Young Shakespeare Players

12/09/2023

Join us this weekend and next!

10/20/2022

Richard DiPrima, who believed that children as young as 7 could learn and perform Shakespeare, and gave them lasting self-confidence, died Sunday at 81.

12/07/2021

YSP Friends and Family:

YSP is worth preserving. Please help us, as we strive to preserve and strengthen it. Become a Member today!

(If you have already joined or re-joined YSP as a Member for 2022, we deeply thank you! If you have not done so yet, please do it now.)

When we started The Young Shakespeare Players, more than 41 years ago(!), our basic question was:
What, in our world, is worth preserving?

Our answers, in part:
1) Our human potential — centered largely in our growing, developing young people;
2) Our young people’s confidence that they can master, and love, “the best our species has to offer;” and,
3) Our language as “the stuff of thought.”

Over the past decades, thousands of young people have met the challenge, and used their unique work at YSP to uplift themselves and all the rest of us. Now in this especially difficult time, we are working to make sure YSP itself is preserved, and the young people of today and tomorrow will continue this important work.

And now we ask you to join us! Please help keep the flame burning and the dream alive. Donate and/or sign up for an Individual or Family Membership. Do it now. Please! (It's tax-deductible!!)
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2022 YSP Donating Membership
Individual: $60/year
Family: $120/year
PayPal: http://www.youngshakespeareplayers.org/support/membership/
or Mail check to YSP, 1806 West Lawn Avenue, Madison, WI 53711
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Our tuitions cover only a fraction of our expenses. And our very liberal scholarship policy — which is designed so that no young person is ever precluded from this work for financial reasons — further widens the financial gap. Of course, the pandemic of the past two years makes everything much harder. Your YSP Membership and/or additional donation in any amount will help enormously!

A full-year membership in YSP for 2022 is $60 for an individual (just $5 a month; 17 cents a day) or $120 for a family (just $10 a month; 33 cents a day). (If you can help with more, our young people will put it to very good use!)

And thanks so much for your help!
Our best to your family for healthy and happy holidays and 2021!
—Richard and Anne

Business Sponsors We welcome the support of area businesses! If you are interested in finding out more about how you can help further the YSP mission by becoming a business sponsor, please email ys…

10/07/2021

If you are approximately between the ages of 7 and 18 — you should join us and be a part of Romeo and Juliet!

All in person (masked), at YSP Playhouse
1806 West Lawn Ave., Madison

Introductions: Thursday, October 14
5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.

Readings for parts: Saturday, October 16
Starting at 9:00 a.m.

Rehearsals (starting Saturday, October 23):
Saturdays: 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Sundays: 12:00-4:00 p.m.
(Special optional rehearsals scheduled on some week nights, and over holidays.)

Performances: mid-late February — ending February 27

Email Richard DiPrima right away to let us know you intend to be part of this production, and we’ll send you the script, story, and character descriptions, etc.
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ROMEO AND JULIET is one of the most widely read and studied of all works of literature. And no one merely reading the print on a dead page understands this glorious play half so well as do our young actors who perform it, and the audience members for whom they re-create it.

About 425 years ago, William Shakespeaere turned to "fair Verona" to create perhaps the most famous love story ever written. Now, starting very soon, YSP will re-create the beautiful, timeless tale. You should join us and be part of it!

It’s a magnificent tale — full of lyricism, heart, comedy, tragedy, and incomparable language. And it’s peopled by great characters besides the two famous young lovers — funny, clownish servants; the wise, poetic Friar; the irrepressible Mercutio; the hilarious and b***y Nurse; Juliet’s complex, disapproving, and very human parents; the fiery Tybalt, the well-meaning Benvolio; etc., etc.

There are many reasons that this is one of the very most famous and imitated stories ever written. And, there are many reasons that YSP has been recognized as "Madison's Best Youth Performing Arts Group" (Madison Magazine), and "Madison's Favorite Theater Troupe" (Isthmus). Come and experience it all for yourself!

