学生辅导员将引进莎士比亚戏剧 伴戏剧爱好者欢度暑假

Debra Li

debra_lidan@163.com

While many students are looking forward to their summer school programs overseas, a local college counselor is bringing an English-based Shakespeare theatrical program to Shenzhen for this year’s summer vacation.

Between July 23 and 29, August 4 and 13, and August 15 and 22, three workshops tutored by faculty members of the Boston Conservatory and Harvard Extension School as well as a New York University-trained actor will rehearse and stage three dramas at multi-functional venue Shenzhen Poly Theater.

John Kuntz, a Boston-based actor, playwright and solo performer, is a founding member of the Actors Shakespeare Project and is a faculty member at the prestigious Boston Conservatory. Karen MacDonald, an actress, director and teacher, has taught acting and improv workshops around the United States, including an undergraduate acting course at Harvard University.

Kuntz and MacDonald will tutor the two workshops in August, rehearsing “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “The Winter Tale.”

John Boonin, who received his BFA in theater from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2010, will tutor the July workshop producing “Twelfth Night.”

Targeting seventh through 11th grade students, the tutors have adapted the Shakespeare pieces to a length of between 15 and 20 pages, aiming at final productions of 40 minutes in length each. Through individual and group exercises, monologues, improvisations and scene studies, the workshops promise to help students develop their acting potential and sharpen their skills in interpreting scripts.

“The purpose of studying theater is to develop empathy, keen observation and free imagination in young people, which will help them better understand humanity and society,” said Zhao Shujun, a staffer with Sino Elite Education, the organizer of the summer camp.

He said previous trainees at their workshops have also reported positive changes like a boost in confidence and esteem.

The college counselor organized a similar summer camp last year on the campus of Shenzhen Mingde Experimental School.

Each workshop will enlist around 20 trainees, each of whom will auditioned to demonstrate that their English proficiency suits the program. For more information, follow WeChat account “zengminmin2013.”