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Ondine: Theater Workshop with John Hadden
An exploration and preparation for MSA's summer production

Sundays, 1-4 pm
May 7, 14, 21, 28
Open auditions on May 21, 28
$200

A four-week workshop exploring the text from Ondine, by Jean Giraudoux. Participants will make active study of monologues and scenes from the play, allowing the text-in-action to spark conversations about the play, about acting, about comedy, love, politics, fable, and the myriad colors of life that caught the writer's attention while dealing with the Nazi occupation of Paris, in which context he wrote the play. And of course, how it speaks to us. Participants will get a head-start on auditions for the play, which goes into rehearsal in early summer, to get an inside view of our production, or out of simple curiosity. 

Ondine, based on the traditional sea-nymph-falls-in-love-with-knight-errant story, is a fairy tale for all ages. Ondine, princess of the sea, is the adopted child of a humble fisherman and his wife. She has spent her childhood frolicking in the woods and the waters—when one day a wandering knight who has lost his way while on a sacred quest dedicated to his lady Bertha shows up in her little cottage—and the fuse is lit. Ondine wants to marry the knight, and he has instantly forgotten that he is betrothed to the Lady Bertha. After a series of dire warnings from various Nature spirits and a foreboding visit by the king of the sea himself, the play follows the lovers to their life at the court, where Ondine’s pure honesty throws everything into chaos. From there, the story hurtles us to its fateful conclusion after one of the most perfect and ridiculous trial inquisitions ever witnessed. The play is stuffed with wonderful cameo parts. The love story speaks to all of our own glories and failures in love as well as to that between us and Nature herself. Join us on stage or in the audience: you won’t regret it!
From the Director: The best moments for me are always the ones in which one of those cartoon light bulbs seems to actually light up over a person's head. That's what got me turned on (50 years ago) and is still what keeps it fun and interesting. It doesn't seem to happen more in professional settings—less, actually, since everyone is necessarily in a hurry, and already knows everything—so I am happiest now working in Saxtons River, the perfect place  to have some laughs and see some of those light bulbs go on.

Please direct any questions to John at johnhadden@gmail.com.

This class is being offered on a sliding scale
Participants can select between 3 levels of registration
Scholarships will be automatically applied when you select your level
If you need more support please contact info@mainstreetarts.org
John Hadden, who directed last summer's Hamlet at MSA is a director, writer, builder, teacher and actor living on a small farm in Landgrove, VT. He is a founding member of Shakespeare & Co (Lenox, MA) and ran the Theater Company at Hubbard Hall. He played Romeo, Hamlet, Iago, Richard II, Leontes, MacBeth, Lear, Merchant, Bastard, Fool, Scrooge, and Salieri in regional theaters, as well as roles on film, radio and TV, and directed about fifty productions here and abroad. A solo show based on John’s book Conversations with a Masked Man(Arcade, 2016) began its regional tour at Main Street Arts. Vermont Teaching Artist, BFA SUNY Purchase, Writing MFA Goddard College. More at johnlhadden.com