Iowa’s Ottumwa High School

What is the purpose of putting on shows in high school? Is it educational? Recreational? Is it community relations? Is it a family activity?

I’ve always thought that high school theatre was for the benefit of the students putting on the show – for the education, the team-building, the exploration of talent and so on. That parents, siblings, relatives, friends and neighbors come to see these productions – whether academic in origin or extracurricular – is a byproduct, not a purpose. Although, to be fair, in many schools, the drama programs have to be self-supporting, so a certain amount of general audience development may be necessary, which can mean throwing a wide net.

Nonetheless, the recent cancelation of a high school production of The Laramie Project in Ottumwa, Iowa caught me by surprise. Not because I’m unfamiliar with educational administrators being uncomfortable with Laramie, but because the principal there has said “the play is too adult for a high school production but it does preach a great message.” If the message is great, where’s the problem?  What makes it too adult? That it’s about a murder? Murder is in movies, books, plays, and TV shows consumed by much younger kids. Is it that the murder victim was gay? Sadly, homophobia remains everywhere, but it’s worth noting that marriage equality has been the law in Iowa since 2009.

According to reports in The Ottumwa Courier and Heartland Connection, both the principal and superintendent are pleased that arrangements have been made for the production to be done by the students elsewhere in the community. So why exactly don’t they want it in their own backyard or, more accurately, auditorium?

The reason cited is because they feel what the school offers should be family entertainment for all ages, and that the admirable but adult themes of Laramie don’t fit that criteria. So the question is whether this is a long-standing, publicly stated policy, or one introduced only to block the production of this particular play, which is taken from verbatim accounts of the death of Matthew Shepard in Wyoming more than a decade ago.

I spoke with Moisés Kaufman, the artistic director of Tectonic Theatre Project, the company that created The Laramie Project and its companion piece The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later, since he has the best perspective on the play’s production history. Referring to Laramie as one of the most produced plays in America – professionally, amateur, college and high school – Kaufman acknowledged that productions are also challenged or canceled with some regularity, saying it happens in high schools two or three times annually.  Based on my general awareness of theatre news nationally, I was surprised: I thought it was more frequent, but the play’s popularity in high schools is confirmed by Dramatics magazine.

“Invariably,” Kaufman observed about cancelations of Laramie, “it has the opposite effect of what the administration is trying to do – it emboldens the students to be artists and social activists. Students realize that art is an incredible weapon and they have a responsibility and opportunity that comes from being an art maker.”

Kaufman said that, comparable to the figures often associated with marriage equality issue, there’s a big divide in the thinking between people over 50 and those under 50. “Students are very ready for this conversation, they’re living it,” said Kaufman. “It’s adults who are having a hard time with it.”  Describing the typical conflict over high school productions of Laramie, Kaufman said,  “First, it’s a disconnect in ideology and preparedness to deal with contemporary ideas, and secondly, that they’re listening to outside voices that have nothing to do with the education of the students.”

In Ottumwa, if the administration freely acknowledges the value of the piece and expresses support for the students doing it, but off school grounds, it seems that what’s at stake is a fear of outside pressure, an avoidance of potential challenges, with “family friendly” as a smokescreen for conflict avoidance. It’s a shame that the administration can’t back up their own sentiments and advocate for Laramie within the school, rather than harboring school resources and insulating themselves from any personal and professional risk instead of standing up for what they believe in. What kind of example and lesson is that?

The assertion that high school shows should be for all ages is not a new argument to me; I heard it voiced at a Board of Education meeting at my alma mater, Amity High School in Woodbridge CT, when a handful of community members registered their displeasure with a pending production of Sweeney Todd. It suggests that because so many parents and administrators were raised on the anodyne – albeit wonderful and classic – musicals of the 40s, 50s and 60s, that those shows remain exemplars of the only appropriate repertoire.

I think that perspective is deeply flawed. Would we choose to teach students from textbooks that were written with 1960s sensibility? Would we protect our athletes with the insufficient equipment of that era, or even from the 80s? Would literature and music be comparably circumscribed? I doubt it, especially in any district that wants to prepare students educationally, socially and emotionally for the world they’ll soon face, out from under the protective wings of parents and schools. High school theatre may still be thought of by many as a charming and even quaint activity for kids, and an easily expendable one at that, but it can instill great lessons and even save lives, if the students are permitted to engage with the full range of dramatic work, be it classic, new or even original.

The lessons of The Laramie Project are obvious to anyone who knows the piece or even just the facts surrounding Matthew Shepard’s death. High school teachers and administrators should be proud that students want to perform it and should be proud to have it, and other socially conscious, emotionally charged works on their stages.

As someone who had to make do in high school with Don’t Drink The Water and Bye Bye Birdie, I admire and envy every student who has had the chance to engage with material as challenging and important as The Laramie Project and other equally important, thoughtful and moving pieces of theatre. And if some pre-teens have to miss seeing their big siblings in a show, well surely that’s not the only time they haven’t been allowed to tag along. What’s done in their elementary or middle school is for them, and what’s done in high school is for bigger kids – and for every adult in town. Maybe there’s still time for Ottumwa High School to teach the right lesson.

*   *   *

Update: Hear me discussing censorship of high school plays on the Reduced Shakespeare Company podcast

Update, August 9: from The Ottumwa Courier: “Laramie Project Pushes Forward” by Chelsea Davis

MA’s Everett High School, where content
complaints morphed into budget woes.

Follow this with me, will you?

“The plays bothered a lot of us,” says a school superintendent, referring to works presented by a high school drama group. “The plays had references to sex and drinking.” In one instance, a male student reportedly doffed his pants, revealing shorts.

Subsequently, the school system, citing an influx of students (reports a news article) announces that all drama classes are terminated, with the superintendent saying (as paraphrased in the article), “The school can no longer afford to offer the classes as enrollment grows.”

Did everyone notice the sudden turn in there?

This is no hypothetical, but a scenario played out at the high school in Everett MA and reported by The Boston Globe. While the school superintendent, Frederick Foresteire, wraps himself in the protective shroud of marshaling resources in challenging economic times (unquestionably a legitimate concern in every public school in the country), targeting a drama program for eradication after registering his personal disapproval of said program smacks of retribution.

The article seems riddled with mixed messages. If there has been the demand for multiple sections of drama up until now, how does increased enrollment warrant elimination of a course of study? It is impossible to determine from the article whether any other academic area was treated comparably, though that would seem germane.

If the school has been content to have a single teacher take responsibility for drama education for six years, why does the superintendent note that “there will not be four or five sections taught by one teacher” if drama classes return in the future? Supposedly this action is not in response to the teacher’s qualifications to teach drama. One teacher with expertise would seem the economically and pedagogically prudent solution down the line, full or part-time.

And while a school system is well within its rights to post teachers based upon need, why would Everett High’s principal make the decision to reassign the drama teacher (who also teaches science) to a K through 8 school? If the high school’s enrollment is an issue, sending teachers elsewhere wouldn’t seem to solve the problem (unless this was some sort of trade) and this teacher could certainly go back to more science courses. And surely where that teacher was sent to address the district’s needs wasn’t the principal’s decision, but that of someone higher up, with a more global view. Like, say, a superintendent.

While drama will remain at Everett High as an extracurricular activity, the article also notes that the school’s new principal, Erick Naumann, “will have more authority over the drama club,” and the drama coach “will have to submit a description of props and, if possible, stage directions, at least two months in advance.”

Does anyone still think this situation has anything to do with budgets?

In the past, I’ve acknowledged that schools and school districts have the right to decide what material is appropriate for their drama groups, academic or extracurricular, but I believe those decisions should be made in the best interests of the students, not the school system. I lobby for the widest range of material possible, but I admit am not charged with the creation of educational standards. When content issues arise, it is usually because administrators have paid scant attention to drama courses or clubs for years and only take an interest when something of “questionable” propriety is brought to their attention, often late in the game, or because of personal biases by administrators. But prop lists? Stage directions? At least two months in advance? That smacks of Big Brother and is impractical if not impossible, as anyone with a basic understanding of how theatre is made would know. It would be interesting to learn by what criteria such a submission would be either challenged or approved.

Also pertinent at Everett High is that some of the “offending” material that drew Mr. Foresteire’s ire was written by the students. Well, you know what? If kids are writing about their lives, topics like sex and alcohol are going to come up. Hiding them from view only serves to deny the opportunity for dialogue and learning — and it’s censorship of the students’ voices in an educational setting. Will Mr. Naumann also be determining which student essays and stories may be read aloud in English classes in his school? I doubt it. But I bet original student dramas won’t soon be seen again in those parts, so long as they need to be approved every step along the way, killing any possibility of creativity, spontaneity or truth.

When high school theatre initiatives are threatened or cut, attention to the issue is predominantly local and discrete, as if each was unique and only of interest to the specific school and town. That the Globe wrote about the situation in Everett is commendable, though it appears to have emanated from a local news bureau; read online, it’s impossible to discern whether it was in a regional edition or in the full run of the print version. The Everett High School drama decision deserves even more attention and investigation, as inconsistencies abound.

Even though the final verdict will occur every time at the local level when school arts programs are threatened over content, funding or both, these challenges to drama and indeed all of the arts need to be taken up nationally in each and every case as ongoing evidence of a continuing trend. That’s why as a Connecticut native and a New York resident, I’m worried about what has taken place in Everett MA, because I know it’s not an isolated incident. It’s just another in a long line of school administrations afraid to allow students to grapple with and learn about the world through art, under the guise of protecting them. Perhaps it’s even something more.

Oh, and by the way Mr. Foresteire: I dropped trou onstage, revealing boxer shorts, in a high school production back in 1977. The offensive material? Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple.

*   *   *

Click here to sign a petition in support of the restoration of drama education at Everett High School.

Julie Hennrikus of Stage Source in Boston wrote about the situation at Everett High School as well, explaining why the arts aren’t extra, but essential.

I’m unable to see a Shakespeare play without thinking of my late mother.

“How sweet,” you think, “He and his mother must have shared many great evenings together watching Shakespeare. Their common love of the Bard transcends her passing.”

Unfortunately, that’s not the case. I think of my mom, an elementary school teacher by training, whenever I’m headed to a Shakespeare production because, for the 23 years I lived in her house, I heard the same thing every time I was en route to see one of Bill’s plays.

“Did you read the story first?”

One of many editions of Charles & Mary Lamb’s “Tales From Shakespeare”

My mother was convinced that the only way to fully appreciate Shakespeare, because of the dense and archaic language, was to read a detailed plot synopsis immediately prior to seeing one of his plays. Specifically, she meant for me to pull down her copy of Charles and Mary Lamb’s Tales From Shakespeare from the living room shelves. Far predating such study guides as Cliff’s Notes, the Lamb book was originally written in 1807; my mom’s edition probably dated from the 1930s or 40s and was a tool in her own Shakespeare studies, such as they were.

I resisted my mother’s advice on a consistent basis, perhaps because I found Tales to be stodgy and unreadable on its own, or perhaps I was just being intellectually cocky. She never quite understood how I could see Shakespeare plays without this essential crutch. But my appreciation of theatre always seemed innate, rather than inspired by my parents, so this was simply one more example of how different we were from each other.

Ultimately, I learned about Shakespeare by seeing the plays over and over again, with an assist from the standard high school curriculum (including Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth). I remember being required to memorize Mark Antony’s funeral oration from Julius Caesar; perhaps there were a few other speeches I had to commit to memory as class work (though, oddly, today I most remember Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”).

My greatest training in Shakespeare came during my eight and half years as p.r. director at Hartford Stage, which gave me to opportunity to see and discuss the plays with Mark Lamos, the artistic director, who is most responsible for what Shakespeare knowledge I may have. During my tenure, we produced Twelfth Night, Pericles, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Julius Caesar and All’s Well That Ends Well; I’ve also seen productions of Measure for Measure, Cymbeline, As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet and Richard III directed by Mark. I’ve seen countless Shakespeare productions, but Mark was my true guide – beginning when I was 23 years old – immeasurably aided by my access to seeing the former group of plays multiple times in a short span.

Ken Ludwig’s book title says it all

I was reminded of all of this as read through the newly published How To Teach Shakespeare To Your Children (Crown Publishing, $25) by playwright Ken Ludwig, author of such plays as Lend Me A Tenor and Moon Over Buffalo.  Much as I’ve enjoyed Ludwig’s farces, I was mildly skeptical of his skills as a Shakespeare teacher, but in point of fact his book is exactly what its title says, a cogent, chapter by chapter study guide designed to empower parents to familiarize their children with Shakespeare’s language. Ludwig fundamentally believes in the primacy of Shakespeare’s work and words, so much so that he makes his case for parents teaching Shakespeare to their kids in only seven pages of the 314 page book, with memorization of key speeches as his touchstone. The rest is process.

Not having children, I can’t test Ludwig’s theories and conduct my own experiments. But surely he’s not alone in his belief in the value of memorization as introduction, as attested to by countless adorable YouTube videos of toddlers stumbling through Henry V’s speech before the battle at Agincourt and the like; an often viewed clip of Brian Cox teaching Hamlet to a youngster is a particularly delightful example. Though to be fair, the children on YouTube are younger than Ludwig’s suggested starting age of about six years, and surely the age should vary – if one wishes to embark on the Ludwig method – based upon the nature of each individual child.

As astute as Ludwig’s lessons are, I can’t help but think that they’re actually a stealth method of teaching Shakespeare to parents. Surely my mother might have grown more comfortable with the (to her) impenetrable language that got in the way of the stories; indeed, Ludwig’s book is focused more on moments from Shakespeare than with the plots themselves. A parent who doesn’t know, in particular, Hamlet, Midsummer and Twelfth Night might need a separate book to familiarize themselves with plots and cursory analysis before launching into the Ludwig method, besides reading the plays themselves.  If parents need to be eased into Shakespeare, they may want to use one of the countless graphic novel versions, an alternative study method apart from more didactic texts and the original scripts.  And there are countless imaginative films spanning the history of cinema to use as teaching (and learning) tools as well.

