Artist Workshop Series: Textwork

'Tis now the very witching hour of night
And sacred bards arise up from the grave
As though, belike to choke you in your sleep,
For all the scansion horrors thou hast made.
And lo, one Shakespeare corpse around thee haunts
With rolling tongue and eyes and wormy breast
To blow foul wind unto thy prickled ears,
"How dare thee speaketh 'bless-ed' versus 'blessed?'"

Upon request, and as part of the company’s Artist Workshop series, Theatre Pro Rata is pleased to announce Tableworking Classical Text with dramaturg fantastique, Kit Gordon*.

Look. Heightened, poetic speech isn't natural or human. Being able to trip the tongue lightly over the text, convey meaning, ride meter, and make it look easy? A skill every actor should aspire to! But that text isn't going to hit an audience's ear sounding pretty and meaningful all by itself.

Kit is glad to keep the masters from rolling in their graves by helping you to decipher scansion codes and seek the double meanings peppered throughout classical works. This is an open, text-intensive workshop for actors with one of the area's most experienced dramaturgs and Shakespearean scholars. She is wondrous brilliant; willing to take requests, review basics, or teach you a few new tricks.

Here’s what you need to know:

Saturday, September 18th, 2010
10:00 A.M. - Noon

The Gremlin Theatre
2400 University Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55114

Call 612.874.9321 for reservations
$14 - $41, sliding scale

Don’t forget to check out Kit's dramaturgical sculpting on Theatre Pro Rata’s production of The Taming of the Shrew, September 11 - 26!

*Christine (Kit) Mack Gordon has worked as a dramaturg in the Twin Cities since 1997, including long stretches with Shakespeare in the Park and the Mary Worth Theatre Company, where she also served as literary manager. She has also worked with Girl Friday Productions (and is a member of their advisory board), Theatre in the Round, the University of Minnesota Department of Theatre Arts and Dance, Starting Gate, Gremlin, and Hardcover. Most recently, she served as dramaturg on the Theatre Pro Rata production of Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy. Kit completed a PhD in English at the University of Minnesota; her dissertation was on the teaching, performing, and directing of Shakespeare. She also participated in a month-long workshop for theatre professionals at Shakespeare and Company in Massachusetts.