*BardLab* is a six-week course designed to prepare the actor for acting in verse drama, with a special emphasis on skills needed for outdoor performance. *Saturday mornings between 10am and 12pmMay 6-June 10Ensemble Theater2843 Washington Blvd in Cleveland Heights*COST: $100 for 12 hours of instruction To enroll, visit our website <http://www.cleveshakes.com/1421-2/>. *Topics covered include:* Week 1: Paraphrasing Week 2: Scansion Week 3: Rhetoric Week 4: Direct Audience Address Week 5: Performing Outdoors Week 6: Putting it all together *Paraphrasing* This is more than just putting Shakespeare into your own words. Shakespeare wrote during what is termed the early modern era – the vocabulary that he used and we use today are almost identical so less “translation” is needed than we think. Shakespeare’s ability to use a word with a multiplicity of meanings in multiple ways is one of the reasons we keep performing his works. This method of paraphrasing not only helps the actor find Shakespeare’s multiple meanings but also allows for better communication between the director, scene partners, and the audience. *Scansion and Rhetoric* In Shakespeare’s time, theater companies didn’t have directors. One theory is that the playwrights left clues in the scripts to help the actors find their way through a character and scene. Scansion and rhetoric are those clues. Many of Shakespeare’s plays are written in verse form that has a specific rhythm. The scansion class will help you identify those rhythms and to learn what they might mean to help you make choices as an actor. *Rhetoric* is “the art or science of all specialized literary uses of language in prose or verse, including the figures of speech” (dictionary.com). Shakespeare uses many figures of speech in verse and prose, but rhetoric is what provides the rhythm for his prose speeches. *Direct Audience Address* Get comfortable playing to the groundlings by addressing your speeches directly to the audience by learning how to treat it as another character in the play. *Performing Outdoors* All the above information is useless if the audience can’t hear or see you. This class will explore ways to warm up and perform in order to adjust your voice and physicality to the space. *Putting It All Together* The final class is an opportunity to get everyone on their feet to use the information to perform a small scene. Instructor: *Kelly Elliott* has a MLitt and a MFA in Shakespeare and Performance from Mary Baldwin University. While there she worked with the American Shakespeare Center and both acted and directed on their recreation of the Blackfriars Playhouse. Before graduate school, Kelly choreographed stage combat, performed, directed, and produced in theaters all around Northeast Ohio. Her play KILL WILL (co-written with Joshua Brown), which addresses all the deaths in Shakespeare in about an hour, had its world premier at Cleveland Public Theatre and was also performed at the Minnesota Fringe Festival. Kelly’s extensive experience with Shakespeare includes (but is not limited to) a stint co-running the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival (1999-2001), choreographing violence for many Shakespeare productions, working for Great Lakes Theater’s education department, playing the titular role in MACBETH, and receiving positive reviews for her portrayal as Bottom the Weaver in Brave Spirits Theatre’s A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (Washington, DC).