New Arabic & English Production of Romeo & Juliet

Hello!

I’m Fawzia, I’m an Arab-American Muslim Shakespeare actor and scholar who is passionate about creating opportunities for Arab and Muslim theatre artists in the world of Shakespeare today.

Help support Arab artists' work, train, and perform Romeo and Juliet in Prague this summer as part of a unique bilingual English/Arabic production of Shakespeare’s timeless classic love story.

Hosted by the Prague Shakespeare Company, the professional English language theatre of the Czech Republic, and in collaboration with Cairo-based ShakeSphere, we are creating an exciting, cross-cultural, bilingual Arabic & English production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet starring emerging Arab & Muslim artists working alongside experienced Shakespeareans led by PSC Artistic Director Guy Roberts, performing at the Czech National Theater’s world-famous Estates Theater.

This production will convey a message of inclusivity and understanding that audiences of all backgrounds and experiences can appreciate. We are also explicitly looking to represent Arab theatre artists, onstage and off, in a positive and affirming way that we are often not represented on the Western stage and especially in classical Western theatre. Our audiences, especially Arab and Muslim audiences, will see a new version of a story they already love, discover a story they love, and/or see themselves on stage being loved in a way they haven’t before.

This inspiring and enlightening new version of Romeo and Juliet will premiere on 8 July, 2023 at the world-famous Czech National Theatre’s Estates Theater, where Mozart premiered Don Giovanni in 1787.

Bringing artists together from around the world for an intense month of development, our team will gather in Prague, Czech Republic to craft this thrilling, reimagined version of Shakespeare’s timeless classic of falling in love. This production will reimagine the warring families against the backdrop of Granada during the Reconquista with a Muslim Capulet family and a Catholic Montague family.

The performances will be in Arabic and English - and we are creating a new Arabic translation for the production!

Seven Arab artists will be selected, all expenses paid, to experience a total Shakespeare Boot Camp while developing this special project - training and rehearsing up to twelve hours a day, six days a week for one month as part of the PSC Summer Shakespeare Intensive. Days will be spent in class and training - our Arab artists will immerse themselves in a wide variety of theatre disciplines such as acting, dance, clown, voice, stage fighting, Shakespeare analysis, Intimacy training and more. Evenings and weekends will be spent rehearsing and creating this new Romeo and Juliet under the guidance of the director Guy Roberts.

How will the seven Arab artists be selected? Video submissions will be accepted from anywhere in the world. After all the video submissions, the top candidates will be invited to participate.

Want to be considered as one of the Arab artists? Please email your application to [email redacted] - in your email application include the following:

1.) Link to video audition - one Shakespeare monologue in English no more than 2 minutes long

2.) Short Statement of Purpose - a few sentences why you wish to be a part of the Romeo and Juliet experience

3.) Headshot Photo

4.) CV / Resume of your theatre work

5.) Name, contact information - address, phone, email, gender, country of origin, country of passport, languages spoken

This Prague production is the important first step and will serve as the basis for an ongoing tour of the production throughout Europe, the United States and the Middle East.

We will be updating everyone through every major step as we start this incredible journey with photos, video messages, ticket opportunities, special R&J production swag including t-shirts and scripts and a special private link to a video of the performance.

Our target goal is $50,000 to help fund Arab and Muslim artists for our production of Romeo and Juliet at its high-quality production value. That cost includes:

-Tuition, Room and Board for seven Arab artists to participate in the 2023 Summer Shakespeare Intensive with Prague Shakespeare Company

-Travel & Visa expenses for seven Arab artists

-Production fees (actors, director, designers, guest artists)

-Theatre space rentals for rehearsals and performance

-Materials (for costumes, props, swords, building sets)

-Translation expenses

-Marketing costs, including videotaping of the performance

Any and all donations are accepted and our DEADLINE is: July 31, 2023.

Please give serious consideration to supporting this exciting new journey, bridging the lessons of the past with the possibilities of today! Donations of all sizes are appreciated, and please help us spread the word by sharing this page.

To give you a better idea about the impact our Shakespeare Intensive has on emerging and professional artists alike, please watch this short video testimonial from Patrice Francis (Shakespeare in Paradise - Bahamas):

https://youtu.be/bU4wyhdfbz4

Check us out on Instagram at @romeo.and.juliet.in.prague and Facebook at Romeo & Juliet in Prague to follow along as we set out to bring this piece of theatre to life!

For our friends in the United States, donations made in support of our international activities through our American 501(c)(3) non-profit partner, PRAGUE SHAKESPEARE COMPANY AMERICA, are fully tax-deductible under the IRS US Tax-code.

