Intro to Text Work and First Folio – Fall 2026
Instructor: Beth Wolf, Midsommer Flight Artistic Director
Dates: September 24 – October 29, 2026
Time: Thursdays, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Location: The Flight Deck, 1020 W Bryn Mawr Ave, First Floor
Tiered Pricing: $250, $300, or $350
This six-week class is for all levels of experience, offering tools and guidance either to begin your journey with Shakespeare or to help you brush up old skills that you haven’t flexed in a while. We will dive into text work using clues from the First Folio, breaking down the steps to approach a piece of Shakespearean text from the ground up. Students will move through the six weeks as a cohort, learning together and supporting each other’s growth. Maximum 10 students.
Week 1-4: Text work and monologue development.
Week 5: Monologue coaching.
Week 6: Choose your own adventure! We will have students complete a survey after the first class where you will get to decide as a group what the last day of class will be! (Example: More monologue work, Mock Audition, Scene work etc.)
Preparation: Instructional materials will be provided. Before the first class, students should select a Shakespeare monologue in verse that they want to work on.
About the Instructor
BETH WOLF (she/her) is the founder and Producing Artistic Director of Midsommer Flight, where she has directed fourteen plays in Chicago parks since 2012. She has taught her text work approach in both classes and private coaching sessions for many years. Midsommer Flight directing credits: As You Like It, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Romeo and Juliet, Cymbeline, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, and more. Freelance directing credits: Scaramouche (City Lit), The Book of Will (Promethean Theatre Ensemble); Admissions, Silent Sky, Outside Mullingar, and The Roommate (Citadel Theatre); Non-Player Character (Red Theater); The Suffrage Plays (Artemisia) and more. Recognition: named one of NewCity’s 2026 50 Players Who Really Perform for Chicago; under her leadership Midsommer Flight was named a Finalist for three consecutive years for the Broadway in Chicago Emerging Theatre Award, recognizing young companies demonstrating both artistic and administrative excellence; two Equity Jeff Award Nominations for Best Director and Best Production for Outside Mullingar and Silent Sky. Beth is a proud Northwestern University graduate. Freelance: wolfatthestagedoor.com | IG: @bethnwolf
Additional Information
All classes and workshops are offered with three Tiers of pricing. Tiered fees are our attempt at creating a structure that accounts for the wide range of incomes within our community. There are a limited number of slots available for Tier 1 and Tier 2. This is an honor system. When choosing your ticket tier, we trust you to do what is right for you and your community.
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