Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” in The Rehearsal Room for November 2024 with Christopher Guilmet, Shannon Lee Clair, director Geoffrey Wade and more!

For November in The Rehearsal Room, we’re pulling an archive session and sharing it publicly on all platforms!

November’s Workshop

Our group will be working on Act 2, Scene 1 and Act 3, Scene 2 from Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale:

• Leontes has Hermione arrested for adultery and treason
• Hermione tries to defend herself in open court

Scenes from the Folger Shakespeare Library here and here.

The Winter’s Tale Team – bios below:

• DIRECTOR: Geoffrey Wade (listen to a full interview here and Dogberry discussion here)
• DRAMATURG: Gideon Rappaport (interview)
• LEONTES: Christopher Guilmet
• HERMIONE: Shannon Lee Clair
• ANTIGONUS: J. Paul Nicholas

REPLAYS (both video and audio) will be available weekly starting November 12th.

As a PATRON (starting at just $5), you can also get:

• Viewing of the sessions early (3-4 days before they go public)
• Priority access to ask questions of the artists
• And other perks

Get EARLY access and more via Patreon!

Want to be in the Room where it happens? 😉

These sessions are always filled with amazing scene work, and you’ll learn:

• how professional artists approach material
• what questions to ask
• what the director expects from actors
• how to find character clues from the text
• how the exploration never stops!

The great joy of these programs is that we get to:

• spend SO much time diving deep on a scene and characters
• bring together lifelong professionals with newer/younger actors
• cast roles while being totally open to race, gender, and age

Artist Bios – folks coming from LA, San Diego, Philadelphia, and New York!

Geoffrey Wade has performed on Broadway and off-, and continues to work extensively in regional theater and in national tours. He has done episodic television and several films, including Steven Spielberg’s The BFG. Geoffrey has directed critically acclaimed productions of A Walk in the Woods and The Crucible.

Gideon Rappaport is San Diego’s premiere Shakespearean dramaturg; he has worked as an English, humanities and Shakespeare teacher in high school, college, graduate school and professional theater. He earned his Master of Arts and Ph.D. in English and American literature at Brandeis University. He is the author of the book Appreciating Shakespeare and host of a podcast under the same name.

Christopher Guilmet has performed Off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre and regionally at 3D Theatricals, Musical Theatre West, Antaeus Theatre, Reprise Theatre, Colony Theatre, Stages St. Louis, Musicals Tonight!, 5th Avenue Theatre, and the Village Theatre.

Shannon Lee Clair was born in New York City and has lived most of her life on the west coast, also spending time significant time in Ireland and London. She earned her Bachelor’s in English and Theater at Princeton University and studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. An avid outdoors-woman, Shannon fills most of her vacation time with backpacking or sailing trips. Website

J. Paul Nicholas has worked off-Broadway, in regional theatre and national tours, and on TV/film. He has won two Barrymore Awards and received his MFA from The Academy for Classical Acting at George Washington University. Website.

—