“i just feel a bit more alive when i’m doing shakespeare”

— Tom Hiddleston

Josiah Kaliq (Macbeth) and Carolyn Silverberg (Lady Macbeth) in MACBETH (2023); Directed by Carolyn Silverberg

In 2019, my theatre company Play-by-Play Theatre (with the help of Olde Main Street, Inc.) debut Green Bay’s very first Shakespeare in the Park. Our free performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream drew in a crowd of over 1,000 to Whitney Park. Since then, we have produced free (or low cost) outdoor Shakespeare performances to the Green Bay, WI community:

  • 2019: A Midsummer Night’s Dream - Whitney Park

  • 2020: A Midsummer Night’s Dream - Digital Production; The Taming of the Shrew - Heritage Hill

  • 2021: Romeo and Juliet - The ArtGarage

  • 2022: Much Ado About Nothing - Whitney Park

  • 2023: Macbeth - Whitney Park; Heritage Hill; Titletown

  • 2024: upcoming Twelfth Night

 

Hailey Ebinal (Juliet) and Bailee Harper (Romeo) in ROMEO AND JULIET (2021); Directed by Carolyn Silverberg

“Trained in Shakespeare, director Carolyn Silverberg has a knack for igniting her casts to perform like cohesive companies. Here, again – one for all and all for Will – with vigor […] This production proves again Green Bay has a Shakespeare company.”

Will Knaapen (Petruchio), Emily Holland (Katherine), and the cast of THE TAMING OF THE SHREW (2020); Directed by Carolyn Silverberg

“The players have been around the block in area theater, and in the Play-by-Play Theatre production, they responded to the really smart and clever and inventive guidance of director Carolyn Silverberg. The players acted as though they wanted to be their specific, quirky character who had something comically pithy to say. Carolyn Silverberg pointed them in the right direction.”

 

When directing Shakespeare, i always defer to the text for guidance.

Shakespeare put everything we could ever want to know about the characters we are portraying or directing is right there in the text. The “issue” comes with having to deep dive and decipher it, which is something I pride myself on as a director. My training has aided me in how to analyze and understand the text in a way not many have been taught how, with an additional awareness to editing a text for the benefit of the performance (ie, not getting a 4 hour long Hamlet but also not losing key moments and beautiful language). Scene work and an understanding of the First Folio are integral to my directing process before anyone even steps foot onto the stage. This in turn fuels my actors (of all Shakespearean experience levels) in their growth and understanding when it comes to the Bard, and in doing so their performances have been entertaining and accessible to our audiences.

 

The cast of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (2022); Directed by Carolyn Silverberg

“The resident Shakespearean had primed her cast of players from Green Bay, Appleton, Oshkosh, Seymour, Stevens Point and St. Paul for a go at a tale of love and deception, complete with music from a live band […] Director Carolyn Silverberg created in her players a sense of kinship and pleasure. The production was an accomplishment […]”

Carolyn Silverberg as Helena in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (Left - 2019; Right - 2020 digital); Directed by Carolyn Silverberg

“All of the actors have acted before. They know what-for. A standout is Carolyn Silverberg, an expert, whose luster leaps from the screen.”

 
 

performing and directing shakespeare is not like performing and directing contemporary theatre.

While there is absolutely a contemporary feel to Shakespeare when it comes to the relevancy of the themes and relatability of his characters, the work itself is not contemporary theatre so we must approach it differently. The text is particular, and you must first know the rules before you can break them. But once you can do Shakespeare, you can do anything.

 

In addition to directing (and performing), I have also been a Shakespearean guest speaker for…

Gave a successful presentation to St. Norbert College’s cast of AS YOU LIKE IT back when we still had to mask up!

  • The Monday Shakespeare Club

  • St. Norbert College Theatre Studies

  • Ashwaubenon High School

  • Kimberly High School

  • Preble High School (Preble Players)

  • Muscota New School Bard Club

…And have led shakespeare performance workshops for all ages both in person and online (with studio 12 and privately)

Are you looking for a guest speaker who specializes in Shakespeare? Want to bring in a Shakespearean specialist to lead a workshop with your actors? Is your theatre company in need of a director who’s on a first name basis with the Bard? Let’s get in touch!