Jepson Shakespeare Project Production Blog

(First written September 19th, 2015; Posted now)

This past week, Molly, Taylor, and I started our discussion about Act IV of Midsummers Night’s Dream. We systematically started to figure out the logistics of our scene including its duration, characters, and plot. While Molly and Taylor read and timed our act, I contacted the site contacts: Verenda and Laura. They seemed excited for our arrival. (It was a little relaxing to know that this was their first time with the Jepson Shakespeare project too!)

We knew little about our group but we wanted to familiarize and modernize Shakespeare. Granted we picked a pretty fun, comedic play that would allow for our students’s personalities to shine. We wanted to assign characters a little later so we could get to know our students. Being that we were working with high schoolers, I was excited and hesitant to work with them. I was just in high school a little over a year ago, I understood the angst and stress of high school. I had many questions before we started our endeavor at John Marshall High School.

1) Being only a few years older, would they listen to us? How should we interact with them – as a mentor or teacher?

2)Do these children know who Shakespeare is?

We do know that the students are reading Midsummers Night’s Dream in class so they will have an understanding of the play, the characters and their motivations, and etc. They may even be able to help us with staging because  they may envision the blocking differently. When I emailed Laura, she estimated that approximately 15 students would show up. Are all of these students in her English classes? So is this a supplemental class or project to her class or is this an after school activity. I guess that we will find out when we meet Laura and the students!

This past week turned out to be a very successful visit to our school. In order to get the children excited about acting and what it entails we started our visit with a theater game. We made up situations that would have noticeable emotions they could act out. The other students were able to guess the action and emotion. The group as a whole had a fun time with it and everyone was into the game and didn’t want it to end. Only a few girls were shy about acting out but as the game went on they became more comfortable and joined in. It was a good chance to let everyone get up in front of the group to practice being on stage in a sense.

After playing the game we broke the students into three groups and each of us took a few students. In our groups we highlighted some of their lines and had them review them. Then they had the chance to read aloud in their small groups. This allowed us to gauge their reading abilities and help pronounce some of the tougher words so they could try and start remembering how to read them. Overall they did really well and seemed to enjoy being able to practice reading through the lines and start understanding their parts. This coming week should be just as fun and successful.

Due to their schedule changes and our fall break, we did not go to Higher Achievement the weeks of October 6th and 13th. While we did not visit with the kids, we made progress in making a prop list and planning how our next meeting with them would go and our second meeting went really well!! We went last Tuesday and the kids were so excited to see us. Devani, Melissa, and I were very impressed at how motivated they were to start working with the play. We had to go through the plot line again with them, but some remembered it and a few of the boys were eager to play out their characters. We started off the session with a theatre game, similar to the one in class with the different scenarios, but without incorporating the characters. For example, two scenarios were getting an A on a paper and breaking your arm. As expected, the boys were the first to volunteer to act in the game. However, as we went through more scenarios, the few shy girls in the group became more comfortable and volunteered to take a turn as well. This was one of my favorite parts of the night because it gave us hope that everyone would act in the final production with some encouragement!

After the theatre game, we broke into small groups, handed out their scripts, and had them highlight their lines. They each read through segments of their lines and we helped them understand what they were saying and correctly pronounce any of the difficult words. All three of us were thoroughly impressed by how well they were reading Shakespeare’s language in their first attempt. In my group, we talked a lot about the content and story line of the play because some of the kids needed clarification. I was struggling to help them understand the love triangle that was unfolding. Just as I was running out of ideas to help them understand, one of the boys turned to the other and said “Ok so say you have Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Justin Beiber, and Kanye” and proceeded to explain how one likes the other and created a love rectangle similar to that of Midsummer’s. It was hilarious and actually helped them understand it more. Once they got it, they were excited to keep reading their lines. After seeing how much progress we had in one day, I am really looking forward to working with them in the next few weeks and seeing how it goes!

Last week I did not post, so I will make this week’s post a little longer and talk about the plan we developed and the crazy events of yesterdays encounter.

