On Friday night, Josh called a rehearsal for his ensemble scene -a 10 minute piece of Coriolanus with 37 actors. The only place large enough for the troupe was the parking lot of the hotel; and it was cold. As in, it was snowing. We rehearsed anyway; and, despite the weather, the performance that night was the best I had seen yet. We were scheduled to perform Saturday morning on an outdoor stage, built to replicate Shakespeare’s Globe Theater in London. 
This is an outdoor stage. It is not covered. The weather reports gave a 60% chance of snow on Saturday. Most of our costumes were togas or less, and most were barefoot. So, what did we do? We told them to wear jeans underneath and coats over their costumes, loaded them on to the bus and rehearsed outside for 2 hours before our performance. Were they cold? Yes. Did they complain? Not really. Did they die or catch pnemonia? No. Before we could take our turn on the stage, we worked on projection. An outdoor theater with no microphones means you have to speak up in order to be heard. 
The kids lined up and practiced throwing their lines across campus. Sure we got a lot of funny looks, but they sounded great! Finally it was time to perform. We had 10 minutes on the stage before our performance, for the first time in 6 weeks of rehearsing they had the chance to walk around the stage. I snapped pictures like crazy – 110 in less than an hour. I won’t post any close-ups on this blog because, hello, they’re minors and not related to me. But I do want you to see the inside of the theater…
It stopped snowing just long enough for us to perform, and the entire audience was blown away with the power and force of 37 high school kids. They did an amazing job, the judges were glowing, the kids were covered in goosebumps, several people had tears in their eyes. As a friend and a coach, I couldn’t have been more proud of the work these young actors put in to this competition. And later that night at the awards ceremony, the judges agreed. Our Shakespeare team took home four major awards with three trophies; an award for Best Overall Lighting Technician (a the Tech Olympics, a showcase in conjunction with the Shakesepeare competition) a trophy for Best Actor in our division, a First Place trophy for the Coriolanus ensemble piece, and a Second Place Overall trophy for our division. I screamed until I was hoarse; I actually couldn’t keep the tears from running down my face. This was such an emotionally charged moment for me – and I hope that the Huskies felt something similar, and they that are able to keep that emotional high close to their hearts. Go Huskies!
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts.” –As You Like It (Act II, scene vii)
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So awesome! What a great experience for those kids… and for you!
Comment by L Sass 2007 October 10 @ 12:45 pmThat’s so cool…congratulations
Although I’m daunted by the thought that it’s already snowing in your neck of the woods!
Comment by Trish Ryan 2007 October 10 @ 4:52 pm