Lipscomb Distinguished Alumna shares secrets to performing Shakespeare

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On the heels of the Nashville Shakespeare Festival’s successful summer run in Centennial Park, the Lipscomb University Theater Department held an acting workshop focusing on the famous Bard himself on Oct. 6-7 in University Theatre.

Judy Leavell, a prominent stage actress and educator from Atlanta, taught a series of three workshops that focused on how to make characters more specific and relatable to audiences. Several university students and professors attended, listened to Leavell’s lectures and performed a few scenes.

Leavell graduated from David Lipscomb College in 1968 and began her career as a teacher at David Lipscomb Middle and High Schools. In 1975 she received a master’s of fine arts from the University of Denver and was a member of the inaugural company of the Denver Center Theatre Company.

Leavell has performed in numerous plays over the years at ART Station, the Springer Opera House and the Georgia Ensemble Theater, while also teaching in the Atlanta area. In 1998, she left teaching to begin acting professionally and has appeared in commercials, television films and various stage productions.

During the two-day series, Leavell conducted a special workshop for theater scholarship students, who performed scenes from Lipscomb student Maggie Bouldin’s one-act play, Shards and the upcoming musical Snoopy.

Leavell encouraged students to choose a specific type of object or person to address. This action allows the actress/actor to maintain a certain frame of mind, making the character become more real and relatable, she said.

Taking her cues from the Royal Shakespeare Company, Leavell told students to find the truth in their lines. Shakespeare, she explained, has already done all of the work for you. The performer has to focus on the lines and the rhyme scheme to see how Shakespeare developed.

During the workshop, students performed bits from Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and Midsummer Night’s Dream.