“I Hate Shakespeare!” a Project Empty Space workshop series

Hate Shakespeare? Think it’s too big, too difficult, too “high art,” too old? Has anyone made you believe “this isn’t for you”? Fell asleep through the boring Shakespeare classes in college? Love it and want to study it more? All are welcome. In this interactive workshop, you’ll discover how much you already know about William Shakespeare and his plays, break down any fears or apprehensions about 400-year-old English, and speak with clarity and understanding in front of a supportive audience. Come for one workshop in the series or come for all of them, it doesn’t matter, they’re free, and the focus will be new each week. You’ll walk away with either a love of the work or educated reasons as to why you still hate it.
The “I Hate Shakespeare!” series is taking place Sundays at Bucketworks, a collaborative space in Milwaukee’s Walker’s Point. Here, type this into your GPS: 706 S 5th St, Milwaukee WI 53204

The doors are open to come whenever you’d like and leave whenever you’d like. There is no cost. (Cookies are appreciated. Bring enough to share.)

Workshop One: Intro to Text 
Sunday, September 30, 2:00 – 4:00
What did Shakespeare write? How did Shakespeare publish his work? Which script should we use? How many versions are there and why? What was written text like in 1602 London? What’s a folio? What’s a quarto? And why do all the S letters look like Fs?

 

 

Workshop Two: Helloooo, Bill
Sunday, October 14, 2:00 – 4:00
Who was this Shakespeare guy and how much do we really know about him? What was life like in Elizabethan England? Did all the poets wear frilly collars? Did anybody attend Shakespeare’s plays when they were written? Was Shakespeare gay? Did he really look like Joseph Fiennes?

 

Workshop Three: Page to Stage
Sunday, October 21, 2:00 – 5:00
Did people really talk like this? Why do people speak in poetry? What does it mean to rhyme? What’s iambic pentameter? Where do I enter? What’s my motivation? Did anybody bring bagels?

 

Workshop Four: On Your Feet
Sunday, October 28, 2:00 – 5:00
How does anybody act this stuff? What was The Globe like? Who are “groundlings”? How do I make this interesting? Why do I think old white British dudes are so boring? Is there any way to make Shakespeare exciting and intelligible? Can I do that in three hours?

 

An impressive albeit short bio of the workshop facilitator so as you are sufficiently impressed and show up: Grace is a UWM theatre studies graduate and puts Shakespeare, teaching, and traveling at the top of her list of favorite things to do. Now the project manager of Project Empty Space, a community organization through The Alchemist Theatre in Bay View that brings new audiences to new theatre, Grace has acted, directed, written, designed, and toured through Minneapolis, Oxford, London, and Edinburgh. Grace’s Shakespeare credits include First Stage Theatre Academy, UWM, Optimist Theatre, and the British-American Dramatic Academy.