Nick Newlin: About the Artist.

 

Click here to listen to his interview.

Nick Newlin has a BA with Honors from Harvard University and an MA in Theatre with an emphasis on Play Directing from the University of Maryland.

Since 1996 he has been conducting an annual Teaching Artist Residency with the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, preparing an English class of DC Public School students for a performance in the Folger’s annual Student Shakespeare Festival.

Newlin resides in Brandywine, Maryland, and performs a variety show for young people “The Nicolo Whimsey Show” which has received funding from the Maryland State Arts Council for over 20 years.  Newlin’s work with Folger Education is part of a grant from NEA “Shakespeare for a New Generation.”

He has 19 books in print as part of The 30-Minute Shakespeare series.

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 18 of 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 the books. Unlike most other scripts on the market today, The 30-Minute Shakespeare has no separate charge for public performances, making it an exceptional value. New in 2015 is The 30-Minute Shakespeare Anthology: 18 Student Scenes with Monologues, which includes one scene with monologue from each of the eighteen plays in the series.  Included in this book are detailed monologue notes to help young actors interpret Shakespeare’s beautiful language.