Meet the Team

Guy Roberts

(Artistic Director) is the Founder and Artistic Director of Prague Shakespeare Company. His work as actor, director and producer has been seen in the United States, Czech Republic, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, Poland, Qatar, Egypt and India. He and his productions have been honored with numerous awards and over 100 US theatre award nominations, including many for Best Actor, Director and Production. He is a recipient of the Tomas Garrigue Masaryk Medal of Honor from the Masaryk Democratic Movement in recognition for his work promoting arts and artistic freedom. Guy received the inaugural Sidney Berger Award from the Shakespeare Theatre Association in recognition of his dedication to the works of William Shakespeare. As an actor, Shakespeare roles include Macbeth, Henry V, Iago, Richard III, Hamlet, Pericles, Leontes, Jaques, Cassius, Sir Toby Belch, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Hector, Romeo, Mercutio, Benedick, Bottom, Demetrius, Snug, Puck, Dogberry, and Lucio among others. For PSC, he has produced, directed and/or appeared in twenty-three productions in association with the Czech National Theatre at the historic Estates Theater including Amadeus, An Iliad, the World Premiere Masaryk in America and Patrick Doyle’s Shakespeare in Concert among other Shakespeare productions. Recent tours include Richard III in New Delhi and Puducherry, India and Othello in Ostrava and Brno as well as An Iliad in the US and India, Hamlet in the US and Spain; Macbeth and Much Ado About Nothing in Egypt; Patrick Doyle’s Shakespeare in Concert in the US and Qatar. As a guest director, his PSC Much Ado served as the basis for a Czech version, which he directed and ran for over six years at Divadlo Bez Zabradli in Prague. His production of Midsummer for the Bremer Shakespeare Company in Germany recently celebrated its two year anniversary in the repertory. His new productions of An Iliad starring Karel Heřmánek ml premiered at Divadlo Bez Zabradli in September 2021 and his new production of Macbeth premiered at the Bremer Shakespeare Company in Germany in October 2021. He will return to the Bremer Shakespeare Company this fall to direct a new production of Hamlet. He was recently seen in the feature film MEDIEVAL as can be seen in his reoccurring role as Uno Nomesta in Amazon’s THE WHEEL OF TIME, among other TV and film appearances. Guy staged the Opera sequences for the feature film CHEVALIER. Guy is a longtime member of the Society of American Fight Directors and has choreographed fight sequences and staged violence for over one hundred theatre productions, ballets and operas in Europe and the United States as well as the First National Tour of big! the musical. Guy is a member of Actor’s Equity Association, The Society of Stage Directors, British Equity, and the Shakespeare Theatre Association. He is married to the actress Jessica Boone and is the proud father of Isabella, Rohan and Landon.

Fawzia M. Istrabadi

Fawzia is an Arab-American Shakespeare scholar and actor. She is half-Iraqi and is incredibly passionate about Arab Representation in theatre, as an actor and as an academic. Her recent Master’s thesis, A Malignant and Turbaned Turk: Islamophobia and Orientalism on the Modern Shakespearean Stage explored how Western Shakespeare practitioners can reconcile the Islamophobic and Orientalist elements of Shakespeare’s plays in today’s world. In doing so, Fawzia continues a family legacy. Her Grandmother, Dr. Amel Amin-Zaki, was a professor of Shakespearean Drama and was an expert on the translation of Shakespeare’s plays into Arabic.

Adham Sayed

Adham is an Egyptian theatre artist. Currently based in Cairo, Adham works as a dubbing director and voice actor at Tanweer Studios, amongst others, which is the leading international provider of post-production services. Adham's past projects include: Ralph Breaks the Internet, Toy Story 4, Frozen 2, Onward, Soul, and Encanto for Disney, Netflix's Matilda the Musical, and Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away.

In late 2022 he was announced as the new official Arabic voice of Miss Piggy in The Muppets on Disney+.

Adham is the Founder and Artistic Director of ShakeSphere, a theatre company focused on producing plays that speak to the local community in Cairo, but to a global community as well. He has been a senior interpreter and member of the executive committee at the Cairo International Festival for Contemporary and Experimental Theatre for four years now.

PRAGUE SHAKSPEARE COMPANY – Vision and Mission

The Prague Shakespeare (PSC) Company presents professional theatre productions, workshops, classes, lectures and other theatrical events of the highest quality, conducted primarily in English by a diverse multinational ensemble of professional theatre artists, with an emphasis on the plays of William Shakespeare. The Prague Shakespeare Company brings to Czech, European and international audiences performances that are fresh, bold, imaginative, thought-provoking, and eminently accessible, connecting the truths of the past with the challenges and possibilities of today.