Yes, this is a real book

By sheer coincidence, How To Teach Your Children Shakespeare was published just weeks before, of all things, William Shakespeare’s Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope by Ian Doescher (Quirk Books, $14.95) a scene-by-scene rewrite of George Lucas’s Episode IV rendered in iambic pentameter. While it’s far from the first work to mingle Shakespearean style and more modern stories (I saw a quite entertaining Tarantino travesty, Pulp Shakespeare, last summer at the New York International Fringe Festival; here’s a clip), it’s a solidly accomplished piece of work, which, like Ludwig’s curriculum, place its emphasis on language. It’s witty, but never anachronistic just for a laugh. It’s hard to tell whether it’s actually stage-worthy (I can imagine countless Shakespeare troupes racing to acquire performance rights, at least for readings or benefits, but this trailer doesn’t inspire confidence), but for the sci-fi geek who’s also a Shakespeare nerd (there are probably plenty), it’s a fun read. Purists will note that the slim volume is clearly not drawn from George Lucas’s First Folio, as it includes scenes with Jabba the Hutt which were not in the original 1977 film release, but rather in the much-later digital makeover; this version also fudges whether Han or Greedo shot first.

The Shakespeare-Star Wars mash-up might be just a lark for most (I particularly enjoyed R2-D2 proffering fully articulated asides to the audience while his companions hear only “meeps” and “beeps), but I wonder whether it might be another tool in the Shakespeare educational kit. If children and teens know Star Wars well, but are Shakespeare novices, this book might serve to teach them “Shakespeare as a second language,” since the faux-vintage language tracks so closely with the film. I don’t mean to suggest that Doescher’s gloss is equal to the Bard’s words, but especially for tweens and teens, it might be a helpful gateway text.

From the recent production by NYC’s The Shakespeare Forum

It is perhaps ironic that I’ve grown to like Shakespeare so much, because I don’t take any particular pleasure in reading him. It’s not a chore by any means, but I don’t pick up my hefty Oxford compendium of a Sunday morning for fun – it’s a reference tool. For me, the playing is all. As a result, while I know any number of the Bard’s plays rather well (in addition to numerous productions of the standard repertoire, I’ve seen no less than three Timon of Athens and three Cymbelines), I also have huge gaps in the canon, one of which was filled only two days ago when I saw The Shakespeare Forum’s production of Love’s Labour’s Lost.

For the first time in many years, I encountered a Shakespeare play that was wholly new to me. I was actually a bit concerned early on in the production, as I wasn’t immediately grasping the plot and the words weren’t even distant echoes of an ill-remembered prior production. For the very first time, I found myself wondering whether I should have read up on a Shakespeare play before seeing it; maybe my youthful defiance of my mother’s teaching tool was ill-placed.

But as I settled in with this alien story, it became clearer; flotsam of my Shakespeare knowledge took hold as I pondered whether Holofernes was written as a female role, as played in this production, and the play within the play echoed (actually, prefigured) the Pyramus and Thisbe scene in Midsummer’s Act V. Did I get every word, every plot point, every allusion? I sincerely doubt it, but that’s because I was a stranger in a strange land for the first time in a long time; since my exposure to LLL isn’t regulated at 50 year intervals, I’ll glean more from the next encounter, which will come in only weeks, with the new musical version set to debut at The Public Theatre’s Shakespeare in the Park.

I have to say that in the case of Shakespeare, familiarity breeds not contempt, but respect and appreciation, and there’s no single way to achieve that knowledge (a close friend and Shakespeare fan uses recordings of the plays as a nightly sleep aid, which I can’t imagine). I do think it can come too soon (impenetrable Shakespeare surely builds up cognitive antibodies to fight off the Bard), but never too late.  Whatever the method, I suspect that anyone can come to enjoy, and even love, all of those words, words, words. I just wish I had been able to share them with my mom.

Is there no one in town aware of social injustice?

Part of the compact we make when we go to the theatre is to shut out the outside world and completely immerse ourselves in the world displayed before us by artists, by actors. We can’t shut out our own thoughts of course, our memories and associations, but our gaze is directed, what we see and hear is planned to evoke a desired response.

It is impossible to achieve that focus when your theatre is the visitors room at Sing Sing Prison on a hot spring evening, which is where I was on Friday night, seeing Thornton Wilder’s Our Town performed by a cast of inmates of the maximum security facility, under the aegis of the not-for-profit Rehabilitation Through the Arts. I was one of a couple of hundred outsiders invited to see the production, which had already been performed twice for the general prison population, and my anticipation was as great as any I’ve had before going to the theatre.

Every child born into this world is nature’s
attempt to make
a perfect human being.

It is impossible to contemplate a visit to Sing Sing without riffling through all of the associations it brings to mind. Coming from a upper middle class family, I don’t know people who’ve gone to prison; serious crime has never touched my life or the lives of my immediate community. Crime and prison are something I read about in the newspaper, or see served up as entertainment. Dragnet. Law and Order. “Book him, Danno.” The Birdman of Alcatraz. Our Country’s Good. The Shawshank Redemption. Oz. “Anything you can say will be used against you.” Escape From Alcatraz. Short Eyes. Cool Hand Luke. The Green Mile. Not About Nightingales. Dead Man Walking. Helter Skelter. The Executioner’s Song. Even Nick Nolte in Weeds, a fictionalized account of the San Quentin Drama Workshop.

From the moment I passed the first chain link fence and a complacent guard who merely said, “Here for the play?,” I was relatively at ease. As I waited in an under-air-conditioned visitor’s trailer packed with attendees, I marveled as others in the awaiting audience, attired as if for a Sunday matinee at any theatre, grumbled about the heat, while I was wondering what the prisoners might be experiencing on that 90+ degree afternoon.  I was sweating profusely, but silently.

Live people don’t understand, do they? They’re sort of shut up
in little boxes, aren’t they?

We began to be taken into the security area in groups of about 25. We emptied our pockets, took off shoes and belts, just as at the airport, although there was but a single line moving slowly through a dingy room adorned with signs and memos of assorted warning that may have been up for 30 years or more (one cautioned against bringing in “alcholic” beverages, a typo of indeterminate age). Then, in groups of six, we passed through one true prison gate – on which stood, incongruously, more than a dozen two-inch Muppet figures. As that gate closed, another heavy door, only six or seven feet beyond it, was opened, and we entered the visitors room, our theatre.

*   *   *

Save for signs about proper behavior, vastly less than in the security area, it felt as if I was entering the cafeteria of a particularly large junior high school. There were guards, some on platforms, some on the floor, but I saw only a few. Having entered on the narrow, northern side of a long rectangle, the room seemed vast, but it was filling with people and it had been set up as a makeshift theatre. Chairs (all numbered for some purpose other than theatre seating) were arranged in a shallow three-quarter thrust, facing the eastern wall, where two levels of risers had been installed. Behind the risers, dark green fabric obscured what I assumed were more signs about proper decorum in the visitors room; the same fabric draped a collection of vending machines on the south wall. Were these standard issue, I wondered, or were they scenery, evoking the green hills of Grover’s Corners?  A collection of inmate art (another initiative of Rehabilitation Through the Arts) was on display, and refreshments were being served. Only by looking west was there a clear reminder of where we were: windows revealed spools of razor wire and fencing, beyond which was “the yard” flanked by what were presumably cell blocks. Beyond that were the tracks for the train lines that had brought me to Ossining, and beyond them, the Hudson River.

The ceiling was low, hung with fluorescent strips. There were no theatrical lights, but a small sound area sat in what might have been, in other circumstances, the stage right wings; there was a mixing board and an electric keyboard and familiar cabling ran out from there into the playing space. A pre-show announcement told us that these productions are usually done in the prison auditorium, which was under renovation this year; it was the first time since the theatre initiative began in 1996 that it hadn’t been available, and the setting was the simplest ever used (although perfectly appropriate for the famously spare Our Town).

There isn’t much culture; but maybe this is the kind of place to tell you
that we’ve got a lot of pleasure of a kind here: we like the sun comin’ up
over the mountain in the morning, and we notice a good deal about the birds.
We pay a lot of attention to them. And we watch the change
of the seasons; yes everybody knows about them.

I was surprised to find inmates, both those in obvious period costume and those in prison drab, freely mingling with the invited audience, greeting many who they seemed to know. They were shaking hands and even embracing visitors, contrary to every fictional depiction in which contact between prisoners and guests was forbidden. I had been told that the cast’s families were not permitted to attend; I assume the obviously pre-existing relationships were because the audience (almost entirely white and over 50) were in some way affiliated with RTA or other prison outreach programs.

Kate Powers, the show’s director and one of my friends from Twitter, introduced me first to her stage manager (the actual stage manager, not the character of the Stage Manager from the play), then to a large man in overalls who I was told would play Howie Newsome the milkman, then to a younger man who would play George Gibbs. The last spoke of Kate’s “unique style of directing,” so I asked whether he’d been in other plays. Only one, he replied, prompting me to wonder what was so unique that someone with presumably little frame of reference would find it so unusual.

Having arrived at the prison just after 5 pm and having been processed through security by about 5:40, it was just over an hour before we were called to our seats, as the last guests were cleared through.

*  *  *

Now you know! That’s what it is to be alive.
To move about in a cloud of ignorance
to go up and down trampling on the feelings of those. . .
of those about you. To spend and waste time
as though you had a million years.
To always be at the mercy of one self-centered passion, or another.

Had I wished to, I suspect I could have learned a great deal more about the circumstances of the production from Kate. She had posted the occasional comment to Twitter, or to Facebook, about a challenge (one inmate struggled with an umbrella, unfamiliar with the mechanism) or about an acting breakthrough, or an emotional one.  She did an interview with journalist Jonathan Mandell. But I left it at that. I may well wish to understand the logistics and stories behind putting on a play in such an environment, but this night I simply wanted to react, to the setting and to the production, as I would in most theatergoing experiences.

Seated behind me was Peter Kramer, a local reporter who had seen the production two nights earlier, sitting with the general population; he has written previously about the prison’s theatre program. To my immediate right was a woman who had appeared in RTA’s production of West Side Story (three actresses had been brought in for this production as well, to play Emily, Mrs. Webb and Mrs. Gibbs). To her right was a veteran of the RTA theatre program, a former inmate, who now worked on the outside, counseling others, a man clearly well known to all there.

I guess we’re all hunting like everybody else for a way
the diligent and sensible can rise to the top
and the lazy and quarrelsome can sink to the bottom.
But it ain’t easy to find. Meanwhile, we do all we can
to help those that can’t themselves and those that we can we leave alone.

Had I learned the backstories of the actors, they surely wouldn’t have resembled a Playbill bio. I might have been able to find out their crimes, the length of their terms, whether this was their first incarceration. Perhaps I should have. But I was not there to judge them, since they had already been judged; I was not there to second-guess the judicial system or the penal system, flawed as it may be. Most of what I know about jurisprudence and incarceration, as I’ve said, is via fiction. Reality is vastly more complex, but I am not sufficiently versed in the subject to explore that. Theatre is what I do, and what I can, respond to.

*   *   *

Detail of art for the RTA production of OUR TOWN by inmate Robert Pollack

And so: Our Town.

No differently than attending a student production, it would be unfair to write anything resembling a review. The casting pool is limited, as is any prior experience. While we know the stories of Rick Cluchey or Charles S. Dutton, former prison inmates who ultimately became acclaimed professional actors, future acting careers surely wasn’t the point of the show. It was about the teamwork, the self-esteem building that surely we all know if we’ve ever been in a show, a music group or (I imagine) a sports team.

What I can tell you is that Wilder’s play came through loud and clear. There were some minor alterations: George’s kid sister became a kid brother; Grover’s Corners was re-situated in New York along the Hudson River, there’s a mosque up the hill in town these days, and the religious affiliations of the community include a sizable share of Muslims. Historically accurate interpolations for Wilder’s drama set at the turn of the century? No. Perfectly in keeping with the meta-theatrics that power the play? Absolutely.

Everybody knows in their bones that something is eternal,
and something has to do with human beings.
All the greatest people ever lived have been telling us that
for five thousand years and yet you’d be surprised
how people are always losing hold of it.

There was no bashfulness in the cast, but no showboating either. No one peered out and waved to those they knew in the audience. No one flubbed lines, or goofed around. Every word, every action came through loud and clear, enough so that the play worked its sad magic on me once again. As I know more and more people who live in that cemetery among its conversing residents, I find the play increasingly moving, almost painfully so. When Emily spoke of loving George “forever and ever,” my knowledge of what was to come brought me deep sorrow. No matter that I was in prison, watching amateur actors with backgrounds that might have evoked pity or fear. I was in Grover’s Corners once again.

Cover art from a 1961 paperback edition of OUR TOWN

The outside world intruded upon the production in one way that wouldn’t have been possible in the cloistered environs of an auditorium. With the performance commencing at 6:50 and coming down, intermissionless, at about 8:50, the wall of west-facing windows provided a natural illumination that, at first, overrode the institutional lighting. The actors were lit up by blazing light during the time movie-makers call “magic hour” when the sun approaches the horizon, casting a particularly rich, orange glow. As the play progressed, Grover’s Corners shifted from daylight to magic hour and then, by act three, as darkness took over the prison yard, the train tracks, and the river, the inner light became only the unvaried white of fluorescent bulbs. Nature had receded leaving only the cold surroundings of the visitors room, brighter than a wet funeral afternoon, but harsh in its own way, and surely as unforgiving.

