The North Carolina Shakespeare Festival will be offering "Hands-On Shakespeare" teacher workshops for middle and secondary English and drama teachers.

The workshops are scheduled for April 25, July 25 and Oct. 24, at The Festival's new High Point facility, Spirit Center, located at 807 W. Ward Ave., High Point.

"'Hands-On Shakespeare' is designed to enhance teachers' performance and presentation skills with Shakespeare texts," says Pedro Silva, managing and artistic director. "The concept is that as teachers become more knowledgeable about and comfortable with Shakespeare's performativity, they can better impart this quality to their students and, hopefully, more fully engage them in the exploration and study of the plays."

The workshops are introductory in nature, designed for teachers eager to better handle the plays' language and theatrical potential. Each of the workshops is identical in content and focus, though each will use a different play as the key tool to develop teachers' performance skills, as follows: April 25 -- "Macbeth"; July 25 -- "A Midsummer Night's Dream"; Oct. 24 -- "Romeo & Juliet."

Workshops will run from noon to 6 p.m. each scheduled Saturday. The price for a workshop is $99 and includes all materials and refreshments. Space is limited.

All workshops will be headed by Martha Mendenhall, outreach education artistic associate. Mendenhall has over 20 years' experience teaching students and educators and working with young people on Shakespeare productions.

Call (336) 841-2273, extension 226, to register or for more information or e-mail joan.andrews @ncshakes.org. Registration forms may also be downloaded from NCSF's Web site, www.ncshakes.org. The registration deadline for workshops is two weeks prior to each workshop date.