The core of PSC’s artistic vision is creating high-caliber, classic yet cutting-edge English language performances of Shakespeare’s timeless, cross-culturally relevant work with a dedicated ensemble of theatre artists. The Prague Shakespeare Company is dedicated to presenting to Czech, European and world communities vibrant year-round, professional theatre, essential in shaping Prague’s global, culturally dynamic landscape.

Prague Shakespeare Company fills a void in Prague’s arts and expat community by presenting classical dramatic works that are fresh, vibrant, affordable and engaging. The Prague Shakespeare Company is the only professional English-language theatre company in the Czech Republic.

Prague Shakespeare Company – Inclusion, Diversity & Company Ethos

PSC is the most diverse theatre company in the Czech Republic, offering the greatest diversity on stage in terms of racial, gender and nationalities represented. PSC consistently employs and present artists from across all religious spectrums, gender and sexual identities, countries of origin and racial backgrounds proving that Shakespeare is for all humanity and that PSC is the United Nations of Shakespeare.

Through it’s artistic programming and productions in the Czech Republic, Europe and around the world, it’s comprehensive educational offerings and it’s goodwill ambassador programs supporting artists in need during COVID and Ukrainian refugees, PSC continues to be one of the most significant Shakespeare and theatre organizations in the Czech Republic and Europe. As PSC looks ahead to the future they are excited to continue to inspire, educate, entertain and enlighten artists and audiences across the world with our first-rate, world-class performances, educational offerings and advocacy.

PSC Philosophy - Why Shakespeare?

The Prague Shakespeare Company believes that Shakespeare is our theatrical DNA and that there is a reason his texts still reverberate today. These timeless stories are universal in theme, speaking directly to the human condition around the world, through all ages. Over four hundred years since their premiere, Shakespeare’s plays continue to inspire and entertain in theatres throughout the world, in every language in which any kind of theatrical performance is given. Shakespeare’s work offers a dramatic richness unequaled in any other age or epoch; it is theatre where the ritualistic and the comic, the high-brow and the low-brow, the lyrical and the bawdy, all meet and intermingle with the complexity of life. Shakespeare’s words constantly remind us of our own humanity and through his texts we can better understand our own modern experiences, anxieties, and sensibilities. A primary purpose of the Prague Shakespeare Company is to continue this rich tradition of entertaining, enlightening, educating and inspiring audiences, artists and students not only in the Czech Republic and Europe but worldwide.

Prague Shakespeare Company History

PSC presents classical English-language dramatic works that are fresh, vibrant, affordable and engaging. Now in its 16th year, PSC is the premere professional English-language theatre company in the Czech Republic, and has produced over two hundred twenty-five (225) productions and special events including twenty-three (23) productions at the National Theater's Estates Theatre and multiple international tours to places as varied as the United States, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, Poland, Qatar, Egypt and India.

Why English-language Shakespeare in Prague?

For centuries Prague has been a meeting place of different cultures, nationalities and ideas. There is a rich tradition of experiencing Shakespeare in English in the Czech Republic. Robert Browne’s acting troupe perhaps played Shakespeare in English in Prague as early as 1596 and then certainly in 1603. In 1619 they returned to celebrate the wedding of Princess Elizabeth to the Elector of Palatine. Shortly before that time Czech aristocrats watched plays in the Globe and other London theatres whilst on their travels. The English language continues to be the most dominant world language for business and commerce and is the language of the greatest writer in the Western tradition: William Shakespeare. To truly experience Shakespeare one must “hear” the plays in the English language. Shakespeare in English also compliments the great tradition of Shakespeare performances in Czech; deepening appreciation and understanding for audiences, artists and students not only of art, theatre and Shakespeare but the English-language as well.

About the Prague Shakespeare Company Summer Intensive

Prague Shakespeare Company’s world-famous theatre artist training program, the 2023 Summer Shakespeare Intensive, will take place in Prague, Czech Republic from 19 June - 29 July, 2023. Open to actors, directors, designers, stage managers, dramaturges and all serious minded theatre artists, SSI 2023 provides the unique opportunity to join the master teachers and continental Europe’s premiere English-language classical theatre, Prague Shakespeare Company, for 4-6 weeks of transformational classical theater training and mentorship. This “Shakespeare Boot Camp”, allows students to immerse themselves into the world of Shakespeare with specialized classes and rehearsals six days a week, twelve hours a day in one of the most picturesque and culturally rich cities in old Europe.