Beyond nature’s magic, Kate Powers achieved her own coup de theatre, less instantly startling than the one employed by David Cromer in his rightly hailed Our Town, but one organic to the venue and this cast, and deeply, quietly powerful. As act two bled directly into act three, as the wedding seating was shifted to become the gravestones, nine men, inmates, dressed in green work shirts, green work pants and heavy boots (the other actors wore costumes that were a rough approximation of the play’s original period), made their way in slow motion up to the top riser. There they proceeded to seat themselves in one long row and stare out at us, unmoving, for the entire act. These were of course, within the context of the play, more gravestones, more of the deceased. But as these nine men sat and stared out, unspeaking, I could not help but see them as prisoners and actors all at once, locked away for crimes I knew nothing of, for how long I did not know. Were their lives over, as in the play? Was the play itself their escape, or even a sign of their eventual redemption? Their stares gave away nothing. No threat, no sadness. No heaven, no hell. Perhaps those in the audience with deep faith saw hope, perhaps those who believe only in this life saw nothing but emptiness. I saw Wilder by way of Beckett,  I saw beauty and the abyss, and I saw superb theatre.

They stay here while the earth part of ‘em burns away and burns out;
and all that time they slowly get indifferent.

*   *   *

It’s worth pointing out that Sing Sing is one of five prisons where Rehabilitation Through the Arts works, and that there are prison arts programs in many places around the world, and have been for many years. I have read about them often, and shared their stories with others through social media. Nothing I’ve written should suggest that this experience is singular or unique – it is simply the first time it ceased to be an abstract idea for me, and became reality.

I’m going to be grappling with the experience of seeing Our Town at Sing Sing for some time, I expect, because I have to process so much more than I do when simply seeing a professional production. I probably have to learn more as well. Even if I see another theatre production in a prison, it cannot possibly have the same impact as this one did, this first foray, ever so slightly, ever so briefly, behind prison walls, into a human drama far greater than any work of fiction can encompass.  But as someone who attends theatre relentlessly, and who at times despairs for it, this was one of those evenings that reminds me why theatre is my life’s work, and more than simply make-believe.

If you haven’t realized it at this point, the italicized sections that punctuate this essay are all dialogue from Our Town itself. They stood out in bold relief when they were spoken on Friday night. Even though they weren’t emphasized or called out in any way, they took me away from the play in startling flashes with meaning beyond what even Wilder might have imagined, given the setting, and the speakers. Even by accident or coincidence, great works reveal the world to us in new ways each time we encounter them, even – or perhaps most especially – behind bars.

My, wasn’t life awful – and wonderful.

Curtain call at Amity Regional High School’s “Sweeney Todd”

I have seen Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd many times over the years, probably more than any single show. It has thrilled me, scared me, impressed me, made me laugh. I mouth the words, I bob my head, I conduct in imperceptibly small movements of my hands. But until this past Friday night, Sweeney Todd had never made me cry.

Let me back up.

About a month ago, a threatened protest against a production of Sweeney at my old high school, Amity Regional in Woodbridge CT, sent me rushing headlong to a board of education meeting to speak on behalf of the show and the school’s drama program. While the opposition turned out to be muted, and my voice simply one of many, my vocal support of the drama program at my alma mater demanded that I back up my words with action, which in this case meant nothing more than returning to see the production.

Now in point of fact, I can’t be certain if I ever went back to Amity to see a show after I graduated. Perhaps I saw a show in the two years after I went off to college, when younger friends were still at the school; I have a vague memory of one or two shows that my sister, four years younger than me, may have been involved in. But they made no lasting impression. My recollection of drama at Amity High School always has me somewhere in it, and perhaps that’s true for most kids who did theatre in school.

So this is the point in the story where you think: oh, he cried at Sweeney for all the years gone by and the friends with whom he’s lost touch. It was more than half a lifetime ago and our lives take us on many paths, far from the friends we had as teens. That’s understandable. It happens to us all.

If that’s what you thought, you’re wrong.

You see, I am still in touch with, and close to, so many of my friends from the Amity Drama Club (and, by extension, the music department, which included the chorus and the band). While I may not see them as much as I would like, they are never far. We call each other on birthdays, gather for family celebrations (since so many of them are as close as family), mourn together (a task which I fear will only increase as days wear on). A few I speak with almost weekly. Facebook has helped with many reconnections of late, as did a spontaneously organized music department reunion last spring. I am the only one who made theatre my sole profession, though my days as a performer ended after one show in college.

My tears at Amity this past Friday night, which persisted for the first 15 minutes of the show, were for the sheer joy of those friends from that time. The moment the Sweeney ensemble united to cry out “Swing your razor wide,” I was reminded of how deep the friendships were that were forged on the stage on Amity High School, the intensity of the memories, the importance of our shared youth. Very few of us played sports, but this was our team; we had no championship trophies then or now, but we were and are our own prizes.

Watching the Amity kids on Friday, I wondered about their friendships, even their romances. Would they stand the test of time? I remembered my parents cautioning me as I went off to college that my high school friendships might fall away, as so many do; I was so happy that those friends are now, more than three decades later, still my friends, just as my parents’ own school friends remained their friends until they passed away.

In my day, the Amity Drama Club produced My Fair Lady, Oklahoma! and Bye Bye Birdie; the fairly recently reinvigorated Amity Creative Theatre, as it’s now known, has tackled Rent, Sweeney and Whose Life Is It Anyway?, shows that opened when I was in high school or even years later. I can’t compare the quality then or now, since I’ve not been back for so long and (mercifully) my high school years pre-dated the advent of home video.

But comparison is not the point. The achievement is in the work and the collaboration; though every high school drama club probably dreams of being discovered and whisked to Broadway, it’s just a lovely fantasy to be indulged, not a true goal. The lasting legacy is not the photos or videos, but the profound connections and the pleasure (and pain, since no show is ever easy) of the experience.

Also at play as I watched Sweeney was the fact that I have no children of my own, though I have six adored nieces. My niece Lillian played the title role Annie in middle school, but has since shifted over to costume design and construction; four have shown no great interest in the stage other than as members of the audience; my youngest niece, Rebekka, at age 10, has yet to evidence any desire to perform. I support them in their own choices and do not wish that they shared my interests at their ages. Even if I had children, there’s no certainty that they would have wanted to be on the stage or play an instrument.

So mixed with my tears of joy for my lifelong friends was an emotion I probably have no right to: I was so proud. I was so proud of the kids on that stage and backstage. That night, each and every one of them was my child and they were all sublime. We don’t know one another, yet we share something that is shared by anyone who did a show, or many shows, in high school.

I now know how my mother and father felt watching me; how my Uncle Bernie felt, snapping pictures madly at every show; how my Aunt Dorothy, my godmother, who used to come to our house and play the piano and urge us to sing, felt.

How beautiful, how sweet, how funny, how perfect and how loved you all are. Welcome to the theatre.

There’s a high school musical in jeopardy? Quick, to the Howardmobile.

I’m kidding, of course. But when I got an e-mail at 11:30 a.m. yesterday, saying that parents and groups were going to protest a production of Sweeney Todd at Amity Regional High School in Woodbridge CT at that evening’s board of education meeting, I was extremely, nerve-janglingly upset. While I have spoken out against censorship of high school productions before, most vocally in Waterbury CT, and written about other such efforts as well, this threatened action struck a bit too close to home.

Howard’s back. And this time it’s personal.

Amity was my high school, where I acted in six shows between 1977 and 1980, where I was recognized for my professional work in theatre by being inducted into the school’s “hall of fame.” I was still in high school when I saw the original Broadway production of Sweeney Todd with a group of friends, chaperoned by one of our English teachers. Second only to Buried Child, Sweeney was a major part of why I chose a career in the theatre.

I happen to have Angela Lansbury right here.

I immediately reached out to the drama teacher, the school’s principal and a member of the school board. My instinct was to rush up to the meeting to speak on behalf of the show, but I didn’t want to inflame the situation, or be seen as an outsider, carpetbagging my way into a local issue. I also didn’t want to go if I wouldn’t be allowed to speak. In the meantime I thought, ‘Dammit, if only I had a day’s notice. I would call Hal, I would try to reach Mr. Sondheim, to gather letters of support. I even checked my “world clock” to see what time it was in Australia, where Angela Lansbury is currently performing in Driving Miss Daisy. Alas, she was presumably asleep, and likely wouldn’t rise before the board of ed meeting; otherwise, she is a rapid e-mail responder.

What we have here is a failure to communicate

When I was told by the school board member who I had contacted that my voice would be welcomed at the meeting, I did rush to rent a car. While the bright blue Honda hybrid from Zipcar was hardly the Batmobile, it whisked me to Connecticut, filled with a sense of purpose, as I thought all the while of what to say. I hadn’t had time to write anything; I was going to have to wing it. ‘Avoid inadvertent puns,’ I told myself. ‘Remember you can’t say that the opposition is half-baked, or that this is an issue of taste. You can’t risk inadvertent laughter. Listen and respond to the other speakers. Don’t talk about yourself. This is about the show, the school and the kids.’

No man is a failure who has friends

Thanks to Twitter and Facebook, there was rapid circulation of the situation among many people with whom I went to high school, and though I drove up on a lone mission, I was ultimately joined at the meeting by one of my drama club friends and by my sister, whose older daughter is a senior in the school. My brother, with whom I was not on speaking terms during high school, apologized that he couldn’t be at the meeting to support me and support the production. I learned that one of the “parent liaisons” to the drama club was the sister-in-law of one of my very closest friends and she welcomed me with a hug; her daughter is the stage manager for Sweeney Todd. The Facebook network reached out into the Connecticut media, resulting in a TV crew from the NBC affiliate; my own tweets and Facebook notice alerted The New York Times to the story.

They agreed to a sit-down

The meeting about the drama group was, ultimately, not one of high drama. A member of the clergy spoke first, saying her reservations arose from an interfaith leadership meeting two weeks prior, at which there was discussion about how to curb representations of violence, in the wake of the Newtown massacre. Several parents questioned the choice of the play and wondered whether there weren’t other vehicles available. One of those parents had a child in the show, and she wasn’t pulling her child from it, despite her own reservations. Others spoke of the story’s long history, of the musical’s fame, of the high regard in which Stephen Sondheim is held. So even when I stood up, with notes scribbled moments before, I was not in a lion’s den, but in the midst of a respectful exchange of ideas. (A balanced report appeared in The New Haven Register this morning.)

And so, from my off-the-cuff, at times ungrammatical, remarks: “Stephen Sondheim, who has already been lauded here, is very famous for a song that he wrote in another one of his other musicals in which we hear the line ‘Art isn’t easy.’ Creating art isn’t easy and the content of art isn’t easy…Sweeney Todd can create a learning opportunity. The responsibility of schools is to create a context for young people to understand the world around them and as much as we may want to keep that world away for as long as possible, it is not possible. While we can choose to do other works of literature, to read other books, to sing other songs, we are denying them the opportunity to learn.”

Stand down, but remain alert

No one demanded that the show be stopped. No vote was asked for or taken, and the board listened without response, since the whole discussion was not on the official agenda, but was merely part of “public comment.” To call it civil suggests a frostiness I did not feel, to call it polite suggests underlying anger. Might there be repercussions down the line, as some seek to exert authority over what can and can’t be performed in future years? That’s possible. If so, if welcome, I’ll be at those meetings as well.

I noted in my remarks that this was not an isolated incident, that censorship of high school theatre happens all too often. Some may dismiss it as merely a school problem, but it is important to anyone who loves theatre or believes in the value of the arts. Yes, I have taken up the cause of allowing students to grapple with challenging material before, and while yesterday struck particularly close to home, I’ll speak out in support of threatened high school drama whenever I hear about opposition (sorry, no Grapes of Wrath paraphrase at this point).

But I have only one hometown, one high school. The only way we can insure freedom of expression, freedom in the arts in teens – who will be our future artists and our future audiences – is if we are all aware of what is taking place near us, or back home, and if we speak out.

*   *   *

Addendum, March 16, 10 am: On the Friday immediately following the Board of Education meeting described above, which took place on a Monday evening, Dr. Charles Britton, principal of Amity Regional High School, sent the following e-mail to the district. I hope it becomes a model for other schools that face such challenges:

“This past week, the media widely reported some objections that have been raised against this year’s spring production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Some members of the Amity community and parents believe this production is too graphic for a high school audience. The administration and Drama Department at Amity High School respectfully disagree with these objections. The production is PG-13 and designed for a high school level audience. The show is produced in high schools across the nation. When carefully considering all academic material for Amity students, the faculty and administration at Amity never select material that is gratuitously violent or purposefully titillating in nature. All material is selected for the deeper meaning and value of the work of art, literature, or related academic resource. In the hands of talented teachers and directors, this academic material engages students more effectively and promotes our efforts to stimulate critical and creative thinking.”

*   *   *

Addendum, March 16, 3 pm: I have discovered some additional local reporting on the Sweeney Todd discussion, and will provide links with no comment, other than to say that it is worth reading not only the articles, but the comments that follow each of them. It is also worth noting which outlets reported from the event, and which reported solely from other news reports.

“Controversy Over Sweeney Todd: Let’s Take a Breath Here,” from The Naugatuck Patch, March 11

“Sweeney Todd Pros and Cons Aired at Amity High,” from The Orange Patch, March 12

“Sweeney Todd Protest: Residents Denounce Staging of Violent Musical at Connecticut High School,” from The Huffington Post, March 12, updated March 14

Perhaps you were asleep. Or drowsy. Or buzzed from a drinking game.

Perhaps you were focused on the dress. You were comparing it to all of the evening’s other dresses.

Perhaps simply didn’t want to watch and stuck with your regular Sunday evening diet of zombies.

But the fact remains that a U.S. viewing audience second only to that of the Super Bowl (in most years) heard a clear, passionate and full-throated statement in support of the arts and arts education during the Oscar broadcast. The First Lady of the United States delivered it, as she does so much, flawlessly.

She said, as midnight drew close on the East Coast, “Every day, through engagement in the arts, our children learn to open their imaginations, to dream just a little bigger and to strive every day to reach those dreams.”

It’s pretty unbeatable, no?

