Bernhardt Hamlet on Broadway

Bernhardt Hamlet on Broadway 

Shane AnnProductions

Well that was a fun evening in the theatre! Watching Bernhardt Hamlet on Broadway with three of former students from NYU Grad Acting – Jason Butler Harner, Matt Saldivar, and Aaron Costas Ganis.  The star of the show is one of my all time favorite actors – Janet McTeer. I have seen her in many shows at the Royal Shakespeare …

André Holland Othello

André Holland playing Othello at the Globe Theatre in London

Shane AnnProductions

I’ve been to the Globe Theatre in London before but this time my former student from NYU Graduate Acting, André Holland, was playing Othello!  It is difficult to describe the feelings of seeing someone you taught perform on such a prestigious stage. From the first moment André entered, he commanded our attention.  He had the audience in the palm of …

Shakespeare in the Park

Shakespeare In The Park – The Production of “Othello” 

Shane AnnShakespeare

It was very exciting to see and hear my former students from NYU Grad Acting in the Shakespeare in the Park production of “Othello”!  Corey Stoll was a fascinating Iago. Heather Lind was an illuminating Desdemona.  In addition to Corey and Heather, the other Grad acting alums were Motell Foster (Roderigo), Chris Cassarino (Ensemble).  Also in the cast were David …

Two Former Students Receive Oscars

Two Former Students Receive Academy Awards

Shane AnnShakespeare

Two of my former students received Academy Awards this year. I have never written that sentence before! Mahershala Ali (NYU Tisch Graduate Acting) in “Moonlight” for Best Supporting Actor and Viola Davis (Juilliard) in “Fences” for Best Supporting Actress.  The academy awards made history this year with “Moonlight”. This was the first film with an all African-American cast to win …

Voice and Speech for Actors

Shakespeare Monologue Coaching

Shane AnnShakespeare

I recently assigned Shakespeare monologues to the students in my Advanced Class. For many of them it is their first time doing Shakespeare monologue coaching. We finished a series of scanning exercises, which included discussions about short verse lines, long verse lines, shared verse lines, epic caesuras, elisions, stretching a word, and acting on the verse line. Now the fun …

Shakespeare Plays

My students Pronouncing Shakespeare using the App in their rehearsals of Hamlet and Macbeth

Shane AnnNYU Grad Acting

My First Year students in the Graduate Acting Program at NYU have been very enthusiastic about using the Audio Shakespeare Pronunciation App as they rehearse  “Hamlet” and “Macbeth”. They told me that at the beginning of the rehearsals, they used it every night to check the pronunciations of the unusual words and the character and place names in Shakespeare plays. …

Joe Girgis

Joe Girgis Accepted to BADA

Shane AnnFrom Shane Ann

Joe Girgis completed my Voice and Speech program in February, auditioned for the BADA (British Academy of Dramatic Arts) Summer program and was accepted! I am so proud of him. BADA‘s intensive summer conservatory program for serious actors, is held at Magdalen College, Oxford, in association with the Yale School of Drama. The program concentrates on classical acting with an …

Harry Ford

“Code Black” with Harry Ford

Shane AnnFrom Shane Ann

Harry Ford (one of my students from NYU’s Graduate Acting Program), just completed filming his first TV show, “Code Black” and he was terrific. He came to NYU to be on a panel of alums who talked to the actors who were Called Back to the final audition of the Grad Acting Program. The panel is an opportunity for the …

Julius Caesar

Production of Julius Caesar

Shane AnnShakespeare

Last night I saw a wonderful production of Julius Caesar directed by Jeff Wise (NYU Grad Acting Alum) at The Wheelhouse Theater Company. Very impressed with what Jeff did with a cast of six. They told the story with a clarity and excitement that is not often seen in a company with a much larger cast. In the company were former Grad …