A Warm Welcome!

The Stella Adler Studio of Acting and the Stella Adler Outreach Division welcomed students to the 2009 Summer Shakespeare program this week. These New York City teens will spend four weeks of their summer studying and performing Shakespeare. They will meet five days a week and take classes like voice and speech, movement, improvisation and scene study. The program concludes with the presentation of an abbreviated version of William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors.

Director of Outreach Carlos Caldart started the search for participants in May. Twenty-two spots were available. Eighty New York City high school students applied and the competition was stiff. Applicants came to the Studio for an interview with Carlos. They were invited back for a group class in which they were lead through a physical and vocal warm-up and some language work, using various texts from Shakespeare. Students were selected based on need, passion, enthusiasm and commitment.

In their first week of training students jumped right into the world of creativity, exploring courageous ways to use their bodies expressively, taking voice and speech with Master Teacher Tom Oppenheim, exploring the use of actions and objectives, and immersing themselves in the text of The Comedy of Errors. The demand to be open and try new things was strong and the student actors stepped up to the challenge.

This blog will be used to track the progress of the group, and, most importantly, to provide students with a place where they can talk about their experience. Students are encouraged to comment on blog entries and report what they are learning, observing, feeling and what the process means to them.