Truemors
For almost 20 years, a small arts-in-education program has quietly seen thousands of kids pass through its program. The name of the program is Rebel Shakespeare Company, and currently children and staff are working their magic in a small corner of a town park in Salem Massachusetts. While the company isn't as famous as other Massachusetts Shakespeare troupes, such as Commonwealth Shakespeare or Shakespeare & Company, Rebel students receive an amazing education in the works of William Shakespeare, stage acting, performance and stage fighting, and develop a universal and undying love for material that many of their peers have grown to hate. Living Shakespeare, and using his words as a vehicle of self-expression is the philosophy behind the program.
Rebel also runs programs in the public and private schools during the academic year. But far and wide, the popularity of the summer program reaches all over Boston's north shore and brings kids in from as far away as California and North Carolina.
There are three levels of the summer program. First, there is "Shakespearience," which is geared toward the younger crowd, ages 6 to 9. Children are introduced to the works of Shakespeare, from the story lines to characters. They learn stage techniques, costuming, and lines from scenes and then present their performances to their parents at the end of the session.
The largest group is the Regular Program. Ages 10 - 15, these kids are divided into two casts and they present abridged versions of Shakespeare's works. Summer 2007 saw the production of "Love's Labour's Lost," and of "Macbeth," a play that some theatre companies won't touch with a ten-foot pole because of superstitions surrounding it. Summer 2008 has seen "Henry V," complete with a full blown thunderstorm during the Battle of Agincourt, and an upcoming production of "As You Like It."
The final area of Rebel Shakespeare is known as the Teen Intensive. Using a director or two, a collection of 15-20 high-school aged students are handed their play, and they figure out how to set it, the interpretation of the story, and all of the action that follows. They are given three weeks to memorize the work, and present it. For summer 2007, the students did the classic "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and "King Lear." The participants decided that "King Lear" should take place in a modern setting, like a corporate take-over in the middle of Manhattan.
The students in Teen Intensive decided that doing two or three productions was not enough to really experience the play and performance. Summer 2008 sees the very first "touring" production by any of the Rebel Shakespeare programs. "Romeo and Juliet will be presented all around Boston's North Shore, with five performances around the city of Salem, and stops in Lynn, Marblehead, Newburyport and Haverhill.
Directors Alex Harvey and Chris Kingsbury are both "Rebel Alumni," having over 20 years of Rebel experience as actors and directors between them. They plan interesting character twists, and unique settings and interpretations of the story.
One of the performances will be on a baseball field, under the lights. Another performance is at a Castle, high above Kenoza Lake in Haverhill. And the most unique setting for the play will be on a playground in the center of a mostly Spanish-speaking part of Salem. Use of the playground equipment as the Capulet's home and the backdrop of the City of Verona reminds the viewer that Romeo and Juliet are actually children -- not adults. The jungle gym and slides are part of their childhood past, but still where they reside in their hearts, regardless of parental pressures to marry and become adults.
Shakespeare gives many opportunities for students to express themselves. The works were never intended to be read at desks in stuffy classrooms with dry interpretations by teachers who themselves really don't care for the material. Rebel Shakespeare Company lives and breathes the work and magic, in its joyful comedies and its darkest histories and tragedies. One would think 10 year olds couldn't pull off this kind of thing, but if you visit Salem Massachusetts in the summertime, prepare to find the troupe, and be amazed.
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