Now we could debate whether it was appropriate for the First Lady to appear on the Oscars at all. I’ve seen arguments against bringing politics into the show (because now even the appearance of the President or First Lady must be political, and of course politics has no place in The Oscars, he said with a straight face) and in favor of her presence (the movies are one of America’s greatest international exports). I would prefer to leave those aside.

I am more concerned about the optics of the situation for the arts themselves. Coming after almost 3 and ½ hours that included jokes about President Lincoln’s assassination, a nine-year-old’s eligibility to date George Clooney, and especially a rousing musical number entitled “We Saw Your Boobs,” this terrific message was at the tag end of an evening that hadn’t made much of a case for children and art.

Mrs. Obama reminded me of Sister Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls, who managed to fill her mission only as a result of a gambling bet, one of the many sins she inveighed against. It saved the mission, but through questionable means. I don’t know if anyone, or any arts program, was saved last night.

Maybe I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Mrs. Obama’s words were clear, unequivocal, passionate and elegant. I hope she keeps saying those words, and urging legislators to do something about them, at every opportunity. And since I am the first to say that we can’t speak only to the converted, talking endlessly among ourselves, that same message would mean much less on a program with a smaller audience, which spoke not to the fans of mass entertainment, but to existing arts aficionados.

At the same time, I can’t help but wonder whether by appearing on a show that is being pilloried for misogyny and racism (see The Atlantic, Salon and New York), Mrs. Obama made a devil’s bargain, appearing to lend her legitimacy to messages elsewhere in the evening that shouldn’t be condoned, in order to make a valiant statement on a cause I hold close to my heart.

I heard her words clearly, because I was primed to hear them. I pray they actually registered on millions of people in the U.S. and abroad who weren’t terribly interested. However, they’re not in headlines today, and there’s no apparent follow-up; there’s no website to visit, no initiative announced. I wonder if they featured in even a single news cycle.

If The First Lady genuinely sparked something last night, even in a miniscule portion of that vast audience, then it was worth it. But I worry it may have been a castaway in a sea of self-congratulation, marketing, offense and inconsequence. Which is a shame, because short of an arts message during the Super Bowl, which I suspect is not in the cards,  last night was the biggest chance to speak to America about the value of the arts that we get this year. And I fear it had no impact.

Does this ornate type treatment represent your view of “the arts”?

Art. The arts. Fine arts. Performing arts. Visual arts. The lively arts. Arts & entertainment. Arts & culture.  Culture. High culture. Pop culture.

The preceding phrases are all, on a very macro basis, variations on a theme. However, were you in a research study, and I showed you each of them, one at a time, I daresay they would provoke very distinct associations, very clear delineations of what each encompasses in your mind. Those responses would also likely change depending upon the order in which I showed these to you.

I could also take any two and combine them in a Venn diagram and the overlapping segment would be quite clear. But incorporate a third or fourth and you might find one of these categories the odd man out.

Why do I bring this up? Because as the “arts community” fights its valiant, essential and never-ending battle to convince the public at large of the value of “the arts,” I cannot help but wonder whether those on the receiving end of such messaging each hear very different things when these words are presented to them. I’m prompted to these thoughts by a variety of “real world” examples and experiences, some quite personal. I’m hoping that perhaps someone will want to test my assumptions.

Perhaps this modern treatment is how you like to think of “the arts”?

Visit the websites of a few newspapers. The New York Times “Arts” section is a big tent, where theatre, dance and opera fit in alongside movies, TV, books, and pop music; only on Fridays in the New York edition do they distinguish between performing arts and fine arts, by dividing them into two printed sections. The Huffington Post (to which I contribute) combined “Arts” and “Culture” not so long ago under the “vertical” of “Arts,” but you’ll find that “Entertainment” is something altogether different – and more prominent. In The Washington Post, there’s an “Entertainment” section, in which “Theater & Dance” is a subset. In The Philadelphia Inquirer, “Arts,” “Movies” and “Music” are separate sections of “Entertainment,” but music is really only “popular music,” while classical work is part of “arts.”  I won’t go on.

If you found the foregoing paragraph confusing, imagine what messages audiences are receiving, outlet by outlet, city by city. Even as “popular culture” and “high culture” have supposedly grown closer over the years, there’s labeling and categorization that seek to draw barriers between the various forms. Even if it’s for purely organizational reasons on a website, it carries forward potentially divisive messages about the various forms.

I’ll take The Ramones over Rachmaninoff any day. Gabba gabba hey!

Now, a different tack, rather more personal. On a macro basis, I would certainly self-identify, and those who know me would (I hope) concur, that I support “the arts,” not merely in venues, but in education, in our lives. But when it comes to being a consumer of “the arts,” I am rather more narrow, with theatre paramount. Although I can read music (haltingly, these days) thanks to a brief stint of cello lessons in elementary school and a year or so of formal guitar lessons in junior high, as well as my recollection of many a “young people’s concert” in my childhood, I rarely attend classical music concerts or listen to classical music at home, despite a small collection of some of the great works on CD. I don’t mind classical music, but I don’t retain it, I don’t connect with it; in contrast with my public persona, I’ll take The Ramones, Ben Folds or Elvis Costello any day of the week.

I’m even less attuned to opera, despite having had a college housemate who was a devotee and proselytizer. Recently, when I expressed this gap in my cultural appreciation on Twitter, Tom Godell, general manager of WUKY in Lexington, generously started suggesting works I should sample. When I replied with a list of operas I have seen (among them I Lombardi, The Turn of the Screw, The Magic Flute, Wozzeck, La Boheme and Tosca), he realized that I had indeed made a good faith effort on behalf of opera. It simply didn’t take.

My entire study of art history came in this box. As a result, when I visit museums, I try to guess the artist of each work from afar.

I am an avid consumer of movies (in theatres, as they’re meant to be seen) and TV, some high art, some lowbrow. I try to visit major museums (a vestige of a board game called “Masterpiece” that I owned as a child), but if there’s an aquarium nearby, that’ll top the list.  Whatever you do, please don’t ask me to draw anything, which triggers childhood traumas that are only one notch below gym and recess.

When we make the case for the arts, it is essential to understand that not everyone hears the same thing, or is stirred by the same discipline. Just because one supports “the arts” doesn’t mean that they therefore have an affinity for every form of art and we cannot judge those who don’t share our particular passion, nor can we necessarily convert them, as if all they need is simply more familiarity.

I perpetually warn of the dangers of “talking to ourselves” in the arts, by which I mean that we spend so much time with likeminded people – our co-workers, our friends, our existing audience members – that we assume that everyone shares our understanding and commitment to the arts as a whole. But the moment we step outside our self-created universe in order to draw in others – or to draw in their time or their money – our common language is not necessarily understood in the way we assume it to be.

My entertainment may be your high culture. Your art may be sculpture, while mine may be a script. One size does not fit all. So when we argue on behalf of the arts, we need to think more about customizing our arguments for each audience, for each affinity group. And even that, while increasingly a science, is unto itself an art.

When I think about controversial shows that meet resistance in high schools, Legally Blonde hasn’t made my list. I’ve previously pondered where the new high school musicals may (or may not) be coming from; I inserted myself into a controversy over a threatened production of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come And Gone (by letter to the school board and by blog); I’ve read of numerous productions of Rent, even the sanitized “school edition,” being vetoed in secondary schools. But honestly, Elle Woods wasn’t someone I ever thought could be any kind of threat. Of course, I was also incredulous when a Pennsylvania high school canceled a production of Kismet over its “Muslim” content.

While a production of Legally Blonde at Loveland High School in Loveland, Ohio took place as planned, the teacher who was staging the production says that as a result of her efforts, she was given an ultimatum of resigning or being fired. While I may not be the musical’s biggest fan, it seems to me that a show with a message of moving beyond one’s external appearance to achieve your full potential, and appreciating the potential in others, has a pretty good message overall. Even if that message comes wrapped in a vehicle with a paean to capturing one’s desired through a time-honored chest thrust known as the “bend and snap” and a key moment in the show turns on the question of whether a character is gay, or merely European, it’s not a particularly incendiary show.

My initial information on the situation in Loveland came from a video report from WLWT TV, a local station, and a text report accompanying it; the two contain different aspects of the story. However, they both present the view of teacher Sonja Hansen and the ultimatum she says she faced after the production was over. In contrast to the many stories I read about conflict over high school shows, this one is unique in my experience, since the alleged action came after the production, not while it was in rehearsal, or during its run. I tweeted a link to the story several times over the weekend, and my stats reveal there was significant interest.

I respect the right of school officials to exert their prerogative over the content of material staged on their premises, but it is incumbent upon them to do so prior to auditions or rehearsals, let alone production. If a school administration wishes to have a say over the selection of plays or musicals, it needs to make that policy known to the faculty responsible for drama classes or drama club, and have that dialogue in advance. To let a production commence and then pull the rug out is deeply unfair; to punish a teacher after the fact is unconscionable.

The reports from WLWT only contains footage of Ms. Hansen and a couple of seemingly random students; no administrators appear, although the reporter says that, according to the school district, no action has been taken against Ms. Hansen. But reportedly auditions for the school’s next, unnamed show have been “put on hold.”

I e-mailed the school’s principal, Christopher Kloesz, regarding the situation with Ms. Hansen, and he responded this morning, explaining, “there are numerous factors related to a personnel matter that has now become rather public.  Because this is a personnel matter, and out of respect for Mrs. Hansen, there is not much else I can say.”

Additionally, the school district provided the following prepared statement on the status of the high school’s drama program: “Regarding the situation with the Loveland Schools drama program, auditions were postponed for the Loveland High School spring drama performance; that was the announcement made this week to our students. The administrative team is taking a look at the drama program and evaluating the situation with the goal to act in the best interest of our students and school community. While the school does not comment on conversations between our administrative team and personnel, the school will confirm that no action has been taken in regards to the employment of our drama director.”

When I inserted myself into the situation over Joe Turner, I had the benefit of having known August Wilson, knowing the play well from having seen its premiere very near the school in question, and having worked professionally in theatre in the state where the conflict had arisen. I also had the added heft of my position as executive director of the American Theatre Wing. In this case, I have no particular connection to the area or the show, or the weight of a prestigious organization behind me. Just the same, I’m bringing this incident to light, since there are undoubtedly so many others that I may hear nothing about.

If school procedures were violated by Ms. Hansen in the process of putting on Legally Blonde, it would be helpful for the students and the local community if the district or the school were able to shed more light on the subject. By not doing so – though admittedly personnel policy often precludes any such disclosure – we are left only with the evidence at hand. It suggests retribution after the fact against a teacher who simply wanted to put on a fun show with her kids – even though the school says no action has been taken. And, of course, we are also left with rumor.

To many, including school officials, the school play or musical is probably pretty low on their list of priorities. But to the students for whom this activity is so essential, as it was to me once upon a time, it is deserving of attention and forethought, as well as appreciation and respect for the teachers who build drama programs. Because the Loveland story is not a rare one, with drama programs nationally at risk from funding cuts and from questions of appropriate content, I hope it comes to a fair and clear resolution that respects everyone involved. But most important, I hope the outcome does nothing to limit the Loveland students’ opportunity to participate in theatre. Whatever the true circumstances of the current conflict, the drama program must be sustained. The arts in our schools cannot be disposable, even when they may present challenges.

Peter Marks and I had already planned to renew the Twitter forums we began in 2011, but before we could even discuss a topic, one leapt out at us. Prompted by a blog in the education section of The Folger Library’s website, we were plunged one early January afternoon into a frenzied discussion about whether Shakespeare is still Shakespeare if his language is altered, be it simplified or modernized. After some 30 minutes of tweets whizzing about, I suggested we hold further conversation for a planned session, to allow for more participation. The resulting Twitter dialogue took place on Thursday, January 19, and participants included Michael Kahn, artistic director of The Shakespeare Theater in Washington DC (making his Twitter debut under @ShakespeareinDC and noted here as #mk), as well as Mike LoMonico (@mikelomo), the educator whose Folger blog started everything off.

As before with these transcripts, they are reconstructed to the best of my ability, relying upon participants’ use of the #pmdhes hashtag for tracking; some scofflaws resulted in a choppy start as you will read, but the hashtag did allow for tracking discussion that continued after the allotted time had run out. I have cleaned up some common Twitter abbreviations for ease of reading, and I spelled out Shakespeare’s often-abbreviated name in every case, but I was cautious about converting anything where I wasn’t absolutely sure about meaning; sticklers, as a result, will find some messages that exceed Twitter’s 140 character limit. Retweets of messages within the conversation have mostly been excised, unless accompanied by comments which expand upon them. In addition, many left the conversation with kind words for Michael, Peter and me, which are appreciated, but which have been removed so the transcript focuses on the main topic. Finally, the transcript is most expediently prepared (and trust me, it’s not an easy process) in reverse chronological order, so you’re advised to jump to the end of this post and then scroll upward for proper continuity.

*     *     *

KristiCasey  5:09pm   I like to think of them as the first meta monologues, breaking the 4th wall RT @ASC_Amy: @ShakespeareinDC: @RivierePatrick Soliloquies

Whitneyje  4:30pm   “@ASC_Amy: @HESherman I think classical actor training varies WILDLY. ” And most isn’t in undergrad. I’d have loved more.

Tony_McGuinness  4:09pm   @charlenevsmith  – regarding all-male Shakespeare prods. Do you ever feel that a line you’re delivering misses what was originally a joke?

Whitneyje  3:58pm   @HESherman Not anti-Caesar. I just think it’s a little dense. Especially when so many others would better engage students.

RSTStatusReport  3:56pm   @kateddc But “just do the thing” can be taken different ways. Does it mean traditional dress, or contemporary? Both are “concepts”.

Whitneyje  3:56pm   I strongly believe in “planting the seeds” with kids. Not everyone will like #Shakespeare today but who knows about tomorrow.

RSTStatusReport  3:48pm   @kateddc What defines a “clean” production of Shakespeare?

Kateddc  3:44pm   @petermarksdrama @pommekoch Why can’t language win? I’d rather see a great, clean production than another concept for concept sake.

