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!

who are we now?

This summer, theater students from UVU and BYU teamed up to create the Grassroots Shakespeare Company. Originally, their goal was to create an original-practice production of a Shakespeare play. After the unexpectedly brilliant success of that little venture, a few of the grassrooters wanted to share the original-practice experience with everyone! So, the GSC became an educational experiment as well. On a monthly basis, Grassroots now produces workshops in which literally anyone can explore what it was like for actors in Shakespeare's day to perform. They memorize cue scripts, rehearse for a few hours, and perform to outdoor audiences for free. It's lively, fast-paced, and a little motley, but most of all, it's fun.


As you can probably glean from the reviews, the news, and the photos, we're having a good time playing with Shakespeare's original performance methods. And we're all about inclusion, so if you have ever had a desire to step on stage and try your hand at acting, or even if you just want to watch some very entertaining theater, check us out! We send out regular updates to our fans on facebook, and special workshop invitations to our email list, so join both today!


So far, our workshops have included Hamlet, The Winter's Tale, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, and we plan to produce a Macbeth workshop in September! So check out the photos, send us an email, and become a fan on facebook. And let's play!

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.

spread the grassroots, spread the love!

The following article was printed in the UVU Review on Monday, June 22nd. It appears here without permission, so if it gets taken down, that's why. Enjoy!

The Bard is Back
New Shakespearean company
uses old techniques
to make the story new

MEL SUNDQUIST
Culture Writer

The newly-founded Grassroots Shakespeare Company is a rare treasure of Utah Valley theater. Created and peopled by local college students, Grassroots uses the techniques that acting companies used in Shakespeare's day to create plays that are "fast-paced, funny, intriguing, and simple," according to grassrootsshakespeare.blogspot.com.

Grassroots is currently performing Much Ado About Nothing, one of Shakespeare's most loved comedies. All performances are outdoors in natural light. Check the sidebar for dates and times.

Utah Shakespeare fans have seen the bard's plays at the Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City, and among several traditional theater venues in Utah Valley. However, the Grassroots' production of Much Ado About Nothing is the most enjoyable Shakespeare production Utah theatergoers have had the chance to see in at least the last five years.

The actors are unapologetic. Generally, performing without a stage, so close to the audience, and with makeshift costumes and sets is too embarrassing for actors to handle. This embarrassment often comes across as a continual, agonizing apology to the audience for subjecting them to the performance. However, this particular group of young actors have chosen to perform under these conditions, and the jury-rigged, ad hoc design features serve the story surprisingly well.

The play has been shortened to run at a little over an hour. Despite the amputated script, the plot comes across with startling clarity. This simple coherence is thanks to the actors' denial of several theatrical traditions, specifically their rejection of a "fourth wall" between the stage and the audience. Here, the story is told to audience members, rather than at them, as plays that take themselves more seriously are wont to do.

Shakespeare's plays have in general become over-intellectualized and haughty. However, they were originally written to be enjoyed by all classes of society - from the poor and uneducated to Queen Elizabeth. The Grassroots Shakespeare Company has brought Shakespeare back to the common man - you don't have to ge an English major or an intellectual prick to understand and enjoy this story.


To read more reviews, or to write your own, check out the "Reviews" tab on our Facebook fan page!