Final Reflection

So, it's my last day here at the ASC, which of course makes me think about the things I've learned during this experience. Obviously there are the tangible things--a long list of primary documents, folders and copies and handouts I've made that will soon be used or recycled, the general fluff left behind from anyone who works in an office.

And, there's the things that I've learned--for one, I have a whole host of new information, facts, and skills at my call. I spent a large amount of my energy last semester designing and thinking about my senior thesis project this spring, and now I have even more ideas and information to tangle with.

But more than that, this experience has allowed me to experience Shakespeare in a way I never have before. As a college, and a few years ago high school, student I primarily experienced Shakespeare as just that--a student. I was handed a text, told to read a certain amount by a certain day, and then come into class to talk about it. I had a teacher standing at the front of the room suggesting ideas and themes to think about. Now, there was nothing wrong with this experience. Nothing at all. My Shakespeare professor at St. Lawrence was wonderful, and my high and middle school teachers some of the best. But I was still a student. Shakespeare was still a task for me, a question to answer, an act to read, a paper to write, a guilt during friday morning class because I was sleepy, hungover, and thinking about the delicious breakfast I could wolf down in just twenty minutes....fifteen minutes....ten minutes.

Aside from being a student, I've interacted with Shakespeare before as an actor. Lucentio tenth grade. Peter Quince twelfth. Viola sophomore year. And these experiences were some of the most rewarding. Discovering a text as a character, peeling through the layers of history to find something whole and human and lovely inside of it, something that could then be brought alive. Of course, being young and knowing less than I do now, I don't think I ever exactly realized what I was doing onstage. Yes, I said the lines because they were in my script. I moved around because my director told me to. But I slipped into the perpetual deep trench of the unknowing actor, in which I pronounced my lines with the the general tone and air of what they meant, but without understanding the language itself. Watch any high school theater production, you will understand this phenomenon. It's almost a dumbshow in this respect, in that they could be saying anything at all with no changes in their performance. The acting is guided by tone and movement rather than language. It's a mark of a professional show and actor that their performance of Shakespeare is guided by the words and the text.

As such, for the first time really ever this summer I was allowed to interact with Shakespeare as I wanted. Sure, I was being told to find articles and primary source documents, but I found joy their pursuit. I clicked on links because I wanted to and pored over documents because I was genuinely interested in what I could learn from them. I hunted through articles and blogs, chatrooms and videos, all for the sake of learning. For the first time, I was able to interact with Shakespeare on my own terms. I didn't have a teacher giving me a text and a deadline, or a director shouting blocking cues. I went through the texts myself, and let them speak to me as they would. I got to learn Shakespeare, on my own and in my own way.

Think about the first time you ever read Shakespeare. Ever looked at or spoke the words, the first time you've interacted with the text. Mine was 8th grade, Mr. Davolio's classroom (see? I can even remember details) reading A Midsummer's Nights Dream. I remember where I was sitting, what the room felt like, the color and the weight of the book in my hands. And I remember thinking "Oh. This is pretty cool". My point is whatever professor or actor you talk to, whatever blogs you follow, whatever nerdy friends you have that you talk about Shakespeare with--they all remember that moment. They can all recall when they first interacted with a given text. Taming of the Shrew tenth grade. Hamlet twelfth. Much Ado sophomore year of college. Titus junior year. These plays are not historical documents, they are living pieces of work. They have history of their own, but they also create a history, a close, personalized, unique history, in the hands of their viewer, their reader, their player and their student. That's the real beauty of Shakespeare, of any play or piece of text--they reflect universal truths and genuine human emotions, but they're also all your own. It is for everyone, and also for you. I'm so grateful to the ASC that I was able to have this experience and learn everything I did. It opened my eyes to a whole new world of thinking about Shakespeare, and I'm sure I'll be back for more.

Carla Ricci

Near the End...