Doctorogres  3:38pm   @JHudsonDirect But all of the histories are very “rah rah Britannia!”

Doctorogres  3:38pm   @JHudsonDirect By many accounts Richard III was a pretty good guy– there’s a society devoted to restoring his rep. richardiii.net

Coug_ee  3:37pm  @reduced Perhaps what a Shakespearean character doesn’t say suggest more char’s priorities since s/he tends to share most thoughts w aud?

shakespeare_d  3:33pm   Food for his modern thought RT @reduced: Even a Shakespearean char chooses to NOT say things. What s/he doesn’t say is the subtext.

Petermarksdrama  3:33pm   @pommekoch I agree 100 percent. I think that sometimes, the effort exceeds the know-how regarding technique. And that can be painful.

Shakespeare_d  3:33pm   Food for his modern thought RT @Reduced: Even a Shakespearean character chooses to NOT say things. What s/he doesn’t say is the subtext.

Petermarksdrama  3:33pm   @pommekoch I agree 100 percent. I think that sometimes, the effort exceeds the know-how regarding technique. And that can b painful.

Raoulbhaneja3:32pm   @Klange @Linthenerd @Charlenevsmith @HESherman @The_Globe A chip that is understandable said the “ethnic” actor 😉 #hamletsolo

RebeccaMcBee  3:32pm   Me too! RT @bamoon:  I think it’s outrageous when Shakespeare is watered down. It’s outrageous when any author is paraphrased.

Linthenerd  3:31pm   @Charlenevsmith @Klange Ahhhh, merci. (sorry for misinterpreting)

Raoulbhaneja  3:30pm   @Klange @Charlenevsmith @HESherman @The_Globe unfortunate but perhaps the truth. I heard Vanessa Redgrave lead all female Tempest

Kingfinny  3:30pm   @Klange @Linthenerd @Raoulbhaneja @Charlenevsmith @HESherman @The_Globe Often switch-gender is gimmick and not tool. Should educate

Shakespeare_d  3:30pm   RT @ShakespeareinDC: @HESherman Many of Shakespeare’s plays revolve around the characters’ relation to his consciousness.  #mk

JHudsonDirect  3:29pm   @Doctorogres LOVE Richard III! Interesting… I’m sure we couldn’t say one way or another but I was interested to hear your posturing.

Klange  3:29pm   @Charlenevsmith @Linthenerd Also true.

Klange  3:29pm   @Linthenerd @Raoulbhaneja @Charlenevsmith @HESherman @The_Globe I’ll grant you that. I have a lady actor chip on my shoulder. 😉

Coug_ee  3:29pm   RT @ShakespeareinDC: @HESherman Many of Shakespeare’s plays revolve around the characters’ relation to his consciousness.  #mk

Charlenevsmith  3:28pm   @Linthenerd I think @Klange is speaking not to how she feels, but how these productions are perceived

Raoulbhaneja  3:28pm   @ShakespeareinDC Plummer wants to play Falstaff but needs fat suit that is hyper-cooling #saidatGoldenGlobes

Doctorogres 3:28pm   @JHudsonDirect Impossible to say, other than that it’s present. Richard III is pure propaganda, but also awesome. Same wrt racism in MV.

Petermarksdrama  3:28pm   Thanks Michael! @ShakespeareinDC hour whizzed by. Next time, how about a marathon session: through the night? #ANDTHENTHEREWERENONE

Reduced  3:28pm   Even a Shakespearean character chooses to NOT say things. What s/he doesn’t say is the subtext.

ASC_Amy  3:27pm   @Klange I don’t feel it any more of a “stunt” than other concepts and can be quite illuminating.

Linthenerd  3:27pm   @Klange @Raoulbhaneja @Charlenevsmith @HESherman @The_Globe no. can be v interesting in diff way.

JHudsonDirect 3:27pm  @ShakespeareinDC thanks for the words of wisdom!

HESherman  3:27pm   And to my partner in these convos, a big hand for @Petermarksdrama, the most accessible theatre critic in America!

ShakespeareinDC  3:27pm   Michael Kahn had to go to casting. Thanks so much, everybody! You’re now back to tweets from our Communications team.

HESherman  3:27pm   And to my partner in these condos, a big hand for @Petermarksdrama, the most accessible theatre critic in America!

Raoulbhaneja  3:26pm   @HESherman I’m north of the 49th and Grad of National Theatre School but I would say last 15 years focus more on self creation.

Klange  3:26pm   @Raoulbhaneja @Charlenevsmith @HESherman @The_Globe Anyone else get the feeling: All male prods=original, All female=stunt.

JHudsonDirect  3:26pm   @Doctorogres what role would you say Propaganda played for him? Did he believe these things, or just say it as a means for profit?

LindaInPhoenix  3:26pm   Yay for us geeks! RT @HESherman: To be truly geeky for a moment, the Latin roots of “entertain” = “to hold between.”

HESherman  3:26pm   Thanks to everyone and especially @ShakespeareinDC for today’s conversation.

Petermarksdrama  3:25pm   @ShakespeareinDC Woodcut?

HaleyAWard  3:25pm   @ShakespeareinDC Best of luck! Thanks for all the insight.

Mrs_Speck  3:25pm   @Petermarksdrama I saw the Cuban Much Ado with my students. Definitely helped some understand, but I didn’t love it or the changes.

HESherman  3:25pm   @LindaInPhoenix To be truly geeky for a moment, the Latin roots of “entertain” mean “to hold between.”

LeeLiebeskind  3:25pm   @ShakespeareinDC Thanks for the chat man…good to hear your insight.

Dloehr  3:24pm   @ShakespeareinDC Thanks for playing along with us today.

ASC_Amy  3:24pm   @ShakespeareinDC Thanks for participating!  #mk

Raoulbhaneja  3:24pm   @Klange @Charlenevsmith @HESherman Check out Mark Rylance @The_Globe this summer in 12th Night with all-male cast… Pretty incredible

ShakespeareinDC  3:24pm   This is great talking to you all, but I’ve got to go cast our next production of The Merry Wives of Windsor.  #mk

ASC_Amy  3:24pm   @Raoulbhaneja @RivierePatrick Yep.

Klange  3:24pm   @LeeLiebeskind @HESherman If you don’t act in a lot of Shakespeare, you get rusty.

Reduced  3:24pm   @HESherman @jesswinfield Shakespeare created it, actors/directors interpret it.

Jesswinfield  3:23pm   Wait, there’s graduate training in classical theater?

HESherman  3:23pm   I sense we’re running out of steam. Should we wrap up?

LindaInPhoenix  3:23pm   @HESherman Just this morning on @HowlRound: “We create meaning together.”

BankyHimself  3:23pm   In Supple’s Indian Dream, audience understood 10% of language but 100% of the play’s themes, story, ideas.

ASC_Amy  3:23pm   @Petermarksdrama What do you mean by “unknowable”?

ShakespeareinDC  3:23pm   @DCtheatre Expensive to produce. I would have loved to have taken my Love’s Labor’s Lost or my Othello. Or my Richard III.  #mk

Raoulbhaneja  3:23pm   @ASC_Amy @RivierePatrick I thought Stanislavski created subtext?

LeeLiebeskind  3:23pm   @HESherman Older trained actors seemed to have less of an issue with this

HESherman  3:22pm   @Reduced @jesswinfield But did Shakespeare write it, or do modern productions create it?

Linthenerd  3:22pm   RT @Klange: I think updated/new setting adaptations are fun. Shows how relatable the work/words are in any time.

Mikelomo  3:22pm   @Petermarksdrama I don’t know it, but I really have no problem with non-English additions. It’s the watered-down English I deplore.

Doctorogres  3:22pm   @JHudsonDirect And he was writing plays about the royal family: Banquo in Macbeth, all of the Henry‘s, Richard III. Propaganda is huge.

LeeLiebeskind  3:22pm   @HESherman where the classically trained actor can only do classics and has a hard time doing modern, or vice versa

Petermarksdrama  3:22pm   @ShakespeareinDC @RivierePatrick And yet there are unknowable characters who talk directly to us. Iago. (imo)

ASC_Amy  3:22pm   Indeed. RT @ShakespeareinDC: @RivierePatrick Soliloquies are subtext made verbal.  #mk

Klange  3:22pm   @LeeLiebeskind @Charlenevsmith @HESherman pbltttt.

LeeLiebeskind  3:21pm   @HESherman As a casting director…its a 50/50 split. With classical training I see it go not far enough or too far to come back

BankyHimself  3:21pm   Easy to land on concept should enhance side of the argument, but how many directors proceed with concept thinking theirs won’t?

Klange  3:21pm   I think updated/new setting adaptations are fun. Shows how relatable the work/words are in any time.

Raoulbhaneja  3:21pm   @LindaInPhoenix @kingfinny “Uh, Mister Director, am I in my light?” “Quiet we don’t open till tomorrow. I’m still “listening”!

ASC_Amy  3:21pm   @HESherman I think classical actor training varies WILDLY.

Charlenevsmith  3:21pm   @jesswinfield Or maybe she is, and that’s the tragedy.

JHudsonDirect  3:21pm   RT @Doctorogres: @JHudsonDirect Right on. Early Modern England was brutal and authoritarian and Shakespeare was the King’s playwright.

LindaInPhoenix  3:21pm   RT @ShakespeareinDC: @RivierePatrick Soliloquies are subtext made verbal.  #mk

ShakespeareinDC  3:21pm   @RivierePatrick Soliloquies are subtext made verbal.  #mk

Reduced  3:21pm   Agree with @jesswinfield: there must always be subtext in Shakespeare. When there isn’t you get boring recitation of ‘only’ text.

HESherman  3:20pm   Actor training today? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Charlenevsmith  3:20pm   @HESherman Not in America.

Petermarksdrama  3:20pm   @mikelomo Mike, you still there? How do you feel e.g. about word changes in Cuban Much Ado?

Productionkat  3:20pm   @HESherman from the new crop of actors I see I say no

Doctorogres  3:19pm   @JHudsonDirect Right on. Early Modern England was brutal and authoritarian and Shakes was the King’s playwright.

Mikelomo  3:19pm   @HESherman And how about a few words about teacher training at college and grad level on how to teach #Shakespeare?

Klange  3:19pm   @Charlenevsmith @HESherman Concur. Why not go back to all male actors if we want to be extra faithful? (said with a wink)

Charlenevsmith  3:19pm   Truth. RT @kingfinny: Many prods say they put language center. Alas, few really do

Raoulbhaneja  3:19pm   “@Petermarksdrama: @LindaInPhoenix Absolutely! Why is “Shrew” being set in 17th Century Antarctica? ” GENIUS!!

ASC_Amy  3:19pm   @RivierePatrick Funny, I actually think it is all in the TEXT with not a lot of subtext at all in #Shakespeare.

RivierePatrick  3:19pm   I recall Maurice Daniels saying it’s ALL in the subtext with #Shakespeare, especially if we are to relay the classic text today.

ShakespeareinDC  3:19pm   I believe directors can conceive the plays as they wish, if it helps illuminate the text in some way.  #mk

Linthenerd  3:18pm   @LindaInPhoenix @kingfinny as HM once saw people bring script with them to Maccers to compare and read along. Did not like.

Raoulbhaneja  3:18pm   @HESherman @ShakespeareinDC Better than reading Coles Notes as introduction to those plays for a young person (10 years and younger)

ASC_Amy  3:18pm   @kingfinny Indeed, but there are some who do. How to distinguish for potential audiences? @Petermarksdrama @ShakespeareinDC

JHudsonDirect  3:17pm   Really agree with most on  that concept should *enhance* Shakespeare language and story, not water it down.

Jesswinfield  3:17pm   @HESherman Mark Lamos is, in this case, wrong. What is Kate really thinking at the end of Shrew? Not her text, I hope.

Dloehr  3:17pm   @LeeLiebeskind @GwydionS @ASC_Amy I love some plays,   dislike others, avoid yet others entirely. But I don’t need to rewrite them.

BankyHimself  3:17pm  Best Shakes I ever saw was Tim Supple’s Dream at the RSC. Production was in 7 languages featuring an all Indian cast.

LindaInPhoenix  3:17pm   @kingfinny I knew director who watched all rehearsals from balcony w/ eyes closed to “listen to language. but it’s not a radio play

Charlenevsmith  3:17pm   @HESherman Many people say that. I think it’s a saying that has some truth, but has been overstated.

Doctorogres  3:16pm   Nature Theater of Oklahoma’s production of Romeo and Juliet cuts right to the core of this argument.

ShakespeareinDC  3:16pm   @Linthenerd Cool! Put the quote on your Facebook page. Thanks.  #mk

Linthenerd  3:16pm   @LeeLiebeskind @ShakespeareinDC both – saw play on Tuesday, seeing musical next Friday. Tell you which is more “Shakespeare” 😛

Raoulbhaneja  3:16pm   @Petermarksdrama @ASC_Amy @ShakespeareinDC I agree but think there’s a pressure on directors to deliver their take vs The Story

ShakespeareinDC  3:16pm   RT @Linthenerd: @ShakespeareinDC @LeeLiebeskind – you would like Two Gents, I think.  Really modern, fast-paced, young and furious.

JHudsonDirect 3:15pm   RT @Linthenerd: @JHudsonDirect BOOO on them!

JHudsonDirect  3:15pm   @ShakespeareHigh Me too! I feel like Shakespeare was anything but safe! How can you make commentary of society’s failings when safe?

Kingfinny  3:15pm   @Petermarksdrama @ASC_Amy @ShakespeareinDC Many prods say they put language center. Alas, few really do

Rosalind1600  3:15pm   @HaleyAWard @HESherman … Although doesn’t mean updated productions can’t fit with language.

ASC_Amy  3:15pm   @Kateddc Bingo.

