Stella Adler Studio of Acting Outreach Division's A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM Opens 6/25

The Stella Adler Studio of Acting Outreach Division will perform Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream this month. The show will be the culmination of a semester of hard work by students in the Outreach Division. Through this program the Stella Adler Studio of acting, one of the world's most prestigious acting schools, provides free theatrical training to New York City public high school students who come from low-income households and/or schools without arts programming.

Shaquoya Hemmons, 18, graduate of the Edward R. Murrow High School will play the role of Titania, while fellow Brooklyn resident Darnell Peart, also 18 and a graduate of Sheepshead Bay High School, will play Oberon.

The students chosen for the program receive over 200 hours of free training. In a two-year after-school program they study voice and speech, movement, and improvisation, the same approach to acting studied by Stella Adler alumni like Robert De Niro, Marlon Brando and Benicio Del Toro.

The Stella Adler Studio of Acting has a long commitment to service and training students to care about their communities. The Outreach Division has the dual mission of providing free actor training to qualifying public high school students, while providing full-time students in professional programs with a model of social engagement.

"Through this program we address an abominable circumstance in our world - that of educational inequity," said Tom Oppenheim, Artistic Director of the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. "Training actors is a process of releasing voices. Whenever you can help a human being fully release his or her own voice, you have contributed something precious, something priceless to the world. Inner city youth who suffer from educational injustice are being told by society that their voice is of less value than others. That is a lie. The Stella Adler Studio of Acting Outreach Division roundly addresses that lie. We believe that the advantages of artist training are not for the privileged few, but provide essential cultural and educational experiences that should be available to all. The Stella Adler Studio of Acting Outreach Division is our way of giving life and voice to that conviction and giving voice to New York's aspiring artists."

The performances will be held at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, 31 West 27th Street on Friday, June 25 at 7:00 pm, on Sunday, June 27 at 4:00 pm, and on Monday, June 28 at 5:00 pm and 7:30 pm. Tickets are available free of change, but require a reservation which can be obtained by calling 212-689-0087.

ABOUT Stella Adler STUDIO OF ACTING®
The Stella Adler Studio of Acting® is an acting school based in New York City specializing in education services, namely, providing classes, workshops, and seminars in the field of acting and theatrical production. The actress and teacher Stella Adler founded the Studio in 1949. Adler founded the Studio on her belief in the seriousness of her art. Adler and the school have trained many of the brilliant actors of our time. The Stella Adler Studio of Acting is a nonprofit organization, which trains over 500 actors annually. The Studio also presents lectures, poetry readings, concerts, theater and dance performances, and an annual arts festival. http://www.stellaadler.com

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