We are tentatively hoping to start classes again in Spring 2022. Please email us at speechoffire@gmail.com if you are interested.
Below is the information about our most recent round of classes.
We are back!--Online!
We have adapted our usual classes for an online format! Come join us!
Speech of Fire's
Shakespeare Studio--Online!
May 2021 Acting Classes
Sundays May 9, 16, 23, 30
- 60 US dollars
1 hr
50 US dollars
Shakespeare Studio
May 2021 Session
Click on each class for details
***Registration has closed for these classes***
If you weren't able to register this time but would like us to offer these kinds of classes again in the future, email us at speechoffire@gmail.com to let us know you're interested in future courses, and follow our social media and email list to stay up to date with our announcements. (Links are at the top of this page.)
General Information
We are happy to be continuing our series of acting classes for the public this spring! We are adapting our usual classes for an online format!
Acting Shakespeare's Text
1:00-3:00pm (Korean time)
$70 (USD) (8 hours total instruction)
Rehearsing Shakespeare: Monologues & Scenes
3:30-6:30pm (Korean time)
$90 (USD) (12 hours total instruction)
Both courses are taught in English.
Each course is 4 sessions (once a week for 4 weeks).
Open to adults and teens at least 16 years of age.
Co-taught by Lauren Ash-Morgan and Michael Downey.
Classes with fewer than 5 participants may be canceled.
Appropriate for actors of all experience levels, from beginner to advanced.
Designed both for newcomers to us and those who have attended our classes (or acted in our Seoul Shakespeare Company shows) before. To be more specific:
Acting Shakespeare's Text is different every session, with new texts and themes (although for anyone who took our 2016 class "Preparing to Perform: Mining Shakespeare’s Text," this material will overlap with some of the material from that class.)
Rehearsing Shakespeare: Monologues and Scenes is different every session--you choose your monologue or scene!
Location of all courses:
Zoom (Link will be sent to participants.)
Participants will need:
-A room with enough space to move around a bit (nothing fancy, just a space that allows you to walk around a little), and in which you can vocalize. (i.e. Don’t try to do this class from a coffee shop. It is NOT a lecture. We will be exploring the text vocally and physically.) Please make sure your space is reasonably free of background noise.
-Your text in a format you can mark up and walk around with (paper and pencil or phone/tablet).
-Rehearsing Shakespeare: Monologues & Scenes class—you will need a tennis ball for warmups.
Free Social Time for Participants
In addition to the class times, we will have our Zoom room open before, between, and after classes so that people can chat and have some social time outside of classes.
Full schedule each Sunday (May 9, 16, 23, and 30):
12:00-1:00pm Free Time* (Zoom room open to participants from both classes)
1:00-3:00pm Acting Shakespeare's Text Class
3:00-3:30pm Free Time* (Zoom room open to participants from both classes)
3:30-6:30pm Rehearsing Shakespeare: Monologues and Scenes Class
6:30-7:00pm Free Time* (Zoom room open to participants from both classes)
*Free Time = The Zoom room will be open, and anyone from either class is welcome to drift in and out, chat, get a snack, ask questions, process the day, etc. Lauren and Michael may sometimes drift out to prep, get a snack, etc. but will be around. If anyone needs us and we've stepped away, just give us a shout!
Interested in future classes but unavailable now? Let us know!
If you are unable to attend at this time, but would like us to offer these types of classes again in the near future, drop us a quick email at speechoffire@gmail.com so we know the interest is there.
Questions? Email Speech of Fire at speechoffire@gmail.com
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTORS:
Lauren Ash-Morgan and Michael Downey are the Founding Co-Artistic Directors of Speech of Fire and have been training actors through workshops and rehearsal techniques since late 2015, first as Seoul Shakespeare Company (SSC), and now as Speech of Fire. While Lauren served as SSC's Artistic Director from 2014 to 2019, both Lauren and Michael served as SSC's stage directors and training coaches in 2016-2019 and have periodically taught workshops to the public, including “Movement and Ensemble Work” (2018, 2019), “Acting Shakespeare’s Text” (2018, 2019), "Rehearsing Shakespearean Monologues & Scenes” (2019), “Exploring Gugak in Theatre Training” (2018), "Gugak: Movement and Voice" (2019), and “Preparing to Perform: Strategies for Approaching Shakespeare's Text” (2016). They have also coached many actors in SSC's “Shakesperiments” workshops, which Lauren first created in 2014. Over time they have incorporated techniques learned in Prague Shakespeare Company's Summer Shakespeare Intensive, the Shakespeare Theatre Association's annual conferences, personal study and research, and rehearsal processes for the productions they have directed and coached. More about their productions as Seoul Shakespeare Company here and more about Speech of Fire here.
