Reclaiming Verse: A Shakespeare Text Workshop with NA LAB Resident Artist, Jessica B. Hill

Join acclaimed actor, playwright, and Necessary Angel Resident Artist, Jessica B. Hill for her Reclaiming Verse: A Shakespeare Text Workshop.

Learn techniques on breaking down and gaining meaning through Shakespearean text in this movement-based workshop for all levels and experiences, actors and non-actors alike.  

Workshop Date: February 11, 1:30pm-5:00pm 
Location: Toronto, ON

Please email kanika@necessaryangel.com if you would like to participate. Space is limited and we will stop accepting submissions once we have reached our capacity.  Deadline to apply is February 4, 2025.

This Artist Lab is offered FREE to participants.

Shakespeare’s verse is some of the most expansive, challenging and empowering text for an actor to play. It’s poetry in motion. And like any poetry, the more you bring of yourself, the more the language expands...and the more fun it gets. I adore this stuff and want to help anyone who’s curious about Shakespeare to harness the tools to help make it less daunting. So where to start when tackling verse? How to make it sound like you? And how to do it while still embracing spontaneity and discovery? In this no-pressure workshop, we’ll play with some of the building blocks to verse and explore tools that will help you tackle any future Shakespeare speech. Let’s play! 
— Jessica B. Hill, Artist

Necessary Angel presents an “Adapting Text for the Theatre” Workshop with Associate Artistic Director Kanika Ambrose

Join recent Dora Award winner and Necessary Angel Associate Artistic Director, Kanika Ambrose, for an Adapting Text for the Theatre workshop. Kanika will go through the process that she uses to create plays from found text, as she works with participants on beginning the process in their own work. The goal of the workshop is for newer playwrights or playwright’s new to adaptation to build skills to start or improve their process of adapting work.

This workshop is free, in-person in downtown Toronto, limited spots and the deadline to apply is 10am Friday, September 22.

No age limit, anyone who feels like they could benefit from an adaptation workshop. Please fill out application form when submitting. Please only apply if you have material that you are interested in adapting for the stage or have a couple of pieces to consider. Please email kanika@necessaryangel.com if you require any assistance with your application or have questions.

You may be curious about adapting a poem, novel or other text but don’t know where to begin. You may have already begun and want to explore some practical tools as you continue in your process. From what factors into selecting a piece to seeing it through to a draft, I’ll guide participants through the processes that have worked for me and that I continue to work with on plays I’m currently developing. The group will be small so that each participant will have individually focused time with me and more of my attention to their work. I ask that participants come with a piece they want to work on or a few pieces that they are considering so that we can jump right in and have some work done by the end of our time together.
— Kanika Ambrose, Associate Artistic Director