ACADEMY 2026: Scene Study: Shakespeare's Rhetoric

Scene Study: Shakespeare's Rhetoric

Armin Shimerman, the esteemed Shakespearian scholar and teacher, offers a six-week scene-study class at the Antaeus Theatre. It is for people interested in learning more about Elizabethan Rhetoric, which he considers the Rosetta Stone, for not only understanding the playwright’s language but also acquiring techniques for communicating that language to a modern audience. Besides Rhetoric, Armin offers insights into Elizabethan culture, medieval History, Religion, and Theatre. The class is primarily for actors, hoping to improve their textual understanding and classical acting, but he welcomes teachers and directors or anyone who is truly interested. He guarantees that Shakespeare will never seem daunting again.

Students will choose a monologue that they would like to work on and bring to the first class. They do not need to memorize the monologue but will need to bring in a hard copy either written or printed out to class, along with notebook paper for note taking.

August 3rd, August 10th, August 17th, August 24th, August 31st, September 7th

*Please note, students under 18 require permission from the moderator to take this academy class. If you’re in this category, please reach out to us at academy@antaeus.org.

About Armin Shimerman
Armin Shimerman, the esteemed Shakespearian scholar and teacher, is a highly regarded actor and is best known to television audiences as Quark, on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Plus 80 different Guest Star roles, including Antaeus the Nox on Stargate, Principal Snyder on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Judge Hooper on Boston Legal. On Broadway: Three Penny Opera; St. Joan; I Remember Mama, and Broadway. Selected Regional Theater: King Lear (Fool) at the Tyrone Guthrie Theater, the Seafarer (Blind Richard Harkin) at San Diego Rep. – San Diego Critics Circle Award for Best Actor: Richard III, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Merry Wives of Windsor (at the San Diego Old Globe); Henry V (American Shakespeare Festival) and Polonius (Hamlet), the Porter (Macbeth), and Gregory Solomon (the Price) at the Utah Shakespeare festival. For Antaeus, he has taught, acted, and co- directed The Crucible, Measure for Measure, and Twelfth Night. He was an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California (USC) where he taught Shakespeare to Theater BFAs. In addition, he has three novels about the early days of William Shakespeare entitled Illyria published by Jumpmaster Press. He has given lectures on Shakespeare to thousands of people.