THE SSI 2023 INSTRUCTORS - Professional Master Teachers from around the World, including among others:

Leraldo Anzaldua, Fight Director, Actor, & Motion Capture Specialist – Certified Teacher Society of American Fight Directors

Irwin Appel, Chair, Department of Theater and Dance, UC Santa Barbara; Actor, Director, Composer/Sound Designer, graduate of The Juilliard School

Dani Bedau, Director, playwright - Mark Taper Forum, Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles, Cornerstone Theatre Company, Indiana Repertory Theatre, SDSU

Eva Bellefueille, Resident Costume Designer – Prague Shakespeare Company

Nancy Bishop, CSA, Emmy award winning Casting Director – Borat 2, Mission Impossible and over 100 major feature film and TV projects

Nari Blair-Mangat, Actor – West End, National Theatre, Prague Shakespeare Company and multiple theatre and film projects with Sir Kenneth Branagh

John Blondell, Director - Shakespeare’s Globe London, National Theatres of Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, and numerous other International Festivals

Thomas Chaanhing, Actor – Netflix’s Marco Polo and Amazon Prime’s White Dragon among numerous other theatre, film & TV

Laura Cole, Actor & Education Director – Atlanta Shakespeare Company/Shakespeare Tavern

Matthew Radford Davies, Actor & Director – American Shakespeare Center, Associate Director – Actors from the London Stage

Suzanne Dean, Actor, Director, Co-Artistic Director – Shakespeare by the Sea/Little Fish Theatre, Creator – Globetrotting Shakespeare, Producer – Rebelfilm Productions

Lue Douthit, Executive Director & Dramaturg – Play On! Shakespeare, 25 years Oregon Shakespeare Festival Director or Literary Development & Dramaturgy

Markéta Fantová, Artistic Director – Prague Quadrennial; Scenic and Lighting Designer

Brendon Fox, Director – Old Globe, Cleveland Playhouse, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Houston Shakespeare Festival

Linda Gates, Head of Voice, Northwestern University (July & Combined session only)

Gregory Gudgeon, Actor & Director – Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare’s Globe, West End

Kevin Hopkins, Director, Actor & Educator – Australian Shakespeare Company

Scott Jackson, Executive Director – Shakespeare at Notre Dame

Přemysl Janda, Lighting Designer – Czech Republic National Theatre

Carolyn Johnson, Actor, Director, Voice Production, Dialect and Accent Expert – AccentHelp

Jim Johnson, Dialect & Accent expert – AccentHelp and professor University of Houston

Samantha Kaufman, Intimacy, Fight, Movement Director, Circus Specialist & Actor – Certified Intimacy Director – Intimacy Directors International

Andrea Miltnerová, Baroque Dance Specialist, Czech Republic National Theatre

Kathryn Moncrief, Dramaturge, Voice Coach, and Head of Arts – Worcester Polytechnic Institue

Josh Morrison, Director, Actor, Associate Artistic Director – Stages Repertory Company

Taylor Napier, Actor – Prague Shakespeare Company Associate Artist and Amazon’s Wheel of Time

Claire Nicholls, Actor, Director, Educator – Australian Shakespeare Company

Petr Nůsek, Master Fight Director, ARGO

Sharon Ott, Director & Artistic Director – Seattle Rep, Berkeley Rep, NY Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla, South Coast Rep, Huntington Theatre & many others

Kiara Pipino, Artistic Director – Valle Christi International Theatre Festival – Italy

Paul Prescott, Associate Director – Global Shakespeare; Author & professor, University of Warwick

Debs Ramser, Production Stage Manager – Houston Shakespeare Festival, Alley Theatre, TUTS, Prague Shakespeare Company

Guy Roberts, Artistic Director – Prague Shakespeare Company

Gwendolyn Schwinke, Resident Vocal Coach – PlayMakers Repertory Company, Designated Linklater Voice Teacher

Ron Severdia, Award-winning actor and Shakespeare coach, creator of PlayShakespeare.com and the popular Shakespeare Pro and Scriptigo apps

Dawn Stern, Actor, Teaching Artist, Member of the Off-Broadway Theatre Collective The Coop, and COO of the non-profit DE-CRUIT

Rupesh Tillu, Master Clown & Clowns Without Borders

Christina Traister, Actor, Certified Teacher & Fight Director – Society of American Fight Directors, ACT Alabama, San Francisco, Michigan, Santa Cruz Shakespeare,

Dmitry Troyanovsky, Director & Chair Brandeis University – Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, Asolo Rep, Moscow Arts Center, Actor’s Shakespeare Project

Rosie Ward, Actor & Voice Specialist – Royal Central School, Houston Shakespeare, Utah Shakespeare, Prague Shakespeare

Laura Wayth, Actor, Director – American Conservatory Theatre, American Repertory Theatre/Moscow Art Theatre School, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama

