AUGUST 8, 2011 6PM & 8:30PM
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The Tempest...Week Three
With rehearsals well underway and the cast now fully at ease with each other, week three flew by in a flurry of master classes, new choreography, scene work, and a trip Wednesday afternoon to see the current Hartford Stage Summer Stage production, I Wish You Love.
History
Begun in 2006, in conjunction with the Greater Hartford Arts Council Neighborhood Studios program, Breakdancing Shakespeare casts approximately twenty teenagers from Hartford and area public schools for a six-week long summer apprenticeship. Over the course of the program, our Hartford Stage Young Company learns techniques of breakdancing, physical characterization, mime, color guard, rap and the interpretation of classical text. Apprentices receive a weekly stipend for their work and participate in a job-skills curriculum in addition to creating their original Shakespeare production.
At the end of the six weeks, the Shakespeare play chosen for the workshop culminates in a staged performance to the general public. In the 2008-2009 season, the Young Company began touring their summer production during the school year, and have since performed for hundreds of their peers in high schools throughout the region.
In 2009-2010, the Young Company performed Breakdancing Shakespeare: The Comedy of Errors at Torrington High School (Torrington), Weaver High School (Hartford), Law & Government Academy (Hartford), and Carmen Arace Middle School (Hartford) with audience members from Arace and Bloomfield High School (Bloomfield). So far the 2009-2010 tour has reached an estimated audience of 1700 students, in addition to the 1,012 community members who attended the public performances in August 2009.
Production History:
2010: Macbeth
2009: The Comedy of Errors
2008: Antony & Cleopatra
2007: A Midsummer Night's Dream
2006: Romeo & Juliet
Breakdancing Shakespeare performs in Hartford
Breakdancing Shakespeare performs in New London
