National Shakespeare Conservatory

The National Shakespeare Conservatory was an acting school in New York City, offering a two-year certificate program and an eight-week summer training program. The Conservatory was founded in 1974 by Philip Meister, Albert Schoemann and Mario Siletti. History The Conservatory was an offshoot of the National Shakespeare Company, a professional acting company that toured productions of Shakespeare and the classics to colleges and universities throughout the US and Canada. The Summer Conservatory was first offered at the Byrdcliffe Theatre in Woodstock, N.Y. in 1974, and moved its facilities to Kerhonkson, N.Y. in 1978, where it continued summer operations until 1998. The Conservatory expanded to a Two Year Program in New York City in 1977 and was situated in the National Shakespeare Company's brownstone studios and offices on West 51 Street near 9th Avenue in Manhattan, along with The Cubiculo, an off-off-Broadway theatre, also owned and operated by the National Shakespeare Company. After Meister's death in 1982, Siletti and Schoemann established The Conservatory as a separate entity from the National Shakespeare Company and moved the operation of the Two Year Program to lower Broadway in Soho. The National Shakespeare Conservatory was one of the first independent professional actor training programs in the U.S. to become an institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Theatre in 1978; a status gained only through the peer review process of accreditation.