Own Your Voice w/ Hamlet's Ophelia & The Seagull's Nina

Join us for an experiential workshop on reclaiming your authentic voice and story by exploring the journeys of Ophelia and Nina through text work, movement, journaling, poetry, sharing, and supportive feedback.

Why The Heroine's Journey "To Be"?

As you may have noticed, the title of this workshop alludes to one of Shakespeare's most enduring questions: "To be or not to be?"

In our weekly online scene study group (email us for info) we have been examining the connections between the heroine's journeys of Ophelia in Hamlet and Nina in The Seagull, Anton Chekhov's insightful reimagining of the Shakespearean tragedy in which the fates of the young lovers are altered: the Hamlet character (Treplev) dies by suicide, and the Ophelia character (Nina) chooses to live.

Through exploring how Ophelia and Nina wrestle with the dominant narratives of their oppressive systems as they attempt to author and voice their authentic stories, we will bring into greater focus the shared struggles we currently face to do the same in our own lives.

What Will You Get Out of This Class?

• You will have the opportunity to meet a community of like-minded actors and theatre lovers, and maybe even make some lifelong friends.
• You will explore topics related to the Heroine's Journey within a patriarchal society in a safe and inclusive space through performance, writing, and discussion.
• You will gain a fresh perspective and deep understanding of Hamlet, The Seagull, Ophelia, and Nina that you can take with you to future auditions and productions.
• You will get a taste of our unique empathy-centered acting method, in which we seek first and foremost to understand our character's experience without judgement and accept where they are in their journey so we can be fully present and engaged while living truthfully though the character's circumstances.
• You will come away from the weekend feeling empowered to own your voice, your truth, and the authentic story of your lived experience.

Content Warning: This workshop will involve discussion of suicide, purity culture, abuse, intimate partner violence, and other challenging experiences associated with oppressive, patriarchal systems

PLEASE READ: Our workshop time, 10am to 6pm on Saturday and Sunday will meet at Chicago Music and Dance Academy. Sunday evening, we will move to Mrs. Murphy's Irish Bistro, 3905 N Lincoln Avenue. We will have one hour of time to get from CMAA to Mrs. Murphy's, estimated to be 12-28 minutes by car and 42 minutes via public transit. CMAA is wheelchair accessible, but Mrs. Murphy's second floor is unfortunately not.