Teaching  

In 1998, Matt created Cues & All: the cutting edge verse resource, a forum for actors to hone their skills, especially in the performance of classical texts.  Since then he has taught Acting, Voice & Speech, and Shakespeare at Act One Studios in Chicago and The Actors’ Institute in New York.  He has also worked as a teaching artist with Milwaukee Shakespeare, taking Shakespeare into public and private schools and working with children to discover the joys of artistic expression through the use of heightened language and situation.  He is currently on the faculty of First Stage Children’s Academy in Milwaukee.


~ About the work ~


Matt’s Cues & All verse workshop is a comprehensive course designed to get the most out of Shakespeare's text. Utilizing a myriad of techniques, including those taught at the Juilliard School Drama Division, actors will learn how to effectively scan, score and speak the speech! Whether you have never worked on a verse text before, or you just can't figure out what is standing between you and that Shakespeare Festival job, you will find all you need in Cues & All's  exclusive Shakespeare Toolkit. A series of verse workshops designed by Matt Daniels to help you breathe life into your work, Cues & All has something for everyone, from unversed student to seasoned pro. Matt's experience, training, passion, and edge will pick you up and give you the tools you need to find the life of the piece and get the gig!


Matt's bold, innovative style comes from his expansive background, including formal training, and then work with both classical and modern verse texts in a diverse range of settings -- from proscenia to parks, in New York, Chicago, the regions, and in city schools. He brings his eclectic experience and vast knowledge of Shakespeareana to you via a fun, fascinating, and effective process. Always keeping in mind the fact that plays are meant to be played, not just read, Matt takes you on a journey from the first encounter with the text around the table, through dissection, scansion, and scoring, to putting it on its feet and bringing it up to performance level. Along the way, you will be given a comprehensive Shakespeare Toolkit, including a method of notating the musicality of the verse, a research bibliography, a simple guide to Shakespeare's history and language, and a sure-fire method to keep "thee," "thou," and "thy" straight.


The verse workshop is available in two formats -- the Lab and the Intensive. The Lab meets once weekly, three hours at a time, for eight weeks, with a limited class size. The intensive meets over a long a weekend, eight hours Saturday, eight hours Sunday, with a three and a half hour master class on Monday. The Lab, while a bigger time commitment, offers more individualized attention, and every member of the workshop will work every session. The Intensive offers all the information and exercises developed in the Lab in a compact time frame, with a chance for members to sign up to implement new tools in a master class with workshop leader Matt Daniels. Both the Lab and the Intensive can be followed-up by the Gymnasium, where members of the Cues & All workshops will hone their skills in a more traditional acting class format.


After Cues & All's detailed tablework, scenework, and a technique Matt calls Textual Physicalization, you'll find yourself skating, surfing, and flying along the cutting edge of verse!


The Cues & All Verse Workshop includes:


  1. •A complete vocal and physical warm-up to begin each session.

  2. •Implementation of the Shakespeare Toolkit: Solid techniques and exercises to discover Shakespeare's own clues to actors.

  3. •Individual work on scenes and soliloquies.

  4. •Exploration of original texts (folio and quarto facsimiles) vs. modern editions.

  5. •A look at other verse texts, including Jacobean, Restoration, and 20th Century playwrights.


To learn more

Call (414) 215-0049

or click here to send an email.

[  About the work | Testimonials | Coaching | Résumé ]

“I give him enormous credit for my success. Take Matt Daniels' Cues & All verse workshop. It's worth its weight in gold!"

~ Nicole Poole, actor