While we believed that we would have a core group, we still may be short in terms of participants. That being said, we will more than likely need to act ourselves and may even need to recruit some other faculty to be a part of the play. The scripts have been somewhat cut. However we thought it would be beneficial for the students to also feel that they had some part in producing the play. We plan on having them cut some of the lines as well. As we comb through the act, they will give there input as to what props and costumes should coincide with the parts of the act. Our hope is to finalize roles by next week. Unfortunately, the plans that were put in place did not exactly workout.

Due to injuries and interviews, I went to St. Jospeh’s on Thursday alone. This did not phase me as I knew there was a core group that had pretty much been assembled. Of course as I called Haley before I left, I did NOT realize how wrong I was. In fact, over the week that we missed a few of the students had been fighting and were not allowed to participate. I figured this would still leave a pretty good group and when I arrived Haley still seemed a bit uneasy about the group. Nevertheless, we went to round the group up and started our first read through. As we got through may be the second page, a fight broke out outside of the building we were in. At this moment, I knew all attention was lost. The kids ran to the windows to watch and I was stuck sitting at the table looking at Haley and waiting for them to come back. There was nothing she could have done, I honestly looked at her out of sympathy as she has to deal with this on a day to day basis. She commented on how cool and collected I seemed, not knowing that I am no stranger to chaos. After the fight ended or the kids lost interest, they came back to the table. As I started to begin again, three students left. Haley gave them an ultimatum that if they were to leave they could not come back. They kids then stated some remarks that I don’t believe are appropriate to relay. By the end of the day, we had only four guys and one girl who was totally disinterested. As we look forward, a lot of extra planning will have to go into the act. Not having enough girls may be a problem, but we shall see.

I do think Haley wants to be a big help. Unfortunately the nature of the environment at St. Joseph’s Villa is a little difficult to maneuver. She has been courageous, and I truly understand why she may need a break. I am worried as to what is in store if she does leave. That will be for another blog.

This week at our run through we talked about how to bring to bring our characters personality to life.  One of the Osher women sneezed during one of her lines as prologue and though this would be a great touch to bring his flustered, lower class persona to life.  We also double checked stage cues and directions to determine the appropriate time for that actor to come on and off the stage. Though there only 5 of us at rehearsal it was fun for everyone to get to play different rolls from their assigned parts.  I had fun playing Thisbe’s roll, and getting to die on stage!

One of the men in our group has never acted in a play and is doing this as an exercise to stretch his comfort zone. The first week of rehearsal he asked for a small part as he was nervous about having lines, we assured him that it was low stress and there was no need to memorize.  He ended up accepting a larger roll and this week voluntary filled in for Pryamis.  It has been fun to watch him grow though the process thus far and gain confidence with every run though.

We are taking a break from rehearsals next week, due to many of the Osher participants having trips to New York City, Europe, etc. (must be nice!), but look forward to having everyone present at the next rehearsal.  This next week the three of us will plan what we can do at the beginning of next rehearsal that would be fun, since we have a pretty solid grasp on our scene at this point. If anyone has ideas let us know!!

After two weeks of being absent from Higher Achievement, we returned Tuesday and were welcomed with open arms. The kids seemed very excited to see us again, which was an awesome way to start off rehearsal. We were missing a few students, but we knew that would be a common occurrence when working with Higher Achievement. We started off the evening by playing a theater game that was similar to the one we played in class that one time! Melissa, Kit, and I came up with different scenarios in which the children would act out in front of their classrooms. Some examples of these scenarios were getting a new puppy, being told to do homework by your mom, or learning that it was a snow day. The boys were much more willing to participate than the girls and they got very very into it. The girls started participating as we got more into the game and they seemed to enjoy it as well. This game was really fun for them and they got a chance to practice their acting skills by being dramatic and emotional, which they usually aren’t allowed to behave like during school or mentoring sessions. I was actually very surprised at a lot of the children’s reactions to some of the scenarios. For example, some of the first things that the children would guess would be someone being robbed, mugged, murdered, or shot. None of our scenarios entitled these situations, so I found it interesting that these were the first things that came to their minds.

