From the Audience to the Stage: An Interview with Shang Huang (Charles and Jacques de Boys)

 CSC: How have rehearsals and teaching workshops been going?

SHANG: One special experience I had was NOT in rehearsal but in the teaching process at the Dual Language & Asian Studies High School. The students I taught there reminded me so much of how much fun acting can be, and also that even if your first language is not English, Shakespeare can still inspire you, and the words will still touch you. It’s really hard to describe just how amazing the experience was that I got from teaching them. They made me feel more and more excited about the show!!

CSC: How did you decide you wanted to pursue acting professionally? 

SHANG: I didn’t realize that I was already acting a lot until I got to college. Before that, I always wanted to be the guy who stands up on the stage and talks to people and entertains them. And in college, I found that that desire is what made me want to be an actor so badly. When you can really communicate with the people in the audience, and touch them, and make them smile, laugh, or cry, then you can totally understand how amazing it is to just really listen to people and tell them the story. I’m from Taiwan, and Mandarin is my first language. The reason why I came here to New York to learn acting was so that I could talk to even more people in the world, more and different people.

Shakespeare was a whole other level of acting for me when I started to get a taste of it at Columbia. The language is so hard, and even English speakers have a difficult time understanding it. But if you can really get the language into your body and really want to communicate with people, you can still do it. I did it in class, and I will do it in As You Like It on the stage for you.

I’m really proud to have the chance to be one part of this golden As You Like It A-Team. I can’t even describe to you how fabulous the show is. Just come and check it out. I’ll see you in the audience from the stage.