The Atlanta Shakespeare Company is a true theatrical ensemble dedicated to the communion of actor and audience through poetry. To foster this communion, we have built the Southeast's only Elizabethan-style theater, the Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse. Using this space as a laboratory for the exploration of Elizabethan stagecraft and theatrical techniques, our work is guided by a single principle: the voice of the playwright. Each production is a process that begins with the way the play was staged in its own time and ends with a modern audience experiencing the play in a manner consistent with its creator's original intent. This core aesthetic, known as 'Original Practice,’ informs and inspires all of our work. We believe art must engage, educate, and reach out to each new generation of young people, and we have committed ourselves to this task with the same enthusiasm and intellectual vigor that drives all of our professional work. Though we are an entertainment organization, a central part of our Mission is to present Shakespeare’s work in such a way that exhilarates, teaches, and provokes profound thought in young people.By crafting productions in which audiences join with skilled actors to create the most immediate and exhilarating theatre possible, we aim to make classic drama engaging for ALL audiences. With 1/3 of our operating budget dedicated to education, the ASC has spent nearly 2.1 million in the past 4 years to serve 80,000 students in 54 GA counties and 6 states.
Description
The Education Department of the Atlanta Shakespeare Company offers numerous programs for students of all ages in the metro Atlanta area, and beyond. Our signature Playshops in Performance (just like a workshop but more fun!) are offereed on almost all of Shakespeare's plays, and encourage a dynamic, interative exploration of the text with students. Specialty playshops for younger students, entitled Shakespeare Says!, and Play On: Theatre Games to Build A Classroom, which focuses on bulding core academic skills, are also offered yearly. Our Shakespeare On Location program brings our professianl performances and actors directly to a school or Performing Arts Center, particualrly to those schools who can not afford field trips in their current budget. Our Deisgn Your Own Shaespeare Classtoom Program has resulted in numerous in-school residencies, tailor made to fit the needs and specifications of a specific school. We even have a special program, called Shakesploration Days, designed for Homeschool and Small Groups. In the summer, we offer two camps for students: Shakespeare Intensive for Teens and Shakespeare Superheroes for elementary/middle school stduents. Our College Intern Program focuses on young, aspiring theatre administartors/educators and our Apprentice Company thrououghly trains and prepares a new generation of classical artists each year. In the 2014-2015 school year, the staff of the ASC Edcaution Department has also decided to offer Toruing programs to local schools: Shakespeare 4 Kids and SHakespeare: The Langugae that Shaped A World. With the addition of these programs, the education department of the ASC offers a diverse and incredibly well-rounded selcection of arts programming for students of all ages, races and backgrounds in the Southeast.
