Center for Actor Training to Launch 46th Month-long Intensive

The Center for Actor Training at Shakespeare & Company will hold the 46th session of its Month-long Intensive for mid-career actors at its Lenox, Mass. campus from December 28, 2026 through January 23, 2027.

For six days a week, morning to night, participants immerse themselves in Linklater voice, movement, text analysis, exploration of the actor/audience relationship, sonnet work, scene work, clown, stage fight, and in-depth discussions about the function of theater and the role of the actor in today's world.

Senior Workshops Director Susan Dibble said the Intensive is the Center for Actor Training's flagship program, offering the most comprehensive immersion in Shakespeare & Company's teaching methods and aesthetic.

'Our goal in the Month-long Intensive is to awaken the actor's vocal, physical, emotional, and imaginative responsiveness to language,' she said. 'Every participant receives careful, individualized attention, and our faculty teaches in an integrated way, so that every class complements and builds on the others.'

A number of core faculty members are returning this session, including Sarah Kate Anderson, Sheila Bandyopadhyay, Andrew Borthwick-Leslie, Marie Ramirez Downing, Michael Hammond, Rory Hammond, and Michael F. Toomey.

Caroline Stefanie Clay will also be joining the Month-long Intensive faculty for the first time. Clay is a 30-year veteran of Broadway, film, television, and regional theater, and became a Designated Linklater Voice teacher in 2025.

Internationally renowned teacher and performer Merry Conway will be returning to offer Movement and Wit & Wordplay classes. Conway is one of the Founding Teachers for Shakespeare & Company, introducing clown into the Company's pedagogy. She has worked as a teacher, performer, and coach for more than 50 years, including serving as movement coach for Anna Deavere Smith for 10 years.

Shakespeare & Company's Center for Actor Training

The aesthetic of Shakespeare & Company was devised by Founding Artistic Director Tina Packer, Founding Director of Training Kristin Linklater, and a cadre of expert teachers. The Center for Actor Training's approach is continually investigated, redefined, and reinvigorated, and welcomes actors, directors, writers, and teachers from all over the world to work with the Company's faculty.

About Shakespeare & Company

Shakespeare & Company was founded in 1978 by Tina Packer. Located in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, the Company offers performance, education, and actor-training opportunities year-round, and attracts more than 40,000 patrons annually with a core of more than 150 artists.

Photo Credit: Christina Lane