Meet our next YC Student Correspondant, Mercedes!

Grade: 11th

Hobbies: Acting, dancing, shopping, going out to eat and to the movies, taking pictures, surfing the web, vacationing, planning my birthday ideas in advance, watching Dance Moms and Gossip Girl.

What aspects of theatre are you most interested in? I am most interested in acting because this is what I've had training in the most. I've never experienced the directing, design and aspect of theatre but I definitely think it is something I would consider doing. I would even enjoy play writing.

What parts of the MUCH ADO rehearsal process are you most interested in telling fellow students about? I enjoy watching the actors perform for the first time. When I'm in rehearsal I always look forward to the ensemble's energy, creative risk taking, surprises/new discoveries, things that work and don't work, and how the director works with the cast. I think readers would like to hear about the same thing as well because not only does the cast put on an amazing performance at the end, but it took a lot of hard work and dedication in their rehearsal process to obviously get to where they are, and it will be evident in how hard they worked if the play is successful or not.

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Last week, Mercedes had the opportunity to observe a rehearsal. Read her thoughts on the process as well as her views on Shakespeare below!

Last week’s rehearsal process was fun and exciting to watch. Before the actual rehearsal started, I was able to meet a few of the cast members. Each of them had their own personalities. Some were entertaining, mellow, playful, loud and quiet. I loved how everyone did their own warm up exercises and pretty much did what they felt their body needed. When the rehearsal began, I was looking forward to watching how the cast worked together as an ensemble. From the looks of it, everyone seemed to have a close relationship with one another, which I think makes their job much easier when working together on a play. It also made the play interesting to watch because everyone fed off of each others energy. As I was familiar with some of the scenes in the play, I loved that my interpretation of one of the scenes was completely different. I love seeing contrasts! I also loved that the actors took creative risks as it made the play even more fun to watch!

P.S The opening song was amazing! Beatrice has a beautiful voice (I think she should open the show like that).

My Thoughts on Shakespeare

I was not a big fan of Shakespeare when I was first introduced to his works. I was completely bored and did not feel any emotion when performing his work. My first Shakespeare piece was Midsummer Night’s Dream in the sixth grade, and I think because I was young and not interested in another language, I didn’t bother with it. When I went to high school, I started to learn more about Shakespeare and it was mandatory that all drama majors take part in a Shakespeare competition. I was not excited about this, but I had to do it, so the most I did was memorize my lines. This was freshman year. As I was learning about Shakespeare in my drama class, special guest artists came in and did workshops with us which started to make it more interesting. I am now in my junior year and we still have guest artist come in from Classic Stage Company! During their workshops with my drama class, everything we did in regards to Shakespeare was fun and exciting, especially when we were able to put it into our own words. When I was able to translate his words into modern day language, it made my understanding so much easier. Everyone can relate to Shakespeare in some way and I think that is the most important thing.

Now that I am going to be working on another classical piece, Tartuffe by Moliere, I am really excited not only because of my character (Dorine), but because I just adore and love Moliere's work!

Meet our next YC Student Correspondant, Darren!

Grade: 11th

Hobbies: Acting, soccer, video games, and reading.

What aspects of the theatre are you most interested in? I am interested in three aspects of the theatre. Those happen to be acting, business, and directing. I am interested in these because I always loved acting, but realize it is a hard profession to pursue. So my back up would be to learn the business and directing aspect so I can open my own theatre company.

What parts of the Much Ado About Nothing rehearsal process are you most interested in telling other students about? When the director gives notes at the end. You might say this is a peculiar interest, but I do have reason for it. It gives you a sense of what the director is thinking and how your opinions or the actor's opinions differ from his.

Anything else we should know?
As I said before, I would like to open up my own theatre company. As much as I love classical and modern pre-existing pieces, I also have my own ideas in mind for my own original pieces.

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Last week, Darren had the opportunity to observe a rehearsal, here's what he had to say.

