Actors play role as teachers

“I have begun to plant thee,

and will labour to make thee full of growing.”

Duncan from “Macbeth,” Act 1, Scene 4

That must be how the Nebraska Shakespeare Festival troupe feels about the students, teachers and others who participated in its fall workshops and “Macbeth” performances.

The troupe finished its fall schedule Wednesday in Cozad, Neb. Before that, it had presented the 75-minute “Macbeth” and acting workshops at middle and high schools statewide from Albion to West Point and from the Missouri River to the Sand Hills.

Nebraska Shakespeare members can only hope the seeds they planted continue to grow.

A. Bryan Humphrey directed this fall’s touring production of “Macbeth.” Six professional actors make up the cast. They are Dakotah Brown, Sean Carlson, Sarah Carlson-Brown, Vincent Carlson-Brown, Maria Vacha and Brian Frederick. The Carlson-Browns also serve as company managers. Wesley A. Houston is stage manager.

Condensing the complicated and lengthy “Macbeth” to just over an hour was hard work. As Humphrey said:

“What’s it like to adapt Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ down to a (75-minute) performance by six actors? Think of capturing the essence of Beethoven’s ‘Fifth Symphony’ in seven minutes played by six instruments. Or better yet, just imagine getting a bull elephant into a pair of red pajamas.”

The touring group presented four days of workshops this month in the Omaha Public Schools.

Seventh- and eighth-graders at Morton Magnet Middle School chose from three workshops: “Words, Words, Words,” for which students created modern-day “slang-speak” scenes; “Thinking Makes It So,” which let participants explore the basics of acting; and “I Bite My Thumb,” which was an introduction to stage combat with an emphasis on control, safety and trust.

Students also learned about GOTE — the goal, obstacles, tactics and expectations of acting.

Through a variety of exercises, participants in each workshop practiced safety for themselves, safety for others, energy, clarity, sequencing and patterns, cooperation and group dynamics, focus and memorization.

Benson High School students, with drama teacher Kevin Barrett, tried out the teaching side of drama when they helped students at Morton Magnet study Shakespeare.

Before the Benson students visited, the Morton seventh- and eighth-graders studied Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

Small groups of Morton students worked on specific scenes with their high school student teachers. Benson drama students assisted the younger students in stage blocking, line delivery and warm-up exercises.

For more about the Nebraska Shakespeare Festival, go to www.nebraskashakespeare.com.

Contact the writer:

444-1165, sue.truax@owh.com