NEW WEBSITE + SUMMER 2020 APPLICATION COMING SOON!

14 ACTORS. 6 WEEKS. 2 PLAYS. 1 ENSEMBLE.

The Shakespeare Academy @ Stratford is a six-week residential summer theater program for college-age actors that uniquely combines rigorous training, ensemble collaboration, and the opportunity to rehearse and perform two Shakespeare plays in repertory. Each year we select a fourteen-member ensemble from around the U.S and abroad, to train and perform together on the property that once housed the legendary American Shakespeare Festival Theater.

The training at SA@S is rewarding, transformative, and intense.

As an actor, you’ll explore the relationship between clear, expressive use of Shakespeare's language, and the bottomless imaginative and emotional possibilities of the worlds created in his plays. As an ensemble, you and your fellow artists will build a close-knit, dynamic and caring collaborative relationship — the vital foundation for bringing these stories to life.

Living and working side by side, as an ensemble, is a hallmark of the SA@S experience.

Mornings at SA@S are spent studying with masterclass teachers and professional artists who offer specialized instruction in their areas of expertise. Our masterclass instructors are exemplary leaders in their field, joining us in Stratford from institutions such as the Juilliard School, Yale School of Drama, and the NYU Tisch/Grad Acting program. Past masterclasses have included Voice, Shakespeare’s Text, Alexander Technique, Clown, Stage Combat, Droznin Method, Lucid Body, and more. Our course of study is a contemporary take on the young-actor training program that once occupied our home on the grounds of the former American Shakespeare Festival Theater.

Afternoons and evenings are devoted to rehearsal for two Shakespeare productions, to be performed for the public in a repertory festival during the final ten days of the program. Inspired by our hometown of Stratford's history of producing Shakespeare, our program’s approach to theater-making emphasizes inclusion, collaboration, creativity, community, and joy.

Support the upcoming season by donating through our partners: The Mighty Quinn Foundation