Bree Welch, Actor, Director – Alley Theatre, Old Globe, Prague Shakespeare Company Associate Artist

Lisa Wolpe, Director, Actor & LGBTQ Activist – Los Angeles Women’s Shakespeare, Shakespeare’s Globe, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Colorado Shakespeare Festival and many others

SSI participants CUSTOMIZE their training by selecting special ELECTIVES based on their own personal areas of interest. In addition to core classes for all participants in Acting Shakespeare, Voice and Movement, SSI students customize their training and maximize time with particular instructors by selecting ELECTIVES based on their own personal areas of interest. Once we have received your payment in full you may select up to four (4) electives for the 4-Week Intensive and six (6) electives for the 6-Week Intensive. Electives are filled on a first-come/first-served basis and SSI participants sign up for electives based on the date of full payment for the Intensive (the participants who pay earliest get the first priority in selecting electives of their choice). Weekly Master Classes in a variety of subjects are also offered to all students. Planned 2023 SSI core classes, electives and Master Classes include (among others TBA):

• Advanced and Introductory Acting Shakespeare – ongoing core class

• Advanced and Introductory Voice – ongoing core class

• Advanced and Introductory Movement – ongoing core class

• Mask

• Clown

• Stage Combat – including rapier, broadsword, archery, historic firearms and more

• Intimacy Direction and Best Practices

• Film & TV Casting

• First Folio Shakespeare

• Commedia

• Shakespeare & Gender Neutral, Gender Conscious and non-Binary artists

• Shakespeare for English as a second language speakers

• Original Practices

• Meisner technique for Classical Acting

• Michael Chekhov technique for Classical Acting

• Ivana Chubbuck technique for Classical Acting

• Mindfullness and Yoga for Artists

• Viewpoints for Classical Acting

• Devising New Work

• Shakespeare & Film

• Directing Shakespeare

• Fight Direction for Shakespeare

• Shakespeare Audition Workshop

• Self Tapes and Virtual Auditions

• Agents, Marketing and Social Media for Theatre Artists

• Shakespeare’s Rhetoric

• Dialects for screen: High Valyrian and Dothraki from Game of Thrones

• Dramaturgy for Shakespeare

• Scenic Design for Shakespeare

• Light Design for Shakespeare

• Costume Design for Shakespeare

• Stage Management

• Pop-Up Shakespeare – public performance!

Classes are Monday through Friday from 10am-5pm with Fridays reserved for one-on-one tutorials and Master Classes. Master Classes with leading members of U.S., U.K. and European stages are held every week. Rehearsals for the PSC 2023 Season productions are Monday through Friday from 6:30pm-10pm and Saturdays from 10am-6pm. Sundays are free to enjoy Prague and the Czech Republic!

• BUILD your understanding and mastery of playing Shakespeare’s great poetry on stage, through performance of some of the greatest Shakespearean characters and scenes

• DEEPEN your range, strength and personal connection to your voice through the detailed voice, text and speech work

• STUDY with Czech fight masters and stunt experts – working hand to hand and armed combat

• EXPAND your physical acting vocabulary through explorations of Puppetry, Mask, Clown and other European Physical Theatre traditions

• STRENGTHEN your resume with a professional Prague Shakespeare Company 2023 Season credit

• ENJOY theater, opera, dance and music events throughout the city (tickets provided at optional charge)

• VISIT the great historical Prague sights including Prague Castle, St. Vitus Cathedral, Charles Bridge, Alchemy Museum, and the Astronomical Clock of old town square

• GAIN valuable professional advice from one-on-one PSC actor-mentors

• PLAY in one of the most dynamic night-life cultures in the world

This Shakespeare “boot camp” will leave all participants not only with a professional PSC Theatre credit on their resume, but also with the unforgettable experience of having lived in Europe’s best preserved medieval capital. For more information visit: www.pragueshakespeare.com/education.html

MISSION STATEMENT – Prague Shakespeare Company America

The Mission of Prague Shakespeare Company America is to support the work of the Prague Shakespeare Company in the Czech Republic, the United States and throughout the world.

PRIMARY ACTIVITY – Prague Shakespeare Company America

The purpose of Prague Shakespeare Company America (PSCA) is to provide American support for core objectives of the Prague Shakespeare Company, including the development of PSC’s work in the Czech Republic and productions in the United States. It aims to:

• Promote the programs of PSC in the United States

• Raise funds to support PSC core objectives

• Encourage participation in PSC productions in the US and Czech Republic

• Cultivate new volunteers and supports

No raffles, sweepstakes, giveaways, or promotions are offered in exchange for any donations made to this GoFundMe