AUGUST 13—19, 2026
CLARKSDALE WORKSHOPS
1-WEEK RESIDENTIAL WORKSHOPS IN TENNESSEE WILLIAMS’ MISSISSIPPI DELTA
NOW ENROLLING
MONOLOGUES
MONOLOGUE AND AUDITION WORKSHOP
FOR ACTORS AND TEACHERS
TAUGHT BY KAREN KOHLHAAS
with KATIE HONAKER, Accent & Voice
Tuition
$695 Actors and Teachers
$350 Active Auditor
transportation
The nearest airport is Memphis, about 75 miles away. For those not renting cars, there will be airport pickup and dropoff on arrival and departure days, within certain windows. When you register you will receive air travel recommendations. Cars have always worked out easily with some people renting, or driving to the training, and sharing and chipping in for gas.
Housing
There is a range of places to stay in Clarksdale from about $60/night and upwards. There have been some donated rooms in the past for those who otherwise could not afford to come, please inquire about that. When you register you will receive housing recommendations.
MEALS
Participants are responsible for most of their own meals. I host a couple of group dinners. Most of the B&Bs in town have kitchens and/or include breakfast food. There are several restaurants.
bios
KAREN KOHLHAAS
Karen is a theater director, teacher, author, filmmaker and Tennessee Williams scholar. FULL BIO
KATIE HONAKER
In August 2025 this workshop will take place for the second time. Participants from all over the country meet in Clarksdale, Mississippi, the childhood home of Tennessee Williams to work deeply on craft, learn about Williams, and enjoy the rich Mississippi Delta culture.
The 2025 workshops meet August 13-19 which means travel dates are August 12 and 20. Participants are responsible for their own travel, housing and meals.
Everyone starts the week with a tour through the town and surrounding area, beginning at the Tennessee Williams Rectory Museum. Many of Williams most famous plays are set in, or refer to the Mississippi Delta, including CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (Blanche and Stella’s home), THE GLASS MENAGERIE (home of Amanda Wingfield’s gentleman callers), and ORPHEUS DESCENDING. SUMMER AND SMOKE and THE ECCENTRICITIES OF A NIGHTINGALE are set in the rectory itself. We then tour the town, reading monologues and scenes at the actual sites they’re set in, and then we drive out to the Mississippi River. We finish with dinner at Moon Lake, the site of Blanche’s husband’s tragic suicide in STREETCAR. Moon Lake is featured in all of Williams’ Delta plays.
During the week we have daily monologue class with time to rehearse in the late afternoons and evenings. We have the incredible Katie Honaker, master voice & speech teacher, who will coach accents (Southern and non-Southern) and voice. Sunday is a day off. There are additional guest classes with amazing teachers on image/style and career prep. Morning yoga is an option with the excellent teachers from Delta Yoga. We finish with public performances of the monologues. Our last day ends with dinner and Blues in town.
Tennessee Williams wrote about 500 monologues within his 39 published full length plays and over 70 published short plays. I can make Williams recommendations for each actor, and you are more than welcome to work on monologues by other writers too. Actors will have time to finish at least 4 monologues during the training. I will teach you my complete technique: how to DIRECT, ACT and AUDITION with monologues. Watch a short video about my technique. Prerequisite | Actors must have previous acting training. Auditors should have strong interest in the subject matter.
Katie is an actor, voice-over artist, teacher and coach who has been teaching voice and speech at Atlantic Acting School/NYU Tisch since 2003. She became a certified Miller Voice Method teacher in 2021. Originally from Nashville, Tennessee, she lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband, two daughters and sweet dog May. You can find out more about Katie here: www.katiehonaker.com
training overview
MONOLOGUE AUDITION WORKSHOPS
TEACHER TRAINING TRACK
Teachers observe daily monologue classes and have teacher training in the late afternoon. Teachers can work on monologues themselves, as desired. You will learn, step by step, how to teach my monologue technique to help your students craft professional-level auditions. Prerequisite | Teachers should already be teachers of acting.