An On-Topic Post? From MICHAEL?

Forgive me for being so “on-topic” with this post… but I must report to you a successful high school production of a play by Shakespeare!

During the last week of April my Drama class mounted its first Shakespearean production, The Tempest. We performed in a One-Act Festival, so we were required to create a 30-minute cutting. The class decided (and I agreed) that since we could not do justice to the play in the space of 30 minutes, we would perform entire scenes from The Tempest, connected by narration. I provided the narration, and I stepped into the scenes from time to time to become Prospero (the kid originally cast as Prospero was a bit overwhelmed by the part, so he stepped back to become our sound engineer).

I think it was a remarkable success, considering the fact that this is NOT a theater class… in other words, it is not a class designed for performers. The kids in this production didn’t sign on to become actors; they just expected to read some plays and learn some theater jargon. These kids were very reluctant to perform at first.

I took them through our entire process. We “unpacked” the text, we used feeders, we did text lay-ups, we played the ball games… and, with the exception of a few false starts, it all worked.

It wasn’t perfect, but it was a start.

The Green World has arrived in the Ozarks.