About the project

Our Inspiration

One of Shakespeare's Plays, No Director, One Rehearsal, in a Bar.

In Shakespeare’s theatre, the audience was an unruly bunch of drunks. His actors had no director and they rehearsed only fights and dances. The Project is a culture and a set of ideas that is quickly being replicated across the country. They have official chapters in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. Similar groups are popping up in communities across the country and Shakespeare From The Ground is the newest inception in La Crosse, WI.

Chuck Charbeneau has been instrumental in putting together a group of local and regional actors who are willing to throw caution to the wind for one night as they tackle one of Shakespeare’s plays with no direction, and only one rehearsal before going on stage.

Charbeneau, who has degrees in computer science and theater, has been teaching improv for over two decades, and has acted in several local theater productions. “I had the opportunity to see The Back Room Shakespeare Project - (BRSP) in Chicago, picked up Samuel Taylor's book ‘My Life with the Shakespeare Cult,’ and fell in love with the idea.” Said Chuck.

You’re invited to find out firsthand what happens when a group of dedicated actors who understand their work take one of Shakespeare's plays, eliminate the director, and are willing to step into the chaos.

Chuck Charbeneau in The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) [Adapted]. Photography by Theresa Smerud. Costuming by Mandy Parmeter.