Michigan Shakespeare Festival Sets Summer Workshops

For the first time ever, the Official Shakespeare Festival of the State of Michigan is offering workshops for professional actors, all taught by Michigan Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director Janice L Blixt. The classes will be held at the Village Theatre of Cherry Hill in Canton, Michigan in July and August. For information or to book a slot, contact MSFCasting@aol.com. The classes include:

Folio Technique: Shakespeare's Text and Why It's Written That Way

Sunday, July 12th 6 pm - 8 pm

Like musical notation, the capitalization, meter, and punctuation of Shakespeare's plays gives direction to the actor for meaning and delivery. Learn this notation, known now as Folio Technique, as a foundation for character development and better storytelling. An essential for the Shakespearean actor, then and now.

Cost: $100, Limit: 30

Acting Shakespeare: Scene-work and Playing a Scene

Sunday, July 19th 6 pm - 8 pm

Knowing the concepts and being able to implement Folio are often two different things: use the basics learned from Folio Technique to help in connection to the text and to your scene partner. Work on scenes from Shakespeare with other actors under the guidance and direction of our Artistic Director, Janice L Blixt.

Actors must attend the Folio Technique workshop, July 12th, to attend either the Scene Work / Acting or Auditioning Workshops.

Cost: $75, Limit: 20

Auditioning for Classical Theatre

Sunday, July 26th 6 pm - 8 pm

Work on Classical Monologues-ones you already know and find new ones to help polish and present yourself in the best possible way. Use the concepts learned in Folio to refresh your audition portfolio and get the most out of your pieces. This workshop will concentrate on text analysis and performance. Actors must attend the Folio Technique workshop, July 12th, to attend either the Scene Work / Acting or Auditioning Workshops.

Cost: $75, Limit: 20

Monologue Coaching and Audition Technique for Classical Theatre

Sunday, August 2nd 6 pm - 9 pm

Workshop your Classical Monologues and get coaching from Artistic Director Janice L Blixt on your piece and choices (from your headshots and resumes to cover letters and contacting casting directors to shaking hands and performing your pieces) and get a view of what casting directors for classical theatres are looking for.

Cost: $75, Limit: 20

Sign up for all 4 and save! Just $275 for the whole experience!

All workshops will be held at the Village Theatre of Cherry Hill in Canton, MI

For information or to book a slot, contact Kimberly Grable, MSFCasting@aol.com

About Janice L Blixt: Entering her sixth year as the MSF's Artistic Director, Blixt has brought Michigan's Official Shakespeare Festival into it's most acclaimed and award-winning era, winning Wilde Awards for directing A Winter's Tale (Best of the Bard, 2012) and The Importance of Being Earnest (Best Comedy, 2014) as well as Broadway World's Best Shakespeare Production for Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (2014), while also producing the award-winning Love's Labour's Lost, Cymbeline, and Tartuffe.

A graduate of the Hilberry Theater's MFA program, Janice has worked as a classical director in the region for the last dozen years, helming ChicaGo Productions of Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo & Juliet and the recent critically heralded Titus Andronicus. She has also been the vocal director and text coach for Othello, Edward III, and Hamlet.

In addition to her duties at MSF, Blixt is also the co-founder and Executive Director of A Crew of Patches Theatre Company, a professional Shakespearean repertory company. Having studied with Folio and voice experts such as Kristine Thatcher, Kate Buckley, Colm Feore, and Gigi Buffington, Janice teaches text analysis and Folio technique for professional actors and in colleges and is still, when there's time, a working actor, having appeared onstage at the JET, the Shadow Theatre Co., MeadowBrook, City Lit, First Folio Shakespeare Festival, Timeline Theatre, ACOP, Next Theatre - and right here at the Michigan Shakespeare Festival.

Janice has casting authority at the MSF.

Tickets and more information are available at www.MichiganShakespeareFestival.com.