Today is my second to last day in Staunton, meaning yes, in two short days I will be driving back to cold cruel Massachusetts, with no promises of Shakespearean matinees or historical research to cheer me up. However, in the spirit of making everything of the time I have left down here, this morning we went down to the playhouse to see the dress rehearsal of As You Like It, and my heavens what a show. It's a wonderful play to start, with enough cross-dressing, plot twists, lovers, tyrants, and fools to go around. But in particular, this cast really made it sing (quite literally. there's a lot of singing). Each character was given nuance (as much nuance as you can have for a Shakespeare comedy) and dimension, coming alive with subtle jokes and jabs purely for the entertainment of the audience. Being able to compare this rehearsal to the Ren Run just a few weeks ago was especially interesting. Certain characters went through drastic changes--Jaques for instance, who initially was melancholy almost to the point of parody. The Ren Run was certainly more over the top, and it was clear that the actors were really toying with their characters and seeing how far they could push them before it became downright ridiculous. The rehearsal today was a little more subdued--it felt less frantic, for one, but also more polished and sophisticated. The actors seemed more comfortable in their roles, and the choices they made contributed to the harmony of the play and the audience overall. It was a lovely performance, one in which the actors really invited us as audience members to share in the characters' experiences onstage. On a separate note, it's great to see these guys performing their touring shows--they come to my school on tour every fall, and it was during one of these performances that I was introduced to the ASC and everything it has to offer.

As far as back in the office, it's really astounding the number of sources that Elena and I have managed to put together in our joint time here. So often we hear scholars lamenting on how little we know about Shakespeare's life--and yet all it takes is a little bit of digging to really discover a wealth of information. Not just Shakespeare, but his plays and sonnets, his contemporaries, his players, his time and his (probable) lifestyle. It's wonderful to look through, wonderful to read the theories, contend with the skeptics, and attempt to recover for myself an idea of who this man was in his own time before he became the revered Shakespeare that we hear so much about today.

In addition to my dutiful scholarly research, I've also discovered a number of popular Shakespeare sources online. Bardfilm, a blog I recently discovered is worth a look for any fan of Shakespeare or film. He reviews (obviously) film adaptations of Shakespeare from around the world, but also takes an interesting look at festival performances and includes obscure Shakespeare references in popular films (Beauty and the Beast, who would have known?) In addition, Shakespeare Geek (the name says it all) is simply a wonderful resource for anyone who likes thinking or talking about Shakespeare. So, anyone who is cool. He brings up good discussion topics concerning Shakespeare and the modern world, and the way he and his plays are perceived, thought about, talked about, and performed today. After spending a ponderous few hours (oops) clicking through his posts, I also chanced upon this little gem at a softer world, an online comic.



Love it.

Carla Ricci

A Lovely Day in Staunton Rids One of Friggatriskaidekaphobia

*Friggatriskaidekaphobia: fear of Friday the 13th. Cool word, yes?

Hello, I’m Natalie. I’m a junior English and Writing & Rhetoric major at James Madison University and education and marketing intern at the American Shakespeare Center (ASC). This is my fifth week working in our office, the Masonic building in the heart of Staunton’s historic “red brick” district. My internship grants me access to the most intriguing parts of Staunton and the ASC. I help to record the ASC’s Youth Company Theatre Camp (YCTC), get to know the city by talking to residents and community organizations, explore the arts culture, and hunt for places of interest to young people.

        In previous weeks, I've been working with other interns to document YCTC lectures and performance master classes for ASC’s archives. The YCTC campers were passionate, lively, and engaging. They were serious about their work during workshops for fight choreography, clowning, Elizabethan dancing, and fearless as young performance artists. One day in particular stands out, the music performance master class I videotaped in Stuart Hall. The campers were aggressively attentive during a lesson on Elizabethan music rules and jumped headfirst into composing a traditional song. Chris instructed them to choose each note of the melody. After he confirmed whether the song fit within Elizabethan guidelines, they created a contemporary version. Modern adaptations of Elizabethan songs are key to the authenticity of Blackfriars Playhouse. Shakespeare himself had music of his time performed in between acts of his plays, he explained. In less than an hour, the campers had a fully developed song with parts for violin, flute, recorder and drum, a few verses, a chorus, and harmony.

