About Us

The 30–Minute Shakespeare is a new series of abridgements that tell the "story" of each play 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!

Nick Newlin conducts an annual Teaching Artist residency with Folger Education in a DC Public High School, but The 30-Minute Shakespeare series is adaptable to many age groups: Middle School, College, amateur groups, baby boomers, senior citizens, and anyone interested in standing up and acting out a Shakespeare play! We believe that the series can be enjoyed by ages 8 to 99!

About Nick

Drawing on his Harvard Education, his 30 years as an internationally performing professional jester with The Nicolo Whimsey Show, and his love of Shakespeare, Nick. 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 30-minute cuttings, many of which have won awards at the Folger Festival.

Now anybody 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 is a dream come true for teachers, youth leaders, and even adult groups who want to make performing Shakespeare easy and fun.

The 30–Minute Shakespeare series brings the beauty of Shakespeare's language, the emotion of his characters, and the drama of his stories from the page to the stage, providing teachers and those who work with young people a way to get people up on their feet and performing Shakespeare.

Nicolo Whimsey Press aims to make Shakespeare's plays accessible, performable, and fun for young people, regardless of their experience level. Through his 13 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 30-minute edits of Shakespeare's plays, complete with stage directions and character suggestions that can be performed by groups of 15 to 30 young people.

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 it an exceptional value.

Mr. Newlin has worked with The Kennedy Center, The National Theatre, Smithsonian Discovery Theatre, and has performed at The White House.

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 his great works accessible to young people, and those who work with them.