The Plays

Drawing on his eighteen years of experience as a teaching artist for Folger Shakespeare Library, Nick Newlin offers eighteen scenes to get young actors on their feet performing Shakespeare with confidence, understanding, and fun!

Each scene averages five minutes in length, containing two to six characters, and features a monologue that young performers can use in performance, audition, or competition. Every scene has been "road tested" by one of Newlin's student groups at the Folger's annual Secondary School Shakespeare Festival, and includes dynamic stage directions and incisive performance notes to help teachers and students bring Shakespeare's plays to life.

The 30-Minute Shakespeare Anthology includes one scene and monologue from eighteen of Shakespeare's greatest plays, including Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, Othello, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Julius Caesar, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, The Merchant of Venice, and The Taming of the Shrew.

Additionally, the anthology contains a scene and monologue from Henry IV Part I, King Lear, As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Love's Labor's Lost.

Also featured is an essay by editor Nick Newlin on how to produce a Shakespeare play with novice actors, and notes about the original production of this abridgment at the Folger Shakespeare Library's annual Student Shakespeare Festival. Each scene and monologue has accompanying notes and performance suggestions.

Planning a school or amateur Shakespeare production? The best way to experience the plays is to perform them, but getting started can be a challenge: The complete plays are too long and complex, while scene selections or simplified language are too limited.

"The 30-Minute Shakespeare" is a new series of abridgements that tell the “story” of each play from start to finish while keeping the beauty of Shakespeare’s language intact. Specific stage directions and character suggestions give even inexperienced actors the tools to perform Shakespeare with confidence, understanding, and fun!

This cutting of ROMEO AND JULIET is edited to four key scenes, starting with the lyrical prologue and the foreboding opening brawl, which is played out in slow motion to music. Also included are the timeless balcony scene; the harsh scolding of Juliet by her father; and the final moments at the tomb.

The edition also includes an essay by editor Nick Newlin on how to produce a Shakespeare play with novice actors, and notes about the original production of this abridgement at the Folger Shakespeare Library's annual Student Shakespeare Festival.

Planning a school or amateur Shakespeare production? The best way to experience the plays is to perform them, but getting started can be a challenge: The complete plays are too long and complex, while scene selections or simplified language are too limited.

"The 30-Minute Shakespeare" is a new series of abridgements that tell the “story” of each play from start to finish while keeping the beauty of Shakespeare’s language intact. Specific stage directions and character suggestions give even inexperienced actors the tools to perform Shakespeare with confidence, understanding, and fun!

This cutting of Shakespeare's utterly charming and popular comedy MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING features five key scenes, including Beatrice and Benedick's classic initial word-battle, and the uproarious hide-and-seek deception of the two "lovers." The next scenes are the brutal rejection of Hero at the altar by a deceived Claudio and the timeless manhandling of the English language by the bumbling constable Dogberry. In the fifth and final scene, Shakespeare resolves the play's conflicts and confusions, and love reigns again. This cutting really tells the story, and includes some sidesplitting stage business, particularly the back-and-forth physical and verbal parrying between Benedick and Beatrice.

The edition also includes an essay by editor Nick Newlin on how to produce a Shakespeare play with novice actors, and notes about the original production of this abridgement at the Folger Shakespeare Library's annual Student Shakespeare Festival.

Planning a school or amateur Shakespeare production? The best way to experience the plays is to perform them, but getting started can be a challenge: The complete plays are too long and complex, while scene selections or simplified language are too limited.

"The 30-Minute Shakespeare" is a new series of abridgements that tell the “story” of each play from start to finish while keeping the beauty of Shakespeare’s language intact. Specific stage directions and character suggestions give even inexperienced actors the tools to perform Shakespeare with confidence, understanding, and fun!

This cutting of MACBETH is edited to seven key scenes, opening with the Weird Sisters predicting Macbeth's fate. Also included are Macbeth and his villainous wife plotting to murder King Duncan, the appearance of Banquo's ghost at the banquet, the Witches' unforgettable "double double toil and trouble" scene, and Lady Macbeth's riveting "out, damned spot" sleepwalk. In the finale, the entire cast recites Macbeth's poignant "tomorrow, tomorrow, and tomorrow" speech in unison.

The edition also includes an essay by editor Nick Newlin on how to produce a Shakespeare play with novice actors, and notes about the original production of this abridgement at the Folger Shakespeare Library's annual Student Shakespeare Festival.

Drawing on his eighteen years of experience as a teaching artist for Folger Shakespeare Library, Nick Newlin offers eighteen scenes to get young actors on their feet performing Shakespeare with confidence, understanding, and fun!

Each scene averages five minutes in length, containing two to six characters, and features a monologue that young performers can use in performance, audition, or competition. Every scene has been "road tested" by one of Newlin's student groups at the Folger's annual Secondary School Shakespeare Festival, and includes dynamic stage directions and incisive performance notes to help teachers and students bring Shakespeare's plays to life.

The 30-Minute Shakespeare Anthology includes one scene and monologue from eighteen of Shakespeare's greatest plays, including Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, Othello, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Julius Caesar, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, The Merchant of Venice, and The Taming of the Shrew.

Additionally, the anthology contains a scene and monologue from Henry IV Part I, King Lear, As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Love's Labor's Lost.

Also featured is an essay by editor Nick Newlin on how to produce a Shakespeare play with novice actors, and notes about the original production of this abridgment at the Folger Shakespeare Library's annual Student Shakespeare Festival. Each scene and monologue has accompanying notes and performance suggestions.