        I was surprised by the joyful reactions elicited by each new suggestion. YCTC’s positive environment easily facilitated natural collaboration amongst the campers. Their quick improvisation indicated the presence of talent, confidence, and feelings of belonging within the YCTC atmosphere. I saw no traces of opposition, nor inadequacy if one did not play an instrument or “couldn’t sing well.” The campers delighted in songwriting and performed the result with camaraderie I pleasured to witness.

Another project I’m working on is a short video illuminating Staunton’s hippest facets, an insider’s guide to Staunton for college students in the Shenandoah area and beyond. Staunton’s downtown is the epitome of charm and eccentricity, the perfect place to lose oneself in exploration. I challenge anyone to spend a few minutes on the street without wandering into a kooky antiques store, thrift shop, art gallery, restaurant venue, or café. I happened upon pretty Japanese screens and vintage record players in Worthington’s Hardware, and watched glassblowing at Sunspots Studios. Marvin, the owner of Frontier Antiques, played piano as I perused funky rugs and found a cool edition of Camus’ The Rebel in stacks of old, peculiar books. As I dissect my pile of pamphlets, I learn of more Staunton has to offer; a 1950’s drive-in called Wright’s Dairy Rite, inexpensive movies at the beautifully restored 1930’s Dixie Theatre, and live music outdoors almost every weeknight of the Summer.

Staunton’s arts culture is thriving, intimate, and welcoming. Art here has a powerful pull; an aesthetic person of any degree cannot help but orbit the storefronts on Beverley Street. Besides its visual appeal as a classic Victorian Main Street, Beverley Street’s windows exhibited a wide range of art—everything from traditional painting to sculpture and experimental photography. The most recent installations were in place as the “Filling the Half-Empty Glass storefront art initiative” by the Staunton Downtown Development Association (SDDA) and volunteers. My favorite was “Shakespeare’s Othello,” a sculpture by Trenley Anderson in an empty space across the street. Even Beverley Street windows that are not galleries or part of the initiative invite passers by to Staunton’s art scene. Large, red paper lips in one window urge blingo players to support the Staunton Augusta Art center, a colorful array of fake heads accost those who pass Staunton’s School of Cosmetology, a photo shop down the street showcases a local photographer’s work exploring grief, and Camera II’s window encourages everyone to blow up personal photos, “Decorate your home with your own art.

Today I will finish storyboarding the video and check out some of the performances, restaurants, cafés, galleries, and stores on my list of prospective youth magnets. It’s not too hot—perfect for meandering and hopefully chancing upon more to share.

The Ultimate Hump Day

Hey all! My name is Carla Ricci, and I'm an education intern here at the American Shakespeare Center. Although I hail from Wakefield, MA, I spend most of my time at St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY, where I'll be a senior this year. Yesterday was Wednesday, so besides being an ordinary hump day, it also marked the middle of my three weeks down here in Staunton.

Even though its only been a week and a half, I've still learned so much down here. My main project, which I started with Elena and have been working on continuously is finding primary source documents about Shakespeare, his lifestyle and time, his companies, and his theaters. Now, the word research alone is enough to make most people squirm, and combined with the phrase “old english documents”, it can be downright terrifying. However, after just a few hours of research, I found myself being fascinated with the things I was finding. Original text documents, written about Shakespeare or with his signature, as well as reviews of his plays from the period, and accounts from theater-goers and visitors in the time. I even discovered the original text of the play Arcadia, which my school is putting on this fall. Every day in front of the computer, I discover a new piece of information that makes me think about Shakespeare in a whole new way.

