The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
DAY OF SHAKESPEARE
Shakespearean troupe shares stage tips, treats students, community to matinee
Those who participated in any of the workshops the Ohio Shakespeare Festival offered April 4 at Lakeland Community College likely got a brand new take on what it takes to make the famous playwright’s immortal works take shape.
Just ask Jonathan Simmons, a Lakeland student who participated in all three: Shakespeare Movement, Shakespeare Stage Combat and Shakespeare Verse/Prose.
“It was really fun and it was very different,” Simmons said after having just finished the Shakespeare Stage Combat workshop, in which OSF Resident Fight Director and Production Manager Ryan Zarecki taught folks how to fall, fight and give and take a faux punch on stage. “I saw Shakespeare in a very different way than what we were taught.”
He said his favorite part of the 45-minute workshop was how “really outgoing and engaging” Zarecki was during the class, especially in how he got participants to work outside their comfort zones.
Another participant in the Shakespeare Stage Combat workshop said she was glad she took part because she did it when the event debuted at Lakeland’s main campus in Kirtland in November 2016 and it was different this time around.
Chester Township resident Sydney Gembka said she attended both the previous
Shakespeare Verse/Prose and Shakespeare Stage Combat workshops and the crew switched the content up a bit this year, at least for the stage combat piece, which is the only one she could attend this year due to her class schedule.
After the stage combat workshop, she said she appreciated the variety the crew brought with them.
“I liked it,” she said. “It’s not what I thought it would be. I thought it would be more about swords and that kind of thing.”
She said that’s what was presented during the last stage combat workshop she attended and that she enjoyed learning this time about a different facet of Shakespearean stage production.
“I liked that it was different, that we learned how to fall and stuff like that. That was a lot of fun,” she said.
Fun and a new way to look at the Immortal Bard’s works and what they bring to today’s audiences are exactly the kinds of results Lakeland English Professor April Mason said she hopes these engagements
with the OSF will bring to the school and the community it serves.
“I support the Ohio Shakespeare Festival’s mission that Shakespeare is as relevant today as he was 400 years ago,” she said.
“I think doing this helps students see that in ways that they really can’t in a classroom.”
She said some highlights of the day, for her, were seeing a student give a highfive to a professor on the way out of one of the workshops and having one of her students come up to her, saying how much she was loving it all.
“I really think the students are amazed because they’re seeing Shakespeare in a new and different way,” Mason said.
Following the three workshops, each of which was offered simultaneously at 9, 10 and 11 a.m., the OSF crew performed a 1 p.m. matinee of Romeo and Juliet in the Dr. Wayne L. Rodehorst Performing Arts Center in D-Building, which was free and open to the public.
Mason said 150 participants took part in the workshops and 170 folks attended the matinee, after which she received even more positive feedback.
“Our students were captivated
by (the OSF’s) passion and talent, and many approached me after the matinee to say how much they enjoyed the experience,” she said, adding that the company’s visit to Lakeland was sponsored by the school’s Center for International Education, arts and sciences division and the Lakeland Foundation.
The Ohio Shakespeare Festival’s next visit to Lakeland is already in the works, Mason confirmed, adding that sometime in March 2019 will be the next time OSF will likely visit for a similar event.
For those who might be considering participating in any of the workshops during next year’s Day of Shakespeare at Lakeland, Simmons said participants can expect “to get outside of your comfort zone in a good way.”
In the meantime, Mason said she encourages folks to see what else the Akronbased theater company has to offer.
“(The Ohio Shakespeare Festival) is an exceptional company,” she said.
“As a 10-year fan, I encourage everyone to visit them at Greystone Hall and Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens, both in Akron. We are lucky to have such a talented company nearby.”