The Chelsea "Get Thee To The Funnery!" Shakespeare Program
What is this program?
Get Thee To The Funnery program's theater work focuses on physicality, clown, love of poetry, and ensemble building within the framework of the the Shakespearean text. Shakespeare funny? And easy to understand?! No way….Yes!
How do we do that?
We spend the first few days of the program reading through the whole script so that everyone understands all the words in the text and all the complicated Old English plot twists. Then we get up on our feet!! We delve in to the practice of clowning, yoga, voice work, physical character work, even some singing, dancing and fighting! We rummage through the script to find as many jokes, written or physical as we can, dig up some costumes, find a beautiful outdoor spot and perform a play after only two weeks!
This is a place where the primary goal is to have a good time, and where everyone is free to be themselves and work at their own pace, while still working with the ensemble to put together a play at an electrifying rate! We do work towards a final performance, however our emphasis is on the process and in creating a supportive community that allows for us all to be comfortable and playful. We are interested in working with you on what you want to work on! And we always like to use real, weird, or quirky talents in our shows. Can you play the violin? Choreograph fights? Juggle? Throw your voice? We'll use it all!
Who can come? Anyone 12-18! Public school, private school, homeschool and unschool, we’ll take everyone who’s interested in Shakespeare or theater! No theater experience necessary!
When and where does this happen?
Our two week intensive summer program runs for two weeks in July in Chelsea, VT.
The Quadrant:
Represents our teaching principles: Ask any former student what The Funnery 'Quadrant' is and they'll come at you with some wacky hand gestures and maybe start chanting which is their way of saying "During our two weeks we focus on developing and expanding our capacity as individuals and as a group in the areas of body, voice, mind and heart."
We work to stretch our bodies into new ranges with yoga, dance, and physical character work, and strive for each camper to create new stage bodies that excite and inspire them. We similarly stretch and strengthen the voice with vocal exercises, sound-scape creation, and breath work. Parallel with the obvious theatre work of the voice and body is our emphasis on equal work with the mind and the heart.
We devote the first several days to intensively reading and understanding the script and heartily encourage active questioning and discussion of theme, character, and anything else that comes up during the process. All of this work would be worthless if we were not also cultivating an open-heartedness, with ourselves, each other, and ultimately the audience. We strive to be generous community: as ensemble members it is the supportive and safe space that we create together that makes this such a joyful experience.
Learn More: http://www.TheChelseaFunnery.com