




See who else is going to be there on our facebook event.