Camp Willie

Shakespeare for Actors 13 & Up

Students will learn to break down and understand Shakespeare's text, open up and work with the physical mechanics of the human voice, and apply these tools in the performance of short scenes and sonnets. Shakespeare wrote for actors. It is hands down the best way to gain insight into his work. And did I mention it is a lot of fun?

Class culminates in a public performance and requires a full two week commitment Each student is required to provide a parent or other adult to help supervise one afternoon session during the class.

Limited to 12 students.

Class meets August 3-14, Mon- Fri, 9 am -3 pm (includes an hour lunch break)

Performance: Saturday, August 15, 1pm.

Sign up thru CommunityEd: 541-386-3614

"Aye, There's the Vein!"

Just a short note to say what a great success Free Willy was, and how extraordinarily proud I am of all my little thespians! Last night in front of surprising large audience-- who were all those people?-- Every single actor took a leap and landed on their feet!

You all served the text, the audience followed the story and they were clearly engaged every step of the way. Bravo!

It has been my honor and pleasure to work with each of you and I thank you all for your hard work. I hope you had fun. I know I did.

althea

Are You Ready for a Heightened Expereience?

Free Willy takes flight at 7 pm at The Columbia Center for the Arts Theatre.

Students arrive at 5 pm as usual for last class/dress rehearsal. Helpers arrive around 6:30. And at 7 pm we take off!

Great Poetry + Great Courage = Great Drama

Your Job This Week

You need to continue to meet with your scene partner and read together. You need to continue to read out loud on your own without your partner. None of these scenes requires more then 5-8 minutes to read out loud. Heck, you can do that at least once a day. Right?

Come Monday I expect everyone to be FLUENT with their scenes. You don't need to memorize it, but you do need to be able to navigate the text--- by this, I mean you need to know what it is you are saying and be able to say it without stumbling over word choice or pronunciation. If you have questions about what is going on in your scene, what a word or phrase means or how it is properly pronounced, write it down and make sure we address it in class.

I look forward to seeing how far everyone has come by next Monday!

Flyer for Free Willy!

See what seven "regular people" can do with scenes from one of Shakespeare's most problematic plays, Measure for Measure, and eight weeks hard labor guided by workshop leader, Althea Hukari. Students ranging from age 17 to 70 will tackle their first major Shakespearean roles before your very eyes. Great courage + great poetry = great drama. All from the workshop that dares to ask: Are you ready for a heightened experience?

Everything You May Have Missed This Week

Scene Assignments

#1, Act 2, Scene 1
Esculas..... Sydney
Elbow....... Andy
Pompey..... Leith
Froth..........Jeanette
Angelo.......John

#2, Act 2, Scene 2
Angelo.....John
Isabella.... Gale
Lucio.......Leith

#3, Act 2, Scene 4
Angelo....Tom
Isabella....Jeanette
Servant.....Sydney

Each student is welcome to work on a Sonnet as well,
as their own time restraints permit.

For next week:

1) Familiarity With the Text. Memorize or not, you should be very familiar with the text.

Ways To Do That: Read it out loud over and over again. Get someone to read it with you-- ideally of course,you get together with your partner(s). Record the text and listen to it over and over. I had an acting friend who claimed that 23 -- or was it 27-- was the magic number. He said if practiced a text 23 times it stuck in his memory. Personally, I never kept count, but I know reading out loud, bit by bit and then chunk by chunk and then larger chunk by larger chunk always worked for me.
Pitfalls To Avoid: Not doing it. It's inconvenient, you're busy, you can't get together with your partner-- whatever. Do not let this stop you. I had another friend who said: Proper Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance. Here, here.
The Other Big Pitfall: Doing it the same way each time. (Unless what you choose is a monotone.) Falling into a predictable rhythm or melody or WAY to do it. Keep changing it up. Do it with a funny accent. Try it while you do something else-- something physical. Throw a ball back and forth, take a vigorous walk, do jumping jacks.


2) Character Analysis

Look Through the Text of the Whole Play:
1) What is said about the character? (Consider the source.)
2) What does the character say about him/ herself?
3) What does the character DO? What actions do they take? A list will do nicely.

In This Scene:
1) What is the character's greatest wish or need?
2) What is their greatest fear?
3) How do they want the world to see them?
4) Hidden Truth: Something true about them that they do not want the world to see?
5) Essential line of text: Something this character says in this scene that strikes you as the essence of who they are.

Opportunity Knocketh

Dear Students,

We've been invited to be part of a Reading Series happening this spring and summer through Solo Gallery in downtown Hood River. The date they would like us to fill is April 17th-- the Thursday after our last class-- or we could ask for the next Thursday instead-- which would be the 24th, the day after Shakespeare's birthday.

We could draw on the Sonnets as well as the scenes we've worked on from Measure for Measure. I would join you in reading, and could maybe scare up some other volunteers to join us as well.

What think you(se)?

Fearless Leader