On February 16^th I attended the Much Ado about Nothing rehearsal from 6-8 PM. It was an interesting experience. I am not familiar with the play, but the weekend prior I decided to look into it a bit. I have a very hard time with the Elizabethan language so I cheated and read a translated version. Immediately after reading the first act you notice that there is a lot of gossip that occurs between the characters and society as a whole. The Director, Jimmy Maize, put a twist on the setting of Shakespeare’s piece. Jimmy decides to set the play in the 20’s in New Orleans; a perfect time to set this because during this time World War one has just ended and men are coming back to changes in the women’s attitude. It was the start of class warfare due to gossip that is going on in this time period. This was also a time when feelings were expressed in a new form of music – jazz.

This change was extremely clever in my opinion, especially that it is set in New Orleans during a time where performances were going on EVERYWHERE! I also believe this particular adaptation of this piece will appeal to a young audience like me. During the rehearsal, I was in awe when I heard the music in the piece. It reminded me of Harlem in the 1920’s, which wasn’t so different from New Orleans. The only difference was New Orleans was known for their street performances, while New York was known for their theatre performances. The funny thing about Shakespeare is that you can get away with changing the setting to make it more modern. The themes in Shakespeare’s plays are so interesting because you see them in your everyday life. He wrote about things that would never change in the world and with that we can change things like the setting but still stay true to Shakespeare’s intentions and language. I am extremely excited to see what this play is going to look like on the main stage. Can’t wait. I have nothing, but high expectations for this piece!

MUCH ADO just wrapped up a grueling but rewarding tech rehearsal. We will have a full report soon, however we wanted to share some photos taken by Xhesica. Enjoy!

Meet XHESICA (YC Student Correspondent) and DAVE (teaching artist/actor playing "Don John" in MUCH ADO)

This year we're sending students just like you behind the scenes to observe MUCH ADO rehearsals and meet our artists. These STUDENT CORRESPONDENTS will be sharing their findings with YOU here on our blog!

First up, meet XHESICA.

Grade: 11

Hobbies: Soccer, photography, filming, acting, swimming, skiing, joking around and having fun with everything!

What do you like about theatre? I love the acting and directing part of theatre. I like doing the research when I get a role and I learn many interesting new things - it’s like being in history class, which is my favorite subject. When I play a role my main goal is for the audience to see what I see in the text, and to understand what message I’m trying to send. As for directing, I think of myself as an audience member and try to imagine what they would like to watch and understand.

What parts of the MUCH ADO rehearsal process are you most interested in telling other students about? How fun it is! Who would ever think that there’s dancing and singing in Shakespeare? It's so much more modern thank most people think, and Shakespeare writes about issues and topics that occur throughout all of history and still today. It’s fun to see the kinds of dilemmas people were in back in the day, and relate it to something you know about today.

While observing a recent rehearsal, Xhesica had the opportunity to interview DAVE, a YC teaching artist and actor playing "Don John" in MUCH ADO.

Xhesica: How do you feel about playing this character (Don John?)

Dave: It's very fun, I think it’s extremely fun to be bad. Shakespeare writes all these really juicy villains and there are some that spend a lot of their time trying to tell the audience - explain themselves, that they are not that bad - everyone else is bad. And there are some characters - like Don John - that are just unapologetically bad: "I'm bad, so deal with it." It's just really fun to give over to the bad side.

Xhesica: How do you get into playing a bad guy? Are you bad in real life?

Dave: I think everyone has a little bad in them. Everyone has a good side and a bad side and it's fun, cause as actors we can just let it loose, let the bad side loose. Don John spends a lot of time talking about how deeply sad he is, and he’s very jealous and upset, and throws temper tantrums, and it's much easier looking at it that way cause you can't play "bad." Bad is in the eye of the beholder, but I think we’ve all had times where we were sad, where we've been jealous and just completely irrational and upset - mad at the world. It's fun to throw yourself into that everyday and then at the end of rehearsal just wash it off.

Xhesica: So what’s the baddest thing you’ve done?

Dave: I don’t think I've ever... I'll get back to you on that.

Xhesica: Tell me about your experience as a teaching artist.