In addition to learning about Shakespeare, I've had the wonderful opportunity this week to teach a little bit about Shakespeare. Yesterday and Monday I had the chance to drive down to Natural Bridge Hotel with Christina to present to the Road Scholars. Road Scholar is a program for older adults in which they set up educational vacations around the country. This particular group was down in Natural Bridge all week, taking a variety of classes on everything from Buddhism to Natural Bridge geology to original Shakespearean staging conditions. The workshop was a blast--and even though we did it three different times, each one was different and unique. What we really covered in the class was the way that Shakespeare's language influenced his performance. For example, we did an iambic pentameter exercise in which folks in the audience were each given a syllable of a line of text. They stood or sat depending if their syllable was stressed or unstressed in the line. This way, we got a clear visualization of a line of iambic pentameter, and also realized the inner meaning of the line based on the stressed words. We also got to play around with Shakespearean staging--explaining and demonstrating the benefits of having a thrust stage, universal lighting, and audience interaction. What I loved most of these workshops was that I could really tell these people were interested, and that we were surprising them with information they never knew before. In particular, during questions at the end, a mini-discussion started debating the merits of film versions of Shakespeare with lots of special effects versus the more traditional text-based performances. The Road Scholars were a fantastic audience, and it was great to have the experience of being able to show them all something new.

Carla Ricci

Magic is an As You Like It Ren Run

Today is my last day at ASC, and I would like to begin this post by saying what a privilege it has been to work here over the last several weeks. I have learned far more from my experiences here than I ever would have expected, and I consider myself lucky to have had this opportunity. Moving on, it’s time for some Shakespeare.

Yesterday at ASC, I went to see the Renaissance Run of the 2010/2011 Restless Ecstasy touring troupe’s production of As You Like It. The Renaissance Run, or Ren Run as it is generally referred to, is essentially the first rehearsal for a play at ASC. First, the actors come together and, having already memorized their lines, create a playable version of the show without the oversight of the director, in less than ten hours. The actors then perform their version for the director and a small audience, and this performance constitutes the Ren Run. The Ren Run has an exciting quality to it in that it is not perfectly polished theatre; the actors can, and do, call for lines with a request of “prithee,” and it seems that anything can happen. In my case, an actor gave me a line to contribute, but realized once I had spoken that it was the wrong line and quickly corrected it.

I was particularly excited to be seeing As You Like It, because the theatre department at my college produced the show this past spring, and I was eager to have a point of comparison. The ability with which the actors handled the text struck me the most; even if using an accent, every actor spoke with a confidence that indicated how well they understood their lines. By contrast, the actors in my school’s production did not always grasp the meaning of what they said, even if they said it perfectly. Since the director chose to place the Forest of Arden in a slum outside of Mexico City, some of their lines were in Spanish, which may have contributed to their confusion. The dialogue seemed so rich when performed by the trained actors at ASC.

Other aspects that intrigued me included the music and the choreography. Given the short period of time in which the actors rehearsed the play, these two elements greatly impressed me. The wrestling match between Orlando and Charles in the first few scenes of the play came off well considering that the actors had only the one rehearsal to stage it, on top of staging the rest of the play. Though the fight lacked a gripping quality at the time, it looked like a great starting point, and I’m sure that with more rehearsal and a little direction, it will have the audience on the edge of their seats.

More than the choreography, I found the music very enthralling. The amount and quality of the songs bespoke of the talent of the actors. In addition to blocking and working the entire play during their one rehearsal, the actors also compiled the music. For someone who is not musically talented, this feat seems unmanageable, but the actors pulled it off as if they had rehearsed their songs for weeks. If there were any slip-ups, I never noticed. This combined with the actors’ comfort with their blocking and the verse made for a delightful experience.

Even though the actors didn’t get every line, I found the Ren Run to be a truly enjoyable piece of theatre. The actors never allowed a dull moment; they kept the audience engaged and entertained throughout. Bearing in mind what I saw at the Ren Run, it strikes me that great theatre does not require any airs and graces, but can be created with the simplest methods. As long as the actors clearly have a good time performing, the audience will have a great time watching them. I would have paid to see yesterday’s performance; I had that great a time. How fortunate, then, that ASC offers an entire season based on the same idea as the Ren Run, where actors own the process and produce plays in a similarly short period of time. I will definitely be coming back for more.

Elizabeth Reams