Starts September 14, 2026Mondays, 6:30-9:30 p.m.3 classes Location:Waterloo-Kitchener United Mennonite Church (WKUM), 15 George Street, Waterloo. Entrance and parking are off Allen Street. Bonus: Register for this class and get free access to The Acting Shakespeare Road Map video course — 6 on-demand video lessons (a $39 value) you can revisit anytime, before class or after. THE SHAKESPEARE ROAD MAP Listen to the text. Discover the performance.Finding the music in acting. A practical actor-training intensive: everything you need to know to act Shakespeare with clarity, confidence, and connection. THE ROAD MAP: FIVE STEPS TO UNLOCK ANY SCRIPT 1. PARAPHRASING - Hear the thought. Own the meaning.Break the language open, speak the thought behind the words, move from summary to specificity, and put the text into your own words so the intention becomes clear. 2. IMAGING - See it. Live it.Discover how Shakespeare's images ignite the scene, create the world and its stakes, awaken emotional life, and lead the acting. 3. VERSE - Find the music. Let it carry you.Explore rhythm, pattern, breath, natural speech, and the relationship between punctuation and the living line. 4. PUNCTUATION - Punctuation is the score.Use the marks on the page to uncover meaning, pace, emphasis, pauses, and shifts in thought - without dropping the commas. 5. ACTION STORY - Turn the lines into action.Every line is doing something. Follow the verb, play the story, discover who is doing what, and let active language drive the scene. No previous Shakespeare experience is required. INSTRUCTOR Paul Hopkins brings more than 30 years of professional acting and directing experience to this work. He served as Artistic Director of Montreal's Shakespeare-in-the-Park company, Repercussion Theatre, for eight seasons, performed in two seasons at the Stratford Festival, and performed at the Atlantic Theatre Festival under Michael Langham — widely regarded as one of the great Shakespeare directors of his era — in what amounted to a training ground of its own. In 2013, he was named a finalist for the Christopher Plummer Award of Excellence in Classical Theatre. Curious where this approach actually comes from? Paul traces his process directly back to Shakespeare's own acting company, by way of mentors that include a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the former head of the Drama Division at The Juilliard School. Read the full story.
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