After the theater game, we split the children into three groups where each group was managed by Kit, Melissa, or myself. We had them highlight each of their characters’ lines and as well as rehearse some of their lines. In my group, we went in a circle where each student would practice saying some of their lines. The students were also really excited when looking through the script and finding their specific lines. When we were rehearsing the lines, I was extremely impressed with how well they were able to read them. In particular, one of the leading men in my group did an amazing job at acting as well as handling different pronunciations. When I asked if they understood what they just read, they would always say no. I would try my best to explain to them what their character is saying and how it relates to the rest of the play. I enjoyed this part a lot because it showed me how the children are actually learning the old English and starting to understand more about what the play entails.

Monday, October 19th was an exciting day for Act 4 of the Jepson Shakespeare Project!

We showed up to John Marshall with enough numbers to have a successful first rehearsal. Upon our arrival, we did a quick name refresher in case they forgot ours (and we most definitely forgot some of their names). We jumped right into some acting games to warm up and get comfortable with one another. First, we played zip zap zop which actually got pretty competitive. Then, we played the Honey, will you marry me? game, which Allison had to explain to everyone. To play, you ask the person next to you “honey, will you marry me?” in a way that will make that person laugh and they are trying not to laugh or else they are out of the game. It was pretty funny since there was only one guy and six girls. Surprisingly, they all got really into the game and tried so hard to make each other laugh, us included. What I love about this group is that they are not afraid to get out of their comfort zone and are really good at participating!

After a good warm up, we had everyone get out their scripts and proceeded to do a read through of the first half of scene 1, act 4. We read from Titania’s “Come, sit thee down…” line up until the part where Theseus, Hippolyta, and Egeus enter the scene. While reading through that section, we stopped a few times to explain what was going on, and offer possible staging ideas. I wrote down their ideas in the margins of my script. We asked the students which roles they potentially wanted to play, which turned into actually casting the roles to those students. Because of our low numbers, and having all of the characters in act 4, some students had to double up. Molly, Allison and I will most likely be playing the fairies (YAY).

After we assigned roles, our group went into the hallway and ran through the first three pages of our script twice. We tried out some of the staging ideas we brainstormed earlier in the class room.

It’s awesome how enthusiastic these students are to be a part of the Jepson Shakespeare Project! When we left the rehearsal, Allison and I couldn’t get over how well they participated in the acting games and reading through the script. We look forward to meeting with them this coming Monday.

Also, the students finally decided they want to have a donkey head instead of a unicorn head for Bottom. We’re making moves…

Unfortunately, we were unable to meet with the John Marshall students last Monday since we were on fall break until Wednesday. We notified Laura that we would be returning the following Monday, Oct 19th for our next rehearsal.

In the mean time, we are trying to finalize our prop list for the first part of act 4. Last time we met with the students, we told them that it is really up to them how they want to stage the movements based on the text. During our last work day, Molly, Allison and I brainstormed some stage directions for each character to give the students an idea of what may work for certain scenes. On Thursday, I went through our script and wrote down any notes or ideas that came to mind.

The last few visits to John Marshall were unsuccessful in terms of being able to start working with the students on the script and begin casting, so we are hoping that this coming Monday there will be enough students to get started!

Last Wednesday meeting we only had 2 show but that was okay. We made due! Dennis played about 4 different audience members while Rachel was happily and proudly the Moon. One of our members is so enthusiastic about our play and she’s just adorable. She brought in a wall costume sheet where she cut a head hole and drew sharpie on it so it really does look like a wall. She also brought me a scarf that we need to later make look bloody when the lion attacks my scarf. She also brought Rachel a dog leash with an invisible dog which I think she’s really happy about. But I do think she wants to put a real dog in it or just a stuffed animal. I vote for the real dog, specificially Rosie!! But we shall see if we get lucky. Overall it went very well. We practiced the play within the play and only with 4 actors so it was fun to improv some!

Hello blog world,

Well no matter what I seem to do I never fail to take 10 minutes to realize that I’m not logged in and search for hours how to post a new entry and NOT a comment but anyways more importantly our group is going so great. I think we are actually really lucky we ended up getting the older folk. At first I won’t lie I was kinda bummed because I was really looking forward to working with the kids but now I don’t even realize how good we have it. We don’t have to teach them to read, babysit them, or travel anywhere; they come to us! Also, they are teaching us things about Shakespeare so we definitely do not need to explain anything of that nature to them either. All in all we love our group and it’s really a great time!