Janus Theatre to offer special acting workshop Saturday

Janus Theatre Company welcomes professor Bill Kincaid to downtown Elgin where he will conduct the "Bard in the Barn" acting workshop based on unrehearsed Shakespeare performance techniques. The three-hour workshop will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 13, at the Elgin Art Showcase, 164 Division St., eighth floor in downtown Elgin. For more information, go to www.janusplays.com.

"The Bard in the Barn" acting workshop is inspired by the annual performance of the same name that showcases unrehearsed Shakespeare performance techniques and is held on the Western Illinois University campus. The Bard in Barn workshop will introduce actors to techniques used by Shakespeare and his contemporaries. The experience relies on a new understanding of the relationship between actors and audience, and a deep appreciation of the clues hidden in the acting text, which allow the plays to be performed without rehearsal. Actors will learn how to use the cue script technique in performance, which will lead them to new discoveries, while they create an immediate experience similar to the original performances.

Kincaid is head of the acting MFA program at Western Illinois University, where he has received the College of Fine Arts and Communication Creative Activity Award, Outstanding Teacher Award and Outstanding Service Award. He is also a three-time winner of the Classical Acting Coach Award from the National Partners of American Theatre, and serves as the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Auditions Coordinator for Region 3 of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. In 2014, he received the Illinois Theatre Association's Award of Honor for Outstanding Contributions. Acting and directing credits include productions at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, New England Shakespeare Festival, and many seasons with Indiana's Brown County Playhouse and the Cortland Repertory Theatre in upstate New York.

The fee is $25 and can be purchased online at www.janusplays.com or www.bardinthebarn.eventbrite.com.

This workshop is part of Janus Theatre's Elgin 400 Shakespeare Festival and is generously sponsored by the Elgin Cultural Arts Commission, City of Elgin and Elgin Art Showcase.