COACHING SHAKESPEARE

with Victoria Pero and Amanda Whiteley

Sure we all love shakespeare, but how do we do it?

Even the best interviewers seem to stop short when their guests finally get down to the nitty gritty of technique. Just when listeners are about to discover the gold of HOW performers and directors approach the real work of Shakespeare’s text, the interview veers off.

Victoria and Amanda created something they couldn’t find: a podcast devoted to sharing techniques so actors, educators, directors, students and Shakespeare fans can build an arsenal of tools to draw upon for their own work.

Each episode of Coaching Shakespeare focuses on a different tool that demystifies the process of digging into classical text. Hosts Victoria and Amanda use their directing and teaching chops to help guest actors navigate Shakespeare's speeches by exploring a tool or exercise through a live coaching. Whether they’re pulling apart text in grisly detail or whispering into a water bottle, something fascinating happens, lowing the bar to entry, so we can all take a shot at playing Shakespeare. Lend us your ears!

Meet The Hosts

Victoria Pero

Off-Broadway & NYC: Stormy Weather: The Lena Horne Story, starring Leslie Uggams for Amas, MTC. Adapted/directed MasterBuilder: REBUILT featuring Okwui Okpokwasili. Prodigal, with Alison Fraser, Kerry Butler, Christian Borle at The York. The Strange Case of Mary Lincoln with Barbara Walsh for Women’s Project. Pre-Broadway workshop of The Alchemist featuring James Stovall. David Rodwin’s one-man opera Trippin’ at LaMaMa. Consumer Behavior for FringeNYC. David T. King’s Big Cactus. World premiere of Caryl Churchill’s The After Dinner Joke for Monster(less) Regional: Scenes and Revelations for SUNY Purchase. Adapted/directed Ibsen’s A Doll House, Eric Coble’s Bright Ideas, Bob Clyman’s The Appointment, and The Guys, for Twelve Miles West. Ron McLarty’s Sandpilot at Luna Stage. Victoria has worked at The Royal National Theatre in London, The Guthrie, The Cleveland Playhouse, The Pearl, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Expanded Arts in NYC and The American Stage Company. She has produced for The Spoleto Festival, The Drama League and Circle In The Square. Graduate of Northwestern University, Ohio University (MFA), and LAMDA. Victoria is featured in the 2008 Who’s Who for American Women. Victoria founded The Shakespeare Summer Arts Institute (2001-2010), where 9-16 year-olds toured wacky versions of Shakespeare plays, and Chic Squad Fashion Camp (2012-present) teaching sustainable fashion. Educationally, Victoria has been a Performing Arts Teacher at Bergen County Academies in NJ since 2004. 2011 teacher of the year. 2015 recipient for the Japan-US Fulbright for Sustainable Fashion. She has directed: Legally Blonde, Macbeth, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, LLF: Don’t Trust The Boyz!, DOXXED, Cymbeline, Romeo&Juliet, Evita, The Madness of George III, The King and I, Loves Labours Lost, Pippin, The Secret Garden and The Grapes of Wrath. Victoria has three children, and is married to sci-fi/fantasy artist Peter Scanlan.

Amanda Whiteley

Amanda is an actor/director/photographer raised in the great state of New Jersey. She met both Victoria and Marissa at the magnetic high school Bergen County Academies where she majored in Performing Arts. She went on to pursue a BA in Drama and History at Middlebury College and ever hungry for classical theatre, she also trained at BADA (British American Drama Academy) and RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts) in London. She now lives in Manhattan and has since starred in several films, readings, productions and ~zoom~ productions. Most recently she directed and produced Rogue Ensemble's Romeo and Juliet at the House of The Redeemer, running until the end of August. She also work as the in-hospital newborn photographer for NYU Langone. For a resume and greater sampling of her work, check out her website www.amandawhiteley.com

Meet The Producers

Marissa Ferrara

Marissa has lived in Chicago since graduating from Northwestern University, where she studied Theatre and Integrated Marketing Communications. She’s been working in the marketing industry for two years and volunteers with the Arts and Business Council of Chicago, which provides pro bono consulting services to arts and cultural nonprofit organizations. An avid podcast listener, Marissa is thrilled to be collaborating on Coaching Shakespeare with the loveliest, most inspiring hosts she could ask for (who also happen to mean the world to her). She’s moving to NYC in the fall and is excited to continue her career and delve even further into the world of podcasting.

Jeremy Todd Shinder

Jeremy is a sophomore at Syracuse University pursuing a B.F.A. in Film from the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA). At Syracuse, Jeremy is a member of the FYP Theatre Troupe and plays drums in the Marching Band and Pep Band. Featured acting credits include… Broadway: A Christmas Story: The Musical (Flick [OBC]), The 2013 TONY Awards (Himself, with ACS). Off-Broadway: Big: The Musical (Billy), Runaways ([City Center/Public Theater]). International Tour: The Addams Family (Pugsley). Film: Drunk Parents (Trey), Going in Style (Ezra). Television: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (Timmy Jenkins), Louie (Never Cartesian). Regional: Noises Off (Lloyd Dallas). Syracuse University: Something Rotten! (Nick Bottom). During his high school career, Jeremy was recognized with two New Jersey Governor’s Awards in Arts Education, the US Marines “Semper Fidelis” Award in Musical Excellence, and as the New Jersey ‘Thespian of the Year.’ Jeremy is a proud member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA. www.JeremyShinder.com