Nicolo Whimsey Press aims to make Shakespeare's plays accessible, performable, and fun for young people, regardless of their experience level. Through his thirteen years of working as a director-in-residence in DC public high schools under the auspices of the Folger Shakespeare Library, Nick Newlin has created thirty-minute edits of Shakespeare's plays, complete with stage directions and character suggestions that can be performed by groups of fifteen to thirty young people.
Now anybody, including novices and non-actors, can put on a lively Shakespeare play that keeps the beauty of the language intact, but makes the action easy to perform and the relationships easily understandable. The 30-Minute Shakespeare series is a dream come true for teachers, youth leaders, and even adult groups who want to make performing Shakespeare easy and fun.
Drawing on his Harvard education, his thirty years as an internationally performing professional jester with the Nicolo Whimsey Show, and his love of Shakespeare, Mr. Newlin approaches his texts with the mind of a scholar, the eye of a performer, and the sensibility of a director. Inner-city high school English classes at the Folger Shakespeare Library's annual Secondary School Shakespeare Festival have performed all these tried-and-true thirty-minute cuttings, many of which have won awards at the Folger Festival.
Performance rights are included with the purchase of playscripts. Unlike most other scripts on the market today, The 30-Minute Shakespeare has no separate charge for public performances, making each volume an exceptional value.
Each edition contains a preface by Nick Newlin, with helpful advice on how to put on a Shakespeare performance in a high school class with novice actors, as well as an appendix with suggestions for the specific play, and recommendations for further resources.
Nicolo Whimsey Press believes that William Shakespeare wrote for all of us, and to that end, Mr. Newlin uses his experience, expertise, and love of the Bard to make these great works accessible to young people and those who work with them.
