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The Viola Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering young women through the understanding and performance of Shakespeare's plays. We provide a space where gender, race and age pose no obstacles, where girls can be whoever they want to be. Even Hamlet. History In the Spring of 2004, TVP's founders, Reina Hardy and Ellie Kaufman, were acting in a Chicago production of Lysistrata. A conversation one night after a performance led them to realize they shared similar thoughts about theatre growing up; that is, that there were always more girls interested in theatre than there were roles for them to play in school productions. Reina had been privileged to take part in a summer Shakespeare program which had a gender-blind casting policy, and as a result she was able to play such roles as Iago and Hamlet. Ellie thought this was a fantastic idea and wondered why there wasn't such a program in existence in Chicago today. Taking the idea one step further, they decided to create a program where only girls would be allowed to participate, so they could play all the meaty, complex, difficult, exciting characters Shakespeare envisioned. After all, in the year 1600, only men were allowed on stage. Isn't turnabout fair play? The name of the program comes from Shakespeare's heroine in Twelfh Night, Viola, who is marvelously adept at playing a man and yet in the end does not compromise her wit, her strength, or her feelings one bit in order to get what she wants. |
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CITY LIT THEATRE The Viola Project has had a partnership with City Lit Theatre since 2006. This wonderful theatre, located in the Bryn Mawr Historic district, co-sponsors our one-day workshops and summer programming. We love our home on the City Lit stage! Learn more about City Lit at www.citylit.org. RECENT WORKSHOPS: Note: We've done so many workshops lately, it's hard to keep track! Check back for a complete listing of all of our recent workshops, coming soon.
It’s Good To Be
The Queen: Saturday, April 7
th, 2007, students gathered at
City Lit Theatre to explore the themes of celebrity, image, and power in Antony
and Cleopatra. We played with ways to bring these bigger-than-life
characters to life using physicality, voice, and stage presence;
rehearsed and performed some of the most hilarious and heart-wrenching
scenes from the play; and the students self-directed and performed as a
group two famous monologues describing the legendary lovers.
The Willows Academy:
On March 19, 2007, The Viola Project made our second annual trip to The
Willows Academy in Des Plaines to lead the sophomores there in a
three-hour Macbeth workshop. Students created an
ensemble of witches, controlled each other with their
"powers," experienced six different types of theatre
arrangements, and, in smaller groups, chose the most effective
arrangement in which to stage their Witch scene, which they then
performed for an audience of their classmates and teachers.
A Merry War:
On March 3rd, 2007, students arrived at City Lit Theater to spend the
day exploring Much Ado About Nothing, a Shakespearean romantic comedy
with life-or-death stakes. We discovered what it meant to be a man or a
woman in the setting of the play, deconstructed these gender
stereotypes, and used our love of language to win the battle of wits.
The day ended with a performance of scenes for the play for friends and
family.
Sacred Heart: In the Fall of 2006, The Viola Project taught a six-week after school program at Sacred Heart School in Edgewater. Students rehearsed scenes from Twelfth Night, delving into such famous roles as Sir Toby Belch, Feste the Clown, Olivia, Malvolio, Maria, and, of course, Viola. The session ended with a performance of scenes and the eating of a King Cake, after which one lucky student won the privilege to lead the class in a game of her choosing! Villains! On November 18, 2006, The Viola Project celebrated Shakespeare's most dastardly creations! Students honed their acting skills, delved into the rich Elizabethan language and learned the subtle arts of villainy with Richard III, Lady Macbeth, and Iago. And on November 19, The Viola Project students, parents, teachers and friends attended Polarity Ensemble Theatre's performance of Othello in Mask at the Side Studio! Sonnet Slam! On October 14, 2006, students who love acting and writing got to work on both in our Sonnet Slam! This workshop combined Shakespeare's sonnets, free-writes throughout the day, a FrankenSonnet in which all the students collaborated to create a perfect sonnet, and a performance of original -- as well as 400-year-old-- poetry! Later in the weekend, The Viola Project hosted The Action to the Word, a poetry slam, at Marrakech Expresso, featuring performances by professional slam poets Yolanda Androzzo (Sister Yo) and Molly Meacham. Students and friends read their own poetry during the open mic! Capulet vs. Montague! On September 23 2006, students got their feud on with The Viola Project! This one-day workshop, based on Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," transported students to the scorching streets of Verona, gave them a place in the Capulet (or Montague) clan, and showcased their hard work in scenes from the play! Later in the weekend, students, parents, siblings, and teachers attended the House Theatre production of Hatfield and McCoy, to see how the themes in Romeo and Juliet applied to the most famous American family feud! Heroines: A Shakespearean Action Adventure! On July 19, 2006, The Viola Project students learned how to create and tell stories theatrically using their own imaginations, a few simple props, and a little inspiration from Shakespeare. With only seven hours of preparation and rehearsal, parents and friends witnessed a performance of Group Adventures (inspired by the students' own Personal Journeys developed earlier in the day) and Shakespearean Off-Stage Events (exploring stylistically the events which Shakespeare found too difficult to put on stage, choosing instead to have his characters describe in monologues).
Fight! On April 22nd, 2006, along with Kathrynne Rosen from Babes with Blades, The Viola Project held a stage combat workshop! Participants learned the basics of creating the illusion of violence on stage while emphasizing partnership, cooperation and safety! The day culminated in a performance of eight scenes with Shakespeare's most contentious characters. Three Hours with Macbeth, The Viola Project Style: On March 20, 2006, students at The Willows Academy in Des Plaines reviewed the differences between iambic pentameter, trochaic tetrameter and prose using physicalized rhythm, explored the idea of characters controlling each other with the Super Crazy Awesome Wizard Game, created soundscapes using evocative phrases from Macbeth, experienced the effect on an audience that different staging arrangements have (such as theatre in the round, transverse stage, proscenium, and thrust), and finally staged the Witch Scene using the theatre arrangement of their choice. Does this sound like something your students would enjoy? Let us know! On March 11, 2006, at "The Play's The Thing." students explored physical characters, learned about secret motives onstage, and enacted the entirety of Hamlet in 10 minutes (well, 15), in addition to creating a dumbshow and staging seven different scenes from the play, which we then performed for parents and friends. TVP's Second Annual Summer Shakespeare Workshop 2005 held at Sprout Gifted in Lincoln Park: Students learned about Shakespearean language, explored different ways to create a character through voice and movement, and performed fun and challenging scenes from Macbeth, Hamlet, The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night, and Romeo and Juliet for parents and friends at Chase Park Theatre in August. The summer workshop students also enjoyed a one-day workshop with Babes with Blades' Kat Rosen, who taught us how to flourish weapons, "ride the hook," stomp on feet, fall down, and deliver punches-- all while remaining completely safe. Take that, Petrucchio! One-Day Workshops: With support from 3Pear Studios and the Three Arts Club of Chicago, TVP presented three one-day workshops in 2005: Magic and Malice in April, Shipwrecked! in October, and Are All The People Mad? in December. In addition, TVP led a one-day workshop at St. Scholastica in March with three different drama classes, culminating in a school assembly performance. For more information on how to bring TVP to your school, click here! The Viola Project was accepted for inclusion in the 2006-2008 Arts-in-Education (AIE) Artists Roster, a selective database of arts education programs compiled by the Illinois Arts Council!
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