ShakespeareinDC  3:15pm   @LeeLiebeskind If only I’d known it would sell a ticket, I’d have done that. 🙂  #mk

Charlenevsmith  3:15pm   @Linthenerd Or, feel free to distort the story! Make art however you see fit! Just be honest about the distortion.

LeeLiebeskind  3:15pm   @Linthenerd @ShakespeareinDC Is that the musical?

HESherman  3:15pm   @jesswinfield How do you mean transparency? Should altered text be noted in ads?

ASC_Amy  3:15pm   @Petermarksdrama @ShakespeareinDC That’s when the director doesn’t trust his/her actors and/or expects little from audience.

LeeLiebeskind  3:15pm   @Dloehr @GwydionS @ASC_Amy That’s me. I comprehend Shakespeare, just not a big fan. Need a modern bent to get me into the play.

Linthenerd  3:14pm   @ShakespeareinDC @LeeLiebeskind – you would like Two Gents, I think.  Really modern, fast-paced, young and furious.

Charlenevsmith  3:14pm   @HESherman In a market oversaturated with talented women, I don’t think it’s fair to always expect them to take a back seat.

Petermarksdrama  3:14pm   @GwydionS I’m sorry, sir, do you have a ticket to this event? 🙂

Kateddc  3:14pm   Make a good production & Shakespeare automatically is accessible. Concept should illuminate, not be used to “dumb down.”

LindaInPhoenix  3:14pm   @Petermarksdrama Shouldn’t “concept” illuminate, rather than obscure?

HESherman  3:14pm   @ShakespeareinDC I remember Mark Lamos once saying that there is no subtext to Shakespeare’s characters. They say what they think.

Dloehr  3:14pm   @GwydionS @ASC_Amy Nothing is for everyone. But liking is different from comprehending.

ASC_Amy  3:14pm   @GwydionS It doesn’t have to be FOR you for you to GET it. I disagree on the language barrier issue.

Raoulbhaneja  3:14pm   “@HESherman: My parents had Lambs’ Tales From Shakespeare.” Excellent place to start. Did with my five year old before seeing Tempest

ShakespeareHigh  3:13pm   This makes me sad. RT @JHudsonDirect: …we were discouraged from taking risks. Stick with the safe, they said.

LeeLiebeskind  3:13pm   @ShakespeareinDC Did you set it in modern day South Africa? Cause then I am there!

Petermarksdrama  3:13pm   @ASC_Amy @ShakespeareinDC Sometimes, it feels as if concept is meant to obscure fact that language can’t be conquered!

Jesswinfield  3:13pm   Sorry I’m late. Any and all textual changes are GAME ON. As long as there’s transparency.

ASC_Amy  3:13pm   @Petermarksdrama @ShakespeareinDC Agreed.

GwydionS  3:13pm   @ASC_Amy I just don’t think Shakespeare is FOR everyone. And I think there are (a few) language barriers that cannot be overcome.

Linthenerd  3:13pm   @HESherman (Prospera), only if you change the story (as in Taymor film). Cirque is “inspired by,” not textual, so has more freedom.

Dloehr  3:12pm   @LindaInPhoenix @HESherman @sleepnomorenyc Great minds tweet alike.

HESherman  3:12pm   @ShakespeareinDC I resisted the Lambs’ summaries completely. Stodgy, dull and I wanted to discover the stories for myself.

Mikelomo  3:12pm   @HESherman @Linthenerd @Cirque Non-traditional casting is not a problem for me, but it’s a whole different conversation.

LeeLiebeskind  3:12pm   @Linthenerd @playwrightsteve can rationalize textual support for any choice as a director  doesn’t mean all are good.

LindaInPhoenix  3:12pm   @HESherman @Dloehr It seems Sleep No More is its own thing.

Rosalind1600  3:12pm   @Dloehr @HESherman Agreed! Both. To a large extent, the characters are their language, I think.

Petermarksdrama  3:12pm   @ASC_Amy @ShakespeareinDC I’ve seen so many prods where I sit and think: just do the PLAY! Absolute best are when language is front & center

Buttercupples  3:12pm   Did for me. MT @HESherman: In high school…only a handful of the plays are in most curriculums? Does that limit appeal?

Karricatur  3:12pm   RT @ShakespeareinDC: I’m so glad everybody agrees. You’re all invited to see one of my shows.  #mk

Dloehr  3:12pm   @HESherman No doubt. It is its own experience.

Doctorogres  3:12pm   @Dloehr I actually had that reaction the second time I saw it, even though I had both seen it before and spent the week cutting Macbeth

Raoulbhaneja  3:12pm   @ShakespeareinDC Fair point. It’s easy for Purists to bemoan over conceptualized Shakespeare but I don’t have to sell tix to ninth Mackers

ASC_Amy  3:12pm   @GwydionS I believe that everyone can “get” Shakespeare. Not saying everyone will like/love it, but the can “get” it, if done right.

Linthenerd  3:12pm   @JHudsonDirect BOOO on them!

ShakespeareinDC  3:12pm   @HESherman Many of Shakespeare’s plays revolve around the characters’ relation to his consciousness.  #mk

LeeLiebeskind  3:11pm   @ShakespeareinDC You know I have never seen a show at Shakespeare Theater, except for The Liar. Need to see something soon….

Linthenerd  3:11pm   @playwrightsteve Don’t disagree. But any concept should have at least some textual support.

HESherman  3:11pm   @Dloehr If you watch Sleep No More specifically looking for the Shakespeare, you may be sorely disappointed in some scenes.

Klange  3:11pm   @Dloehr @Doctorogres I think if you went in expecting Macbeth in linear fashion, disappointed. But just for an experience? Awesome

Dloehr  3:11pm   @ShakespeareinDC Next time I’m in town, I’ll do my best, sir.

Linthenerd  3:11pm   @ShakespeareinDC @HESherman I had BBC Shakespeare: Animated Tales after finding R&J at 8 years old. Devotee ever since. All original language.

JHudsonDirect  3:11pm   In my Shakespeare class in college I felt like we were discouraged from taking risks. Stick with the safe, they said.

Dloehr  3:11pm   @HESherman I still think language & character are inextricable to a degree. So I’d say both.

HESherman  3:10pm   @Linthenerd Use of Prospera in Tempests now becoming common (even being used by @Cirque du Soleil). Does that violate the work?

ShakespeareinDC  3:10pm   I’m so glad everybody agrees. You’re all invited to see one of my shows.  #mk

ShakespeareinDC  3:10pm   @HESherman When I was 5, my Russian immigrant mother read me the real Shakespeare. I fell in love with it like you did with the Lambs.  #mk

HaleyAWard  3:09pm   @HESherman Outside of schools too. When productions modernize a play, etc., but keep the language – does the audience relate more?

HESherman  3:09pm   What about the idea that Shakespeare was the touchstone for “modern” thought? Is that language or character?

Petermarksdrama  3:09pm   My wife still talks about Michael Kahn’s Woodcut version of Merry Wives. So it can be great. I wonder if message is sent that words are fungible.

Mikelomo  3:09pm   @HESherman  Yes, good teachers allow that sort of higher-level thinking.

Linthenerd  3:09pm   @HESherman Always. “Where would you put this scene?” “What situation does this sound like to you?” imagination/relatability is key

Playwrightsteve  3:09pm   @Linthenerd Not language change I’m thinking of. Some concepts are so ridiculous that the play is smothered under them

ShakespeareinDC  3:09pm   @HESherman That’s what we do in schools. They produce their own scenes in any style they want, using the words.  #mk

LeeLiebeskind  3:08pm   @Dloehr @Doctorogres One of my top 5 shows ever

Raoulbhaneja  3:08pm   @HESherman I told kids at a university while on tour w #hamletsolo that if Shakespeare was alive today be half Jay-Z, half Spielberg

Dloehr  3:08pm   @Doctorogres I know lots of people who loved Sleep No More, but I know about as many people who hated it, were lost & confused.

HESherman  3:08pm   My parents had Lambs’ Tales from Shakespeare. Suggested I always read before going to see when I was young.

Linthenerd  3:08pm   @playwrightsteve correct. If you have to add/change too much of text (Prospero to Prospera, for example), then the concept’s a mistake

LeeLiebeskind  3:08pm   @ShakespeareinDC some do, but most do not…they want to see the world reinvented and re-envisioned and re-related to them

Playwrightsteve  3:08pm   @Doctorogres Synetic’s silent Romeo and Juliet was the 1st time I ever saw the heart of that play clearly portrayed. Why I defend changing language.

ShakespeareinDC  3:07pm   @Charlenevsmith Right. You don’t learn true English history from Shakespeare’s history plays.  #mk

ASC_Amy  3:07pm   @ShakespeareinDC But do you think it takes a concept to make it a different production?

Dloehr  3:07pm   @Doctorogres I’m down with that. But to someone who knows nothing of the story, it might not connect.

HESherman  3:07pm   In schools, are students given free rein to imagine different settings, concepts? Would that help them “relate” better?

Petermarksdrama  3:07pm   Word. MT @ShakespeareinDC Sometimes. But Shakespeare’s going to survive us all.  #mk

ShakespeareinDC  3:07pm   But I don’t think people go to Shakespeare to see the same production that they had seen at another time. At least I hope not.  #mk

Doctorogres  3:06pm   @Dloehr Not talking about a good production here, more that I think that there can be Shakespeare with no language at all, listed examples earlier.

Playwrightsteve  3:06pm   @Linthenerd @Petermarksdrama @ShakespeareinDC Except when those concepts actually obscure the story/meaning of the play

Charlenevsmith  3:06pm   @Petermarksdrama Conceptual liberties in Shakespeare — Richard III versus actual history. Clarence was an SOB in real life.

ShakespeareGeek  3:06pm   I do that so that, when given the text, they’ll be able to focus on the words. The actual Shakespeare words.

Mikelomo  3:06pm   RT @bamoon:  I think it’s outrageous when Shakespeare is watered down. It’s outrageous when any author is paraphrased.

ASC_Amy  3:05pm   “Ain’t that the truth! @ShakespeareinDC Shakespeare’s going to survive us all. ”  #mk

Linthenerd  3:05pm   @Petermarksdrama @ShakespeareinDC  One of beautiful things about Shakespeare is that new concepts keep it fresh without distorting story

Mrs_Speck  3:05pm   @HESherman  Introduce the plot with a few key lines and get the kids up and acting them out.

Petermarksdrama  3:05pm   @ShakespeareinDC lol

HESherman  3:05pm   RT @HaleyAWard: We wrote our own sonnets to help discover how the structure and language worked. It made the text easy.

Dloehr  3:05pm   @HESherman @mikelomo If it can help children master long words & complicated dialogue, it can help with Shakespeare.

ShakespeareinDC  3:05pm   @Petermarksdrama Sometimes. But Shakespeare’s going to survive us all.  #mk

Mikelomo  3:05pm   @Petermarksdrama @ShakespeareinDC  No, cuts and concepts are fine as long as the language stays. Check out privateromeothemovie.com

ShakespeareHigh  3:04pm   @HESherman  Kids need to get up on their feet and experience the language. Gives them ownership.

JHudsonDirect  3:04pm   @Linthenerd very much so! Recordings can really help students who can’t dissect the language and access it on their own.

Whitneyje  3:04pm   Greatest approach to teaching Shakespeare at any age and especially in high school – GET THEM ON THEIR FEET AS THEY READ!!

Dloehr  3:04pm   @HESherman @mikelomo We put on captions when our first child was born, have left them on, helped both kids learn to read quickly.

Dloehr  3:04pm   @HESherman –to which there were direct references (style, design, in jokes) was great fun. But that was extracurricular.

Linthenerd  3:04pm   @mikelomo @JHudsonDirect @HESherman Wouldn’t recordings at home be helpful to students afraid to read in class?

Petermarksdrama  3:03pm   @ShakespeareinDC I still want to know if Shakespeareland is guilty of too many conceptual liberties & thus encouraging language distortion

HESherman  3:03pm   @BankyHimself Now it’s just getting a bit surreal!

Dloehr  3:03pm   @HESherman The Moonlighting spoof of Shrew was first on when I was in high school. Comparing & contrasting to the Burton/Taylor film–

HESherman  3:02pm   What a great idea! RT @mikelomo: When showing Shakespeare films in class, turn on closed captions.

HaleyAWard  3:02pm   @JHudsonDirect @HESherman We wrote our own sonnets to help discover how the structure and language worked. It made the text easy.

Bamoon  3:02pm   I think it’s outrageous when Shakespeare is watered down. It’s outrageous when any author is paraphrased.

Mikelomo  3:02pm   @JHudsonDirect @HESherman  No recordings. They tend to be British and the kids should perform the words themselves.

Klange  3:02pm   @LeeLiebeskind @HESherman @Petermarksdrama Same, but a good production can be revelatory. And need it for referential understanding

JHudsonDirect  3:02pm   Loving @ShakespeareinDC in the  convo! Join us!

ShakespeareinDC  3:01pm   @Petermarksdrama Good! Then Dr. Phil will shut up.  #mk

HESherman  3:01pm   @whitneyje Why anti-Caesar? I think that was 1st or 2nd play I read (and saw dreadful production @yalerep)

Klange  3:01pm   @RSTStatusReport Yes! If you like the film, you might be more interested in making the leap to theater. Gotta work w/ what you have

LeeLiebeskind  3:00pm   @HESherman @Petermarksdrama yeah in all honestly I have never been a big Shakespeare fan, more of a modern drama guy.

Dloehr  3:00pm   @BankyHimself @HESherman @Petermarksdrama Suddenly having images of Mystery Science Theatre 3000, except in a theatre with Shakespeare’s bust.

Charlenevsmith  3:00pm  @Petermarksdrama I understand that frustration. As lover of the Bard I want to shout to the world “He’s for everybody!!!”

Petermarksdrama  3:00pm   @HESherman It just breaks my heart. But I adore her all the same. #greatkid

Dloehr  2:59pm   @HESherman @BankyHimself “Turn me to the left, I can’t see.” “Scratch my nose. No. Higher.” “ENUNCIATE!” #shxprbustnotes

Reduced  2:59pm   Excellent point. MT @ShakespeareinDC: @Petermarksdrama My mother didn’t like Shakespeare. It’s allowed.