Dave: School of the Future - what an amazing school! I got to work with Ms. Weller's 10th grade English class. The class was so full of smart, energetic students. By the time they did their scenes it was amazing - I learned some things about playing Don John from some of the kids playing Don John. These kids are so smart and so ahead of their time, and I'm a better actor and a better person for having worked with them, and I hope I can do it again some time.

THE STUDY GUIDE IS HERE!

It's been worth the wait! Our gorgeous new study guide features the work of illustrator David Heatley, behind-the-scenes info on our production, post-workshop lesson plans for teachers, and more!

While only those schools participating in our program have exclusive access to our study guide, we'll be giving you a sneak-peek of some of David's work here on our blog, beginning with the cover illustration.

Much Ado about WORDS

With 1,062 lines, Much Ado About Nothing is Shakespeare’s tenth longest play and third longest comedy (ours is shortened to an hour and a half!). With any play of this length, it can be easy to be overwhelmed by the language and complex plot.

We at the Young Company found a cool way to uncover important themes and patterns in the play through a WORDLE! Through the magic of the Internet, we created this Wordle which shows you how often specific words are used. Believe it or not, every single word used in Much Ado is represented in this image, and the size of the words is indicative of the amount a word is used.

Go to http://www.wordle.net/ to create your own!

Inside the Young Company Studio...

An exclusive update from JIMMY MAIZE, the director of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING:

"We are nearing the end of week two in our rehearsal process for MUCH ADO and making great strides. We devoted the entire first week to table-work, where we we were able to read through every scene and parse out each character's intension, making sense of any confusing language, and then come up with the characters' individual histories and relationships. We also spent some time looking at New Orleans of 1920 (which is where I've set our production) so we can better create the distinct world of the play. To this aim, the design team provided images and sketches of both the proposed set and costume designs, and we played recordings of the jazz music that will eventually be provided by the live band.

This past week we have been working fast to block the play (meaning we decide where and when the actors will move on stage), and in a few days we will put the pieces together to have our first stumble-through (the first time we try out all of the blocking at once.) The cast is working incredibly fast in the hopes that we will be able to run the show, fine-tuning and expanding on the scenework, with run-throughs (where we'll rehearse the show from start to finish without stopping) for the entire final week before tech (where we'll stop rehearsing in a studio room and start rehearsing in CSC's theater instead, adding all of the technical elements like lighting and sound cues.)

Meanwhile, tomorrow is the first full rehearsal with the band, and they will eventually be incorporated with the actors (adding choreography, aka planning our dance moves) in that final week. The music will be such an integral part of the staging, so we are all very excited to put these two elements together!

We are off to a tremendous start, and looking forward to seeing how the play grows in the few remaining weeks!

- Jimmy"

2012 Teaching Artist Training Recap

This past January The Young Company held its annual Teaching Artist Training bootcamp! It was a vigorous, exciting, and educational week where the Young Company teaching artist members rehearsed and refined the curriculum implemented in schools throughout the 5 boroughs of NYC.

The Young Company teaching artists are comprised not only of Columbia University MFA actors, but also with a diverse group of theatre professionals who have worked with some of the most renowned theatre companies around the United States! While each teaching artist brings their own experience with them, their common bond is a passion for Shakespeare and especially for sharing that passion with students!

Much Ado Rehearsals Begin!

The auditions are over, the actors have been cast, and the day finally arrived…

Monday was the first rehearsal for The Young Company’s production of Much Ado About Nothing!

This is always an exciting day for any production, as it is usually the first time the entire creative team is assembled to begin the hard work required to mount a play. Usually, the first rehearsal consists of a read through. This means that the actors, designers, stage manager, and director sit around a table and read the play in its entirety. Typically the design team (set, lighting, costumes, etc...) will explain their plans for the production at the first rehearsal as well. For example, the set designer may show a model of the set and the costume designer may bring in sketches of the costumes. This helps the actors visualize the setting they will be in, and helps them make acting choices that are in line with the director’s approach for the play.

For instance, the setting of our production of Much Ado About Nothing is in New Orleans during the 1920s!

Over the next few weeks, we will be updating you with rehearsal updates so you can have a front row seat to the process. Stay tuned!!