One of the absolute glories of my work as a director has been directing the plays of Shakespeare with teenaged actors. During my seven years as director of a youth theater program in Vermont, our summer Shakespeare tour was probably my favorite part of our season, and I have heard from many of our young actors that they felt the same way. Watching these kids go from glassy eyed, confused looking teens at our first read through to the professional caliber actors ready for opening night that they invariably became by the end of the rehearsal process has truly been a high point of my career.
I always asked our auditioning actors to bring with them a favorite monologue from Shakespeare to read for their audition. In this way I felt that I could right away get a clear idea of their ability to relate to the language. I was also always very interested to see what they brought in to recite. Frequently the students had absolutely no idea what they were reading, and this gave me a chance to do a little work with them on the spot and to observe how quickly they picked up on what I was trying to tell them about the monologue they had haytheatre.com chosen .
The first read through was always rather stressful for everybody. I would have been working like crazy to prepare the script and hoping that the cuts I had made to my version made sense, and the kids, while determined to do this show, were never quite prepared for how difficult it was and how long it took to do a cold read-through of one of Shakespeare’s plays. It was practically a foreign language to them, and while I made it my habit to stop and explain as much as I could that first rehearsal, and though my students wanted to love it, I could always see that “What have I gotten myself into ?” look lurking behind their eyes. I tried to remember always to close the first rehearsal by telling them not to despair, and that from here on out it would only get better.
And it always did. As rehearsals progressed it was delightful to see the actors positively scooping in any knowledge they could get about what the heck their characters were talking about. And I think it helped that I was not at all afraid to admit it when I myself was element of a word or a phrase, and explored the reference books right along with the students.
The most beautiful part of the rehearsal process for me was watching the students as they found ways to put the text into their bodies. In order to help the audience understand what the play was about – and here I must admit I am a director who is all about what is happening in the audience as they watch the show – I encouraged the kids to perhaps over express with their bodies and faces the action and emotions of the dialogue. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say that this directing technique works well for all play genres, it served my Shakespearian actors well, allowing them to experiment with movement and expression, and find the humor, the passion and the pathos within Shakespeare’s words as a physical act, and through this physical manifestation of the script they could then find a pathway to making the play a part of their internal selves.
And when the actors had finally made the script a manifestation of themselves, it was something beautiful to see. The action was clear, the emotions truthful and the story rang with clarity.
I consider it a great privilege to have had the opportunity to work on so many of Shakespeare’s plays with my students. There is something about watching young people relate on a visceral level to characters invented five hundred years ago that is breathtaking in scope and form. To be allowed to guide my students through these adventures, learning with them as I go, has enriched my life in more way than I can count.
Before the curtain goes up on opening night I always ask the actors to stop and think for a minute back to our first read through. I ask them to remember how daunting the task of creating the play seemed at that point. There are always wistful smiles as they remember that first day in rehearsal and how impossible the idea of making a story out of the almost unintelligible script I had given them had seemed. And then I ask them to think about how much they know now, about how their heads are not only filled with pages upon pages of beautiful poetry, but their minds and their bodies understand it, it is actually a part of them. And then the stage manager calls the actors to take their places, the curtain goes up, and together they bring the gift of what they have learned out into the world.
Susan Scaccia graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater arts with a concentration in Acting and Directing from Castleton State College in Vermont, where she won the President’s Scholarship. She studied classical voice training for 10 years, and has now completed 28 graduate credits toward her Master’s Degree in Special Education. Before relocating to Columbia