JHudsonDirect  2:59pm   @HESherman Best tool I’ve seen was a teacher I had who played recordings of the plays while we read along Hearing it out loud helped!

RSTStatusReport  2:59pm   @Klange I still have a soft spot for Baz Luhrmann’s R&J. My first quality exposure to Shakespeare as a teenager.

BankyHimself  2:59pm   @HESherman @Petermarksdrama I can say from experience Rob will occasionally give notes through him, with a wonderful little Bill voice.

RivierePatrick  2:59pm   Greatest tools are well-designed assembly programs that integrate text, history and interaction w students…ACCESS SHAKESPEARE is 1

ASC_Amy  2:58pm   @playwrightsteve @ShakespeareinDC @Petermarksdrama Agreed! (but, knowing he’s been dismissed before given fair chance is sad)

Klange  2:58pm   @ASC_Amy @HESherman I think, also, teachers need to discuss the intention of the scene with students. Makes the language easier.

ShakespeareinDC  2:58pm   @HESherman Regarding high school: Connecting the characters to their lives, the ideas to their lives & the rhythm of the words to their music.  #mk

Linthenerd  2:58pm   @Reduced Number of novels, too, especially for Young Adults (The Third Witch, Romeo’s Ex, The Wednesday Wars…)

Whitneyje  2:58pm   “@Charlenevsmith: @mikelomo I believe that teachers using simplified Shsp texts are underestimating their students ” AGREED!!

Petermarksdrama  2:58pm   @ShakespeareinDC You’re now sounding like the Dr. Phil of the William Shakespeare world, Michael.

HESherman  2:58pm   @Petermarksdrama Not everything is for everyone, Peter. That absolutism can be why kids *don’t* like Shakespeare. The pressure.

Dloehr  2:58pm   @Doctorogres It’s essential on our end of things as we produce, but not for the audience coming to a show.

Mattcosper  2:58pm   RT @ShakespeareinDC: @HESherman The depth of character in Shakes comes from what they SAY about what they feel & do  #mk

Petermarksdrama  2:58pm   @ShakespeareinDC and @mikelomo: Have all the conceptual productions and severe cutting of text made it too ok to change language?

Reduced  2:58pm   Also have high hopes for Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus. It looks appropriately Shakespearean as well as badass.

Whitneyje  2:58pm   Regarding #Shakespeare in the classroom – you don’t need simplified texts if you choose the play correctly. #Caesar = bad choice.  #2amt

Imsarahmoore  2:57pm   @HESherman  Working scenes in the classroom with students on their feet always helps

Mattcosper  2:57pm   @HESherman Definitely cite depth of character (as would bloom) as part of his genius. That depth is revealed through language.

Playwrightsteve  2:57pm   @ShakespeareinDC @Petermarksdrama Nice! Liking Shakespeare is not a law.

ASC_Amy  2:57pm   @Dloehr You know @Charlenevsmith is studying out here, right? / @GwydionS @playwrightsteve @LePetomaneTE

Linthenerd  2:57pm   @Petermarksdrama Finally (sorry) best to see a play where the actors KNOW what they’re saying and the concept/design is engaging.

HESherman  2:57pm   @BankyHimself Does the bust of #Shakespeare give notes? 😉

_plainKate_  2:57pm   @HESherman I get the men at the prison up on their feet with the words. Shakespeare & Company has text lay-ups exercise, for example.

Reduced  2:57pm   Modern non-Shakespeare films can also serve as intro to Shakespeare for the nervous. 10 Things I Hate About You, She’s The Man, The Sopranos.

Imsarahmoore  2:57pm   RT @ShakespeareinDC You know I believe firmly that if audiences don’t understand a prod it’s usually director’s & actors’ fault.  #mk

ASC_Amy  2:56pm   @HESherman Always getting the kids on their feet & words into their mouths. #Shakespeare

ShakespeareinDC  2:56pm   @Petermarksdrama My mother didn’t like Shakespeare. It’s allowed. Give your 19-year-old a break.  #mk

Doctorogres  2:56pm   @Dloehr Totally. But that mythic quality and it’s context in 200 continuous yrs of performance history is essential to Shakespeare.

Klange  2:56pm   @_plainKate_ @Petermarksdrama @Linthenerd Themes are very relatable for teens. I’m going to be sacrilegious and suggest films as gateway

Dloehr  2:56pm   @GwydionS @playwrightsteve @Charlenevsmith Y’all should go to @ASC_Amy’s place or check out @LePetomaneTE when they do Shakespeare.

Linthenerd  2:56pm   @Petermarksdrama For classrooms, rec. activities with snippets/death lines/action rather than whole plays or scenes.

HESherman  2:56pm   Beyond seeing productions, what have been greatest approaches/tools you’ve seen used in teaching #Shakespeare at high school level?

Charlenevsmith  2:55pm   @Petermarksdrama Reclaim your daughter’s love of Shakespeare by bringing her to the @shakespearectr

LeeLiebeskind   2:55pm   @Charlenevsmith Having talked with many program planners I don’t think the public domain at major theaters is an issue

Linthenerd  2:55pm   @Petermarksdrama Some of the best/clearest interpretations are on film easily and readily available.

Shakespeare_d  2:55pm    Quite possible “@ASC_Amy: @LeeLiebeskind …At the American Shakespeare Center, we believe even Shakespeare cut his plays for performance. ”

BankyHimself  2:55pm   It’s a playful reminder to ask himself What would Bill think/do in this situation?

JHudsonDirect  2:55pm   @HESherman think it limits appeal very much! They drag out the same old war horses. Some good lesser known works could draw kids in!

Petermarksdrama  2:55pm   @Charlenevsmith I DO blame the teacher! But now I’ve got a 19 year old who’s convinced it’s not for her. And it IS for her.

ShakespeareinDC  2:54pm   @Charlenevsmith Please come back to DC and teach. We’ll bring you our TextAlive! workshops.  #mk

Shakespeare_d  2:54pm   @TheShakesForum We do note scripts available aren’t necessarily accurate. Nor is the Bard perfect. But he did use words with purpose

Rosalind1600  2:54pm   @Linthenerd @Reduced But doesn’t the language largely create the characters?

Charlenevsmith  2:54pm   @LeeLiebeskind Because the programs would get too long… 😉 again, it’s all in the public domain do legally no credit is required

BankyHimself  2:54pm   Regarding editing and adapting, Rob Clare of UK National Theatre/RSC often directs with a small Shakespeare statue near his seat.

JHudsonDirect  2:54pm   @Reduced True! his works were meant to be performed!

LeeLiebeskind  2:54pm   @JHudsonDirect beauty of any art. and the reason we can debate and all be correct.

Dloehr  2:53pm   @ShakespeareinDC @ASC_Amy Even Mamet is inert on the page compared to read aloud, re living things.  #mk

Rosalind1600  2:53pm   @HESherman @Mrs_Speck Love for Shakespeare as teen definitely increased by leaps & bounds after seeing plays/films. Think seeing important part of education.

Mrs_Speck  2:53pm   @HESherman  Our job as teachers is to draw them in–whatever preconceived notions they may have. @mikelomo has some great methods!

_plainKate_  2:53pm   @Petermarksdrama @Linthenerd Take her with you to American Shakespeare Center.

Linthenerd  2:53pm   @Reduced  I am in love with characters, plots, etc as well as lang

ShakespeareinDC  2:53pm   @HaleyAWard Absolutely.  #mk

Charlenevsmith  2:53pm   Education: I’ve taught middle school residences in the DC area, and kids will step up to the plate if you trust them to

RivierePatrick  2:53pm   I think it’s two things…making classic Shakespeare accessible to a modern audience and rethinking those stories in mod ways i.e. Bombitty of Errors

LeeLiebeskind  2:53pm   @ShakespeareinDC Haha! now that is something for PR department to deal with

Reduced  2:53pm   One could also say Shakespeare in classroom ‘not’ Shakespeare, only Shakespeare in performance.

Mikelomo  2:52pm   @Petermarksdrama @Charlenevsmith  If a student is hating #Shakespeare in school, the teacher is doing something wrong. Go to @folger

Petermarksdrama  2:52pm   So how do I reclaim her? MT @Linthenerd It’s supposed to be spoken, explored aloud

Tony_McGuinness  2:52pm   @HESherman  I think he is unique, but not sacred.

JHudsonDirect  2:52pm   @LeeLiebeskind I guess that’s the beauty of theatre… Subjectivity!

HESherman  2:52pm   In high school classrooms, is it also an issue that only a handful of the plays are in most curriculums? Does that limit appeal?

ShakespeareinDC  2:52pm   @LeeLiebeskind No we’d have to say ‘Original story by Ovid, adaptation by Shakespeare, additional words by whatever director monkeys with it now’  #mk

Klange  2:52pm   @ASC_Amy @HESherman I agree. I majored in English/Literary Criticism & Shakespeare never really came alive until I saw performances

BatfishLD  2:52pm   @playwrightsteve I’m into seeking to elevate ourselves & audience, not lowering Shakespeare to the least common denominator.

Reduced  2:51pm   Aren’t we talking ‘soul’ or ‘spirit’ of Shakespeare? Yes, language was distinct, but so was his vision, scope, style collusion etc

Linthenerd  2:51pm   @Petermarksdrama @Charlenevsmith @mikelomo If she was just “reading” text then no wonder. It’s supposed to be spoken, explored aloud

HaleyAWard  2:51pm   @HESherman Should Shakespeare be seen before it is read? Especially by young students?

ASC_Amy  2:51pm   @ShakespeareHigh Agreed, wholeheartedly.

ShakespeareinDC  2:51pm   @ASC_Amy Absolutely. The play should be read out loud in class before students are asked to parse words. They’re living things  #mk

LeeLiebeskind  2:51pm   @ShakespeareinDC That’s a great point of view, can’t blame the user, problem lies in creation if not understood  love it!

Charlenevsmith  2:51pm   @playwrightsteve I disagree with this. Every great Shakespeare production I’ve seen had no barrier due to language

Dloehr  2:51pm   @ShakespeareinDC @Petermarksdrama Amen to that.  #mk

JHudsonDirect  2:51pm   @Petermarksdrama I think audiences are getting smarter when it comes to Shakespeare, esp. language.

Rosalind1600  2:51pm   @TheShakesForum Disagree. I may be wrong about what they mean. But think there is a meaning. Many right interpretations, some wrong.

Dloehr  2:50pm   @Doctorogres Having kids has made me watch a lot of things newly through their eyes, and it’s amazing.

ShakespeareHigh  2:50pm   Forcing kids to use simplified texts leads them to the belief they aren’t capable of understanding Shakespearean language.

ASC_Amy  2:50pm   MT @ShakespeareinDC: You know I believe firmly that if auds don’t understand a prod it’s usually director’s & actors’ fault.  #mk

Kellereno  2:50pm   @HESherman: I, thankfully, never had a course growing up where performance wasn’t incorporated into the classwork; but I’m lucky.

Raoulbhaneja  2:50pm   @JHudsonDirect @LeeLiebeskind @HESherman And one could debate what a full Hamlet really is… #quartos #folio  #hamletsolo

LeeLiebeskind  2:50pm   @Charlenevsmith If that is the case then why don’t we say a play by Ovid translated by Shakespeare, we create the idea of ownership

Dloehr  2:50pm   @Doctorogres We know Luke Skywalker will win in the end, it’s a classic construction, but we don’t know how he gets there.

ShakespeareinDC  2:50pm   Right on, @Rosalind1600!  #mk

_plainKate_  2:50pm   Yes! RT @ShakespeareinDC: I believe firmly that if audiences don’t understand a production it’s usually director’s & actors’ fault.  #mk

TheShakesForum  2:50pm   @HESherman I believe you cheat a class by looking at Shakespeare as precious literature.  #GetEmOnTheirFeet

ASC_Amy  2:49pm   @Mrs_Speck Not too easy an answer, you hit the nail on the head!

ShakespeareinDC  2:49pm   @Petermarksdrama They’ve let either too many disparate ideas or lack of technique get in the way.  #mk

HESherman  2:49pm   @Mrs_Speck I worry that young people are put off #Shakespeare by studying before seeing.

HaleyAWard  2:49pm   RT @hungerf9: To me, it’s often the language that makes the plays truly beautiful, the plot that makes them accessible.

Petermarksdrama  2:49pm   @Charlenevsmith @mikelomo But my daughter started on WS w/ reading in hs class in original language-hated it. Now won’t go. Period.

Charlenevsmith  2:49pm   @LeeLiebeskind Shakespeare had an eye for spotting already-existing stories that would make great drama.

ShakespeareinDC  2:49pm   @Petermarksdrama You know I believe firmly that if audiences don’t understand a production it’s usually director’s & actors’ fault.  #mk

ASC_Amy  2:49pm   @HESherman I think it is a disservice to leave Shakespeare on the page, even (especially) when teaching.

TheShakesForum  2:49pm   @Rosalind1600 These words can mean what you want them to. Maybe people will disagree….isn’t that art?

Dloehr  2:49pm   @Doctorogres Absolutely. But there’s a difference between knowing the mythic aspect & knowing the details.

LeeLiebeskind  2:49pm   @_plainKate_  Agreed, when I first did it, had to spend weeks dissecting lines and really learning another language

Charlenevsmith  2:49pm   @LeeLiebeskind But what is being translated – is it really Shakespeare, or do we just call it his because he wrote most famous versions?

Rosalind1600  2:48pm   I think archaic language overstated as barrier to Shakespeare. I fell in love with Shakespeare’s language long before I understood most of it.

Mrs_Speck  2:48pm   As a high school Drama teacher, I must say “the play’s the thing” — the words and story together in performance. Too easy an answer?