"A master at engaging students in the process of performing a Shakespeare
scene."—Janet Field-Pickering, head of education, Folger Shakespeare Library

The Merchant of Venice: The 30-Minute Shakespeare features eight scenes from this gripping classic: Shylock loans Antonio money, with the forfeit being a pound of Antonio's flesh. Comedic mayhem ensues as two foreign princes attempt to win Portia's hand. The climax is the courtroom scene where Portia, disguised as a lawyer, subjects Shylock to his harsh penalty. The drama concludes with reconciliations that land us firmly back in comic territory.

The edition includes a preface by Nick Newlin, containing helpful advice on presenting Shakespeare in a high school setting with novice actors, as well as an appendix with play-specific suggestions and recommendations for further resources.

Planning a school or amateur Shakespeare production? The best way to experience the plays is to perform them, but getting started can be a challenge: The complete plays are too long and complex, while scene selections or simplified language are too limited.

"The 30-Minute Shakespeare" is a new series of abridgements that tell the “story” of each play from start to finish while keeping the beauty of Shakespeare’s language intact. Specific stage directions and character suggestions give even inexperienced actors the tools to perform Shakespeare with confidence, understanding, and fun!

This cutting of Shakespeare's utterly charming and popular comedy MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING features five key scenes, including Beatrice and Benedick's classic initial word-battle, and the uproarious hide-and-seek deception of the two "lovers." The next scenes are the brutal rejection of Hero at the altar by a deceived Claudio and the timeless manhandling of the English language by the bumbling constable Dogberry. In the fifth and final scene, Shakespeare resolves the play's conflicts and confusions, and love reigns again. This cutting really tells the story, and includes some sidesplitting stage business, particularly the back-and-forth physical and verbal parrying between Benedick and Beatrice.

The edition also includes an essay by editor Nick Newlin on how to produce a Shakespeare play with novice actors, and notes about the original production of this abridgement at the Folger Shakespeare Library's annual Student Shakespeare Festival.

Planning a school or amateur Shakespeare production? The best way to experience the plays is to perform them, but getting started can be a challenge: The complete plays are too long and complex, while scene selections or simplified language are too limited.

"The 30-Minute Shakespeare" is a new series of abridgements that tell the “story” of each play from start to finish while keeping the beauty of Shakespeare’s language intact. Specific stage directions and character suggestions give even inexperienced actors the tools to perform Shakespeare with confidence, understanding, and fun!

This cutting of MACBETH is edited to seven key scenes, opening with the Weird Sisters predicting Macbeth's fate. Also included are Macbeth and his villainous wife plotting to murder King Duncan, the appearance of Banquo's ghost at the banquet, the Witches' unforgettable "double double toil and trouble" scene, and Lady Macbeth's riveting "out, damned spot" sleepwalk. In the finale, the entire cast recites Macbeth's poignant "tomorrow, tomorrow, and tomorrow" speech in unison.

The edition also includes an essay by editor Nick Newlin on how to produce a Shakespeare play with novice actors, and notes about the original production of this abridgement at the Folger Shakespeare Library's annual Student Shakespeare Festival.

Planning a school or amateur Shakespeare production? The best way to experience the plays is to perform them, but getting started can be a challenge: The complete plays are too long and complex, while scene selections or simplified language are too limited.

"The 30-Minute Shakespeare" is a new series of abridgements that tell the “story” of each play from start to finish while keeping the beauty of Shakespeare’s language intact. Specific stage directions and character suggestions give even inexperienced actors the tools to perform Shakespeare with confidence, understanding, and fun!

This cutting of ROMEO AND JULIET is edited to four key scenes, starting with the lyrical prologue and the foreboding opening brawl, which is played out in slow motion to music. Also included are the timeless balcony scene; the harsh scolding of Juliet by her father; and the final moments at the tomb.

The edition also includes an essay by editor Nick Newlin on how to produce a Shakespeare play with novice actors, and notes about the original production of this abridgement at the Folger Shakespeare Library's annual Student Shakespeare Festival.

Planning a school or amateur Shakespeare production? The best way to experience the plays is to perform them, but getting started can be a challenge: The complete plays are too long and complex, while scene selections or simplified language are too limited.

"The 30-Minute Shakespeare" is a new series of abridgements that tell the “story” of each play from start to finish while keeping the beauty of Shakespeare’s language intact. Specific stage directions and character suggestions give even inexperienced actors the tools to perform Shakespeare with confidence, understanding, and fun!

This cutting focuses on three ridiculously funny and vibrant scenes from A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. The first scene starts with Puck mistakenly anointing the eyes of the wrong lovers with love potion, leading to a madcap chase scene between Helena, Lysander, Hermia, and Demetrius. Scene two features Bottom's magical transformation to an ass, always an audience favorite. The final scene is the classic play within a play, where the "Rude Mechanicals" act out with "tragical mirth" the story of Pyramus and Thisbe, with specific comic suggestions for the characters, including Lion chasing Thisbe into the audience!

The edition also includes an essay by editor Nick Newlin on how to produce a Shakespeare play with novice actors, and notes about the original production of this abridgement at the Folger Shakespeare Library's annual Student Shakespeare Festival.

"A master at engaging students in the process of performing a Shakespeare
scene."—Janet Field-Pickering, head of education, Folger Shakespeare Library

The Merchant of Venice: The 30-Minute Shakespeare features eight scenes from this gripping classic: Shylock loans Antonio money, with the forfeit being a pound of Antonio's flesh. Comedic mayhem ensues as two foreign princes attempt to win Portia's hand. The climax is the courtroom scene where Portia, disguised as a lawyer, subjects Shylock to his harsh penalty. The drama concludes with reconciliations that land us firmly back in comic territory.

The edition includes a preface by Nick Newlin, containing helpful advice on presenting Shakespeare in a high school setting with novice actors, as well as an appendix with play-specific suggestions and recommendations for further resources.