JOIN Romeo and Juliet RIGHT NOW! (to start rehearsing soon, and to perform this winter!

05/30/2021

Email us now ([email protected]) to sign up for one of our productions of As You Like It this summer!

As You Like It (production #1—early summer):
Introduction: Wednesday, June 2, 5:30-7:00 p.m. — ON ZOOM!
Readings for roles: Saturday, June 5, starting at 9:00 a.m.
— ON ZOOM!
Afternoon Rehearsals: IN PERSON, at the YSP Playhouse! (Masked if necessary!) Monday-Friday (starting June 14) — 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Performances: IN PERSON, at the YSP Playhouse! (Masked if necessary!) Early August, ending Aug. 8


As You Like (production #2—later summer):
—open to young YSP actors, YSP veterans, and "YSP family" adults!
—all rehearsals and performances IN PERSON, at the YSP Playhouse!

Introduction: Wednesday, June 23, 5:30-7:00 p.m.
Readings for roles: Saturday, June 26, starting at 9:00 a.m.
Morning Rehearsals: Monday-Friday, (starting Tuesday, July 6) — 9:00-12:00 noon. (CDT)

Performances: IN PERSON, at the YSP Playhouse! (Masked if necessary!) Late-mid August, ending August 29

See you soon!
—Richard and Anne

05/15/2021

05/13/2021

Important change for YSP summer project(s)!

Please note an important change for YSP’s 2021 summer: We will still do two Shakespeare productions, but just one play — Shakespeare’s magnificent comedy, As You Like It. You can sign up for either production — and take part in one or both! For those actors who would like to do so, this summer’s arrangement can permit you to be in both productions and take very different roles in each — while only needing to register for one! Contact YSP now!!

As You Like It:
Production #1: Intro (on Zoom) — Wed., 6/02, 5:30-7:00 p.m. CDT & Sat., 6/05 C.D.T. 9:00 a.m.
Rehearsals — (in person) weekday afternoons starting 6/14
Performances — (in person) ending 8/08

Production #2: Intro (in person) — Wed., 6/23, 5:30-7:00 p.m. CDT & Sat., 6/26 C.D.T. 9:00 a.m.
Rehearsals — (in person) weekday mornings starting 7/06
Performances — (in person) ending 8/29

For more information, email today: [email protected]

02/23/2021

YSPers and interested adults: A new Acting Workshop of Shakespeare's dominantly two-character scenes starts soon! We will conduct it both online (on Zoom), and, later, in-person if safety permits … so, wherever you are, you can take part with us, safely!

Some of Shakespeare's very greatest writing came when he placed just two characters together. Just think of:
Macbeth — Lady Macbeth
King Lear — Cordelia
Viola — Olivia
Romeo — Juliet
Autolycus — Young Shepherd (Clown)
Hamlet — Ophelia
Falstaff — Prince Hal
Brutus — Cassius
Othello — Iago
Angelo — Isabella

Our YSP Spring Workshop concentrates on Shakespeare’s great scenes that were dominated by just two characters — some scenes light and comic, some deadly serious. The two-character format in each scene simplifies staging and blocking problems, and allows us to concentrate on the understanding, speaking, and acting in an exceptionally focused way.
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YSP Shakespeare Acting Workshop:
'Shakespeare’s One-On-One: Great Two-Person Scenes'
Starting session: Saturday, February 27, 1:00-2:30 p.m. Central Time
Regular rehearsals start Saturday, March 6: Saturdays and Sundays—all 1:00-4:00 p.m. Central Time

Performances (online — and in-person, if safety permits): Late April (ending May 2)

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Please email [email protected] if you plan to take part!

02/04/2021

The Plague did not stop Shakespeare;
Covid will not stop YSP!