ShakespeareinDC  2:48pm   @JHudsonDirect If you’ve ever seen a full one, you’ve seen them all put together, which Shakes never saw.  #mk

Hungerf9  2:48pm   To me, it’s often the language that makes the plays truly beautiful, the plot that makes them accessible.

HESherman  2:48pm   Regarding classroom, is it fair to just explore #Shakespeare only as text? As a script, is it only complete in production?

Linthenerd  2:48pm   @HESherman @TheShakesForum “Inspired by Shakespeare” is what I’m all about drownmybooks@blogspot.com

Tony_McGuinness  2:48pm   Shakespeare as Sacred Writer is expected to stand as a bulwark against the cultural degeneration.

ShakespeareinDC  2:48pm   @JHudsonDirect There are several versions of Hamlet all of which Shakespeare took part in.  #mk

Doctorogres  2:47pm   @Dloehr I would certainly not direct in that way. But don’t you think there’s a certain mythic quality to some of the “big ones?”

LeeLiebeskind  2:47pm   @JHudsonDirect yes, but I am just trying to see where line is. can change a few words, cut for time, but don’t adapt all the words

JHudsonDirect  2:47pm   @LeeLiebeskind Gotta adapt his plays to the modern day world of tired-behind and full bladder

TheShakesForum  2:47pm   @HESherman Reordered according to? Hamlet Q1 and Folio have different orders themselves. Evidence that traveling plays were altered.

_plainKate_  2:47pm   @playwrightsteve Some directors don’t trust that Shakespeare will be interesting, don’t take time to investigate language w/actors.

Petermarksdrama  2:47pm   @ShakespeareinDC But do actors still struggle with clarity and projection? I sense more confidence with language these days, but…

ASC_Amy  2:47pm   RT @Charlenevsmith: @mikelomo I believe that teachers using simplified Shakespeare texts are underestimating their students

HESherman  2:47pm   @Tony_McGuinness Do you think Shakespeare the writer was not so unique?

ShakespeareinDC  2:46pm   @HESherman Yes, in a way. And one should be very honest about it.  #mk

ASC_Amy  2:46pm   @HESherman @ShakespeareinDC Again, it depends. Diff original publications of the plays had diff scene orders.

Charlenevsmith  2:46pm   @mikelomo I believe that teachers using simplified Shakespeare texts are underestimating their students

playwrightsteve  2:46pm   I’ve seen a lot of great Shakespeare productions, but the language is still a huge barrier half the time

TheShakesForum  2:46pm   @ShakespeareinDC Because it gets people in the seats, and those that have closed-minds of what Shakespeare is can open them.

JHudsonDirect  2:46pm   @LeeLiebeskind Cutting scenes for time happens all the time to Shakespeare. I have only seen a full Hamlet once.

Hungerf9  2:46pm   @LeeLiebeskind That is: derivative, collaborative and possibly transformative work.

LeeLiebeskind  2:46pm   @hungerf9 oh I am in agreement, I am not purist…just posing questions to get clarification.

Dloehr  2:46pm   @HESherman Would depth of character go towards the language with which he reveals that depth?

_plainKate_  2:45pm   @Rosalind1600 Again, I’m not advocating for change. I leave it along; just making room for possibility, saying call it Shakespeare.

HESherman  2:45pm   @ShakespeareinDC  I’ve also seen productions where the scenes are reordered. Does that compromise the material?

Charlenevsmith  2:45pm   @LeeLiebeskind Sure.  But that’s beauty of theatre being a living art. Also, impossible to say which version of script is definitive

Rosalind1600  2:45pm   @ASC_Amy @LeeLiebeskind  Think still Shakespeare if cut well, but can be cut badly, so that undermine thrust/meaning of play/characters.

Playwrightsteve  2:45pm   “A lot of the language in Shakespeare’s plays put up a wall of incomprehension by virtue of its age alone.”

TheShakesForum  2:45pm   @HESherman But it may break the rhythm, and so you may just want to adapt it further than just language.

ShakespeareinDC  2:45pm   @HESherman The depth of character in Shakespeare comes from what they SAY about what they feel & do  #mk

BankyHimself  2:45pm   @ASC_Amy  Playwrights use their words for a different purpose than a poet or a writer. Evolution weighs heavily on that purpose.

LeeLiebeskind  2:45pm   @Charlenevsmith  You don’t think there is something that makes his work easily translatable to Dance, unlike other writers?

hungerf9  2:45pm   @LeeLiebeskind  Yes, it changes the play. That’s the beauty of the public domain & live performance: derivative, collaborative work.

Dloehr  2:44pm   @Doctorogres  But it’s always new to someone.

TheShakesForum  2:44pm   @HESherman  Not at all. #ShakespeareInAnyLanguageIsShakespeare

ShakespeareinDC  2:44pm   I agree that cutting scenes for time or other reasons is altering the structure of the play  #mk

Dloehr  2:44pm   @Doctorogres  I wouldn’t say that. Never assume everyone knows the story. They may know it’s a tragedy, to be sure.

Mikelomo  2:44pm   So could we just talk about the #Shakespeare classroom for a bit? Any thoughts about teachers using simplified texts?

TheShakesForum  2:44pm   RT @Charlenevsmith: I am not bothered by some language changes. Murder, instead of murther, for example.

JHudsonDirect  2:44pm   @TheShakesForum  I can’t help it… I must be too much of a purist. 🙂 

Tony_McGuinness  2:44pm   Interesting that the discussion is about the uniqueness of Shakespeare as a writer.

ASC_Amy  2:44pm   @LeeLiebeskind  That’s a whole other debate. At @shakespearectr we believe even Shakespeare cut his plays for performance.

Charlenevsmith  2:43pm   No reason other than name recognition for companies like Synetic to bill under Shakespeare – there’s no estate holds rights to those stories

HESherman  2:43pm   Many cite plot as being less important, because he borrowed so freely. But what about depth of character?

TheShakesForum  2:43pm   @HESherman  I’m not suggesting they HAVE to do that. I’m suggesting it’s okay to do.

LeeLiebeskind  2:43pm   So altering words is ok in context, but what about cutting scenes for time? Doesn’t that change the his play?

TheShakesForum  2:43pm   @JHudsonDirect  I don’t think you’re trying to do it better. It’s just how the words relate to you.

JHudsonDirect  2:43pm   RT @Charlenevsmith: I am not bothered by some language changes. Murder, instead of murther, for example.

Doctorogres  2:42pm   One of the biggest ones, and the reason that there are so many different takes on Macbeth, is that everyone already knows the story.

ASC_Amy  2:42pm   @BankyHimself  It is still a playwright’s words, regardless of when they were penned.

Doctorogres  2:42pm   I guess what I’m saying is there are a lot of elements apart from language that are essential to Shakespeare.

HESherman  2:42pm   @LeeLiebeskind That’s a really interesting perspective. That silent Shakespeare is word *translated* to movement.

BankyHimself  2:42pm   @ASC_Amy  I’d suspect that’d be a more appropriate question in 500 years.

ShakespeareinDC  2:42pm   @LeeLiebeskind yes it’s translation like “The Moor’s Pavane” is a dance version of Othello but it doesn’t have same impact  #mk

LeeLiebeskind  2:41pm   @ShakespeareinDC interesting comparison. But wouldn’t it be more accurate to say a cover in a different instrument?

Playwrightsteve  2:41pm   @_plainKate_ @BankyHimself  In which case plot and structure are as much a part of Shakespeare as his language. Even if he borrowed

Raoulbhaneja  2:41pm   @HESherman  I’m only bothered when performing #hamletsolo (in English) and I’m asked what “translation” I used to make it “clear”.

ASC_Amy  2:41pm   @BankyHimself  But, if you change Mamet’s words is it still Mamet? No one argues he’s a poet not a playwright.

HESherman  2:41pm   @TheShakesForum  “Inspired by Shakespeare” would fill shelves of libraries (and theaters) be it plays, novels, songs.

ShakespeareinDC  2:41pm   @_plainKate_  You don’t call Shakespeare ‘Ovid & Holinshead altered’ so why would you call very-much altered Shakespeare ‘Shakespeare’  #mk

Rosalind1600  2:40pm   @_plainKate_  True about changes to source material, but those changes have limited meaning outside context of play’s language

Dloehr  2:40pm   @Charlenevsmith  Very much so. The name is a brand in some sense, and it’s an easy sell.

_plainKate_  2:40pm   @BankyHimself  A playwright, a playwright!

LeeLiebeskind 2:40pm   @HESherman  They use the words of Shakespeare to create movement, so isn’t it just translation?

Kellereno  2:40pm   Gleefully following the  conversation. I’m in Shakespeare geek heaven.

Charlenevsmith  2:39pm   I am not bothered by some language changes. Murder, instead of murther, for example.

HESherman  2:39pm   If language is so essential to Shakespeare, does it cease being Shakespeare when translated from English?

TheShakesForum  2:39pm   @ShakespeareinDC  No, you wouldn’t say  Sleep No More by William Shakespeare. But you could say “Inspired by”.

Mikelomo  2:39pm   @Charlenevsmith  So Shakespeare still sells.

Doctorogres  2:39pm   Or Macbeth Without Words?  Or 500 Clown Macbeth? Many adptations with no language at all.

JHudsonDirect  2:39pm   It seems almost arrogant to me to think that I could arrange the words better than the Bard had intended!  #shakespearelanguage

Playwrightsteve  2:39pm   @ShakespeareinDC Have you had a chance to look at Akiva Fox’s recent piece on Shakespeare in production?

HESherman  2:39pm   @LeeLiebeskind If you see Synetic’s work, which I don’t, do you think it’s still Shakespeare, despite being wholly visual?

Petermarksdrama  2:39pm   How much responsibility does audience have to try to “meet” the language? And how well do u think actors do in giving it shape?  #mk

ShakespeareinDC  2:39pm  @LeeLiebeskind Synetic does wonderful dance drama but it’s no more Shakespeare than listening to a Bob Dylan song without words/lyrics  #mk

Dloehr  2:39pm   @Charlenevsmith @ArgoTheatricals Yup. A writer’s words are what make their work unique. Plots are the structures & rarely unique.

_plainKate_  2:38pm   @Charlenevsmith @ArgoTheatricals I’m not advocating for changing the words, btw. I love these words, working them.

Charlenevsmith  2:38pm  I think these adaptations use Shakespeare’s name solely for marketing and name recognition.

TheShakesForum  2:38pm   Once you have a working script you probably don’t want to change it. But in the rehearsal process?

ASC_Amy  2:38pm   @ShakespeareinDC @Petermarksdrama But, don’t you think it is possible to communicate that diff w/ clear acting?

HESherman  2:38pm   @ShakespeareinDC I was being playful — and I spent eight years working for Mark Lamos, so Shakespeare is in my blood & bones

LeeLiebeskind  2:37pm   @ShakespeareinDC @Doctorogres Why is it not Shakespeare?

ShakespeareinDC  2:37pm   @Petermarksdrama …or if it’s a 450-year-old joke and the button doesn’t work  #mk

_plainKate_  2:37pm   @Charlenevsmith @ArgoTheatricals Except he changed much of his source material, so even w/altered language, it’s him.

ASC_Amy  2:37pm   Jumping in midstream … agree, if you don’t have #Shakespeare’s language, it isn’t Shakespeare. @Charlenevsmith @ArgoTheatricals

ShakespeareinDC  2:37pm   @Petermarksdrama The only time I think it might be good to change Shakespeare’s words is if those words mean something else now  #mk

Charlenevsmith  2:36pm   @ArgoTheatricals Agreed. Once Shakespeare’s language is gone, it’s not him. Then it’s Ovid or Holinshed!

LeeLiebeskind  2:36pm   But it’s a good question, when you remove dialogue from Shakespeare, is it still Shakespeare, like Synetic in DC ?

ShakespeareinDC  2:36pm   @Doctorogres Sleep No More is a fantastic production but it’s not Shakespeare.  #mk

Mikelomo  2:36pm   I agree. And teachers do a disservice for using them to teach #Shakespeare

HESherman  2:35pm   RT @ShakespeareinDC: MK: It shows you how important Shakespeare’s language is, because you’re quoting it in your question.

Petermarksdrama  2:35pm   Michael, are you doctrinaire about Shakespeare’s words? How much leeway do you give directors to change them in Shakespeare Theater’s shows?

ArgoTheatricals  2:35pm   @HESherman I say not. The stories aren’t original to him, so if you change the language, what’s left? Not Shakespeare.

HESherman  2:34pm   @Doctorogres Sleep No More is a synthesis of Shakespeare and Hitchcock’s Rebecca and god knows what else

HESherman  2:33pm   Hi, Michael. @ShakespeareinDC, is #Shakespeare still the Bard when we alteration find?

Doctorogres  2:33pm   Is Sleep No More Shakespeare?

ShakespeareinDC  2:32pm   Michael is here too. Lay it on us, @HESherman

HESherman  2:31pm   I don’t want to keep others waiting. So, @mikelomo, is Shakespeare simplified, or translated, not Shakespeare?

HESherman  2:31pm   I have a starting question for @ShakespeareinDC. Just waiting on Michael.

Reduced  2:31pm   Do we have our basic text for the Soul of Shakespeare chat? Then take it away @HESherman & @Petermarksdrama.

HESherman 2:27pm   Above all, let’s have fun. After all, how many opportunities are there for live national multi-participant discussions of Shakespeare?

HESherman  2:27pm   Because Michael Kahn is not on Twitter personally, his comments will come via @ShakespeareinDC. We’re thrilled he’s with us.

HESherman  2:26pm   Don’t be afraid to join in. Even though some participants may be “experts,” we want this to be as inclusive as possible.

HESherman  2:26pm   Don’t flaunt your credentials to bolster your views, and let’s be respectful of everyone else. No insults, even Shakespearean ones!

HESherman  2:26pm   Lots of folks are declaring their position in advance. Let’s not be absolutists, but share thoughts and ideas. No right answer IMHO.