Lauren bio
Lauren Ash-Morgan most recently appeared in Richard II by The Show Must Go Online, one of the pandemic era's most groundbreaking and innovative Zoom theatre series, broadcast live in 2020. Pre-pandemic, she directed The Orderly and played Susan in Garage, two productions which she produced in rep as a co-production between Seoul Shakespeare Company and Speech of Fire in 2019. That year she also directed, designed, and produced Seoul Shakespeare Company's production of King Lear. She was Seoul Shakespeare Company's Artistic Director, producer, and costume designer from 2014 to 2019, having served as a leading actor and board member with SSC since 2011. Lauren's acting credits include Prague Shakespeare Company's The Two Gentlemen of Verona directed by Ben Crystal at the Estates Theatre (Silvia/Ensemble); Seoul Shakespeare Company’s The Merchant of Venice (Portia), Garage (Susan), The Winter’s Tale (Paulina/Time/Bohemian), Much Ado About Nothing (Beatrice), Titus Andronicus (Tamora), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oberon), Hamlet (Gertrude), The Tempest (Alonsa), Macbeth (Lady Macbeth), Shakespeare's Love and Despair (Lady Macbeth, Trinculo, Gertrude, Tamora, Desdemona) and Shakespeare's Gore and Madness (Portia, Queen Margaret, Gertrude); Probationary Theatre Company’s Popcorn (Farrah), Betrayal (Emma), and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Martha); Eurasia Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Richard III (Queen Elizabeth) at the National Theater of Korea; and the independent feature film Amiss. She also directed the 2013 Seoul run of The Orderly and the short play Best Interests for Seoul Players' 10-Minute Play festival, and served as movement/ensemble coach for SSC's King Lear and the 10-minute play Trumpus Rex. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education (Voice) from Ithaca College and an M.A. in Ethnomusicology, specializing in Korean traditional music and dance, and has studied and performed pansori, Korean traditional dance, and gayageum, in various capacities, since 2005, often using these techniques in theatre performance. Lauren is now Founding Co-Artistic Director of Speech of Fire.
Michael bio
Michael Downey most recently appeared in Julius Caesar by The Show Must Go Online, one of the pandemic era's most groundbreaking and innovative Zoom theatre series, broadcast live in 2020. Pre-pandemic, he played the title role in Seoul Shakespeare Company’s production of King Lear in 2019 and in that same year directed Garage and performed his solo play, The Orderly, two productions in rep co-produced by Seoul Shakespeare Company and Speech of Fire. He served as Seoul Shakespeare Company’s regular stage director in 2016-2019, directing The Merchant of Venice, Garage, The Winter's Tale and Much Ado About Nothing, and also wrote and directed the short play Trumpus Rex for Seoul Players’ 10-Minute Play Festival. Other directing credits include A Circular Play by Gertrude Stein and New Year’s Eve by Dave MacGregor. He first joined SSC as an actor in 2010, appearing in Macbeth (Macbeth), The Tempest (Prospero), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Peter Quince), Titus Andronicus (Titus Andronicus), and Shakespeare's Love and Despair (Macbeth, Claudius, Titus Andronicus). In 2018 he appeared as Octavius Caesar and the Soothsayer in Prague Shakespeare Company's Julius Caesar at the Estates Theatre in Prague. Other acting credits in Seoul include Betrayal (Jerry), The Importance of Being Earnest (Algernon), The Real Inspector Hound (Magnus), and Eurasia Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of Richard III (Clarence) at the National Theater of Korea. Michael trained as an actor at the Unitec School of Performing and Screen Arts and holds an M.A. in Drama Studies from the University of Auckland. In New Zealand, his theatre credits include Coriolanus, Oedipus the King, and Attempts on Her Life. Onscreen, he has appeared in Power Rangers, Shortland Street, and Xena: Warrior Princess. He co-founded The Rebel Alliance Theatre Company in 2006, their debut production being his solo play The Orderly, which toured New Zealand, was adapted for radio by Radio New Zealand, was revived in Seoul in 2013 and 2019, and is now in Speech of Fire's performance repertoire. In 2007, his play Aroha won the SmackBang PlayRight award and enjoyed a two-week season at the Herald Theatre. Michael is now Founding Co-Artistic Director of Speech of Fire.