YSPers and all interested adults: A new Focused Workshop on Shakespeare's language starts this Sunday! We will conduct it online, on Zoom, … so, wherever you are, you can take part with us, safely!
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YSP Focused Workshop (STARTS Sunday, February 7):
'HA1 HA! KEEP TIME!: Understanding Shakespeare's Uses of Language Rhythm'
Seminar/rehearsal times (online):
Sundays, February 7 &14; and Tuesdays, February 9 & 16 —all 5:30-8:00 Central time:

Performance (online):
Sunday, February 21, 6:00 p.m. Central time
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Please let us know by email if you plan to take part!

Our Focused Workshop participants — from young YSPers to interested parents, to Ph.D.'s in English — have found it very enlightening (and great fun) to let the greatest of all writers teach us about language. Join us now to see why!

Here's a bit more about this Focused Workshop …
'HA! HA! KEEP TIME! Understanding Shakespeare's Uses of Language Rhythm'

You cannot be a really good writer, actor, or even reader if you do not have a feel for the rhythm of language — and William Shakespeare was the best teacher of language rhythm! Shakespeare used verse for about 75% of the lines in his plays. As the great Russian author, Shakespeare translator, and Nobel Prize winner Boris Pasternak once said, “Rhythm is the basis of Shakespeare’s texts.” In a very imperfect analogy, we can think of it like the current of a river. If there were no current — no flow or movement — the water in the river would nevertheless be there, and portions of the shore might still be scenic. But it would all stand still. It wouldn’t flow; it wouldn’t go anywhere. As it is, the rhythmic flow of his verse “current” — always moving, filled with shifts and surprises; stately and slow in some places, heart-throbbingly quick and exciting in others — gives movement and direction to his characters, his scenes and situations, his dialogue and speeches. The artistry of Shakespeare’s rhythm lies largely in the way he departs at critical times from what is “normal” and “regular.” It is a large part of what makes his plays so memorably great.To handle Shakespeare well — to handle language well — the actor or intelligent reader must have an understanding and a “feel” for this rhythm.
This is our very basic, and very popular, Focused Workshop — and perhaps the most fundamental one of all. It is the only one with a second, more advanced version: “That Would Be Scann’d” — for those who have completed this one.

PLEASE TELL US NOW(!) IF YOU'RE GOING TO TAKE PART!! We hope to hear from you by return email, and we hope see you in this Workshop with us!

—Richard and Anne

12/14/2020

Have you joined YSP as a member for 2021?

What, in our world, is worth preserving?
1) Our human potential — centered largely in our growing, developing young people;
2) Our young people’s confidence that they can master, and love, “the best our species has to offer;” and,
3) Our language, as “the stuff of thought.”

Over the past decades, thousands of young people have met the challenge, and used their unique work at YSP to uplift themselves and all the rest of us. Now in this especially difficult time, we are working to make sure YSP itself will be preserved, and the young people of today and tomorrow will continue this important work. Join us:

Business Sponsors We welcome the support of area businesses! If you are interested in finding out more about how you can help further the YSP mission by becoming a business sponsor, please email ys…

09/15/2020

Reminder! Starting soon!
The Tempest
Intro (over Zoom): September 16, 5:30 pm-7:00 pm
Rehearsals: Saturday, September 19th-Early December
Saturdays 1:00 pm-4:00 pm
Sundays 1:00 pm-4:00 pm
Wednesdays 2:00 pm-5:00 pm
(Each actor will assigned to two rehearsal periods based on availability)
Dress Rehearsals and Filmed Performances: December

09/08/2020

Join us this fall for The Tempest!
Intro (over Zoom): September 16, 5:30 pm-7:00 pm
Rehearsals: Saturday, September 19th-Early December
Saturdays 1:00 pm-4:00 pm
Sundays 1:00 pm-4:00 pm
Wednesdays 2:00 pm-5:00 pm
(Each actor will assigned to two rehearsal periods based on availability)
Dress Rehearsals and Filmed Performances: December
Email [email protected] to register