THEATER
Updates
In Summer 2026 Bardstreet offers a Shakespeare and Acting Workshop in Lafayette, Indiana for students entering grades 6-12 in Fall 2026 and current seniors. Sign-up below!
In September 2024, Gwen Adams headed out to teach drama with the sophomore-junior class at Chesterton Academy of Our Lady of Hope in Warwick, Rhode Island. We produced one of Chesterton’s favorite stories by one of his favorite authors: Charles Dickens’s classic Kate and Nicholas Nickleby.
The Mission
Past Shows Include
Kate and Nicholas Nickleby
The Winter’s Tale with Agape Theater Company
Puss in Boots
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Uncle Vanya
Life Is a Dream
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Header illustration designed by the inimitable Ben Hatke for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Summer Street Theater Festival, 2005, Lafayette.
Shakespeare &
Acting Summer
Workshop
Saturdays, 2–4 PM
May 30, June 6 and 13
Lafayette, Indiana
REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED
Subscribe below to hear about future Bardstreet theater ventures!
For students entering grades 6-12 in Fall 2026 and current seniors, this workshop offers an interactive study of three short scenes from William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Hamlet, and Richard III.
- Week 1 Twelfth Night will introduce Shakespeare’s comedies and train students in using gesture, posture, and blocking to tell a story of resurrection.
- Week 2 Hamlet will introduce Shakespeare’s tragedies and guide students in the vocal training of Cicely Berry (Royal Shakespeare Company) to paint a scene of mystery.
- Week 3, we put it all together. Richard III will introduce Shakespeare’s histories and lead students in the techniques that Shakespeare’s own original company used to understand the text, bring it to life, and meditate on eternity!
Both students new to acting and seasoned thespians will enjoy experimenting with different tools and approaches to Shakespeare. Further details will be sent to registered families in late spring.
You can pay a deposit or pay in full when you sign up below. If you pay a deposit, you can return to this page later to pay your balance. All tuition will be refunded if the workshop is cancelled.
- Deposit of $20/student due by April 11.
- Balance of $40/student due May 23.
Charles Dickens’
Kate & Nicholas
Nickleby
Adapted by Gwen Adams
December 5-6, 2024
Chesterton Academy of Our Lady of Hope – Rhode Island
William Shakespeare’s
The Winter’s Tale
February 2023
The Indy Fringe Basile Theater
Indianapolis, Indiana
The Mission
Here at Bardstreet . . .
We’re committed to the integration of theater and the Catholic faith as an important part of cultivating the soil of Christian Culture. We are inspired by these words of Benedict XVI:
Authentic beauty, however, unlocks the yearning of the human heart, the profound desire to know, to love, to go towards the Other, to reach for the Beyond. If we acknowledge that beauty touches us intimately, that it wounds us, that it opens our eyes, then we rediscover the joy of seeing, of being able to grasp the profound meaning of our existence, the Mystery of which we are part; from this Mystery we can draw fullness, happiness, the passion to engage with it every day.
“Meeting with Artists, Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI”
We are inspired by St. John Paul II (1920-2005) and the Rhapsodic Theater, who strove, in a dark time, “to tell the truth, beautifully” (Leah Libresco, “Karol Wojtyła and The Rhapsodic Theater”).
Inspired by Christ himself, who came in person, in the flesh, to dwell among his people, we embrace the fact:
- We are body-soul creatures made for communion with God and others.
- The body is good and a gift from God.
- Theater has its origin in liturgical worship.
And so there will always be something important about coming together, in person, in the flesh, to tell great stories and praise God in communion with others through the vehicle of live, embodied theater.
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Sign up to get updates on other resources for cultivating the soil of Christian culture or to learn more about upcoming auditions, shows, and how you can support redemptive theater.
Explore
“The Tempest” at Bard Fest, October 2019, The District Theater, Indianapolis (Photo by Antonio Chapital)