*Auditions for the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival's 20th Anniversary season of FREE Outdoor Touring Theater continues tonight from 7:30pm-10:30pm* Auditions will be held at: Ensemble Theatre 2843 Washington Blvd. Cleveland Hts. OH 44118 Callbacks will be held Wednesday, April 26 *The Taming of the Shrew* – adapted and directed by Lisa Ortenzi *Performance Dates June 16 – July 2* Rehearsals begin April 30 *Macbeth* – adapted and directed by Tyson Douglas Rand *Performance Dates July 21 – August 6*, Rehearsals begin in early June No appointment necessary. Artists will be seen in the order of sign in. There are no AEA contracts available. No housing is provided. All actors and production staff are paid a stipend. Actors may participate in either or both productions. Prepare two contrasting monologues. Total delivery time of both monologues combined should not exceed three minutes. At least one of your two monologues must be from the works of Shakespeare. For consideration, bring TWO COPIES of each - head shot & resume, and please also bring *any & all possible* known conflicts between the dates of May 1 & July 21 AND Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays through August 6. Company members will be offered our new *BardLab* training course at no charge. *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. The workshop meets Saturday mornings between 10am and 12pm, from May 6-June 10. 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 Company and both acted and directed on their recreation of the Blackfriars Theatre. 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 getting a really good review from the Washington Post for her portrayal as Bottom the Weaver in Brave Spirits Theatre’s A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM (Washington, DC).