Fourteen-year-old Shannon Durphy is glad to hear that swordplay
and on-stage violence will be part of her Shakespeare Conservatory
acting lessons this fall.
The Metro Classical and Academic High School freshman thought
she was going to have to miss out on that part of the lessons.
Shannon is in a new acting program sponsored by the Shakespeare
Festival of St. Louis.
The Saturday Conservatory classes are being offered for
the first time this fall at St. Louis University. At first,
the "Scenes with Swordplay" activities were to be offered
as a separate series.
Shannon said, "I wasn't going to be able to take any more
acting classes this semester. I'm in a gifted program in
high school and am playing volleyball. The sports and homework
were too much."
But, her core Conservatory classes are being restructured.
Among new elements will be a class on stage violence taught
by Todd Gillinardo, a professional fight choreographer.
Jessica Vonder Haar of the Shakespeare Festival said Gillinardo
specializes in helping actors in mastering action scenes
featuring swordplay and fistfighting. Ms. Vonder Haar said
Gillinardo specializes in teaching actors "how to take a
punch-safely."
Of course, Shakespeare included a lot of fighting and murder
in his plays.
Shannon and 14-year-old Audrey Marten of Maplewood are
in the Advanced Scenes for Teens core program. The class
of 11 includes kids from 11 to 17.
Another subject in the 10-week program is "Speak the Speech."
That includes general advice on voice, diction and projection.
Then, there is specialized help in handling the unique speech
patterns of Shakespeare's time.
Sound designer Robin Weatherall will help them pick original
music to go with the actors' action and speech.
The kids also have homework. Each will come up with a plan
for a scene. Then, the kids will have a group discussion
session to take their ideas and put them into a final script.
The kids then will perform this original scene.
Both Shannon and Audrey have had previous acting experience
in Shakespeare plays.
Shannon and Audrey had parts in performances of "The Tempest"
and "Julius Caesar." They acted in the same plays although
they attended different schools the last two years.
The performances were part of the Metro Youth Shakespeare
Project. In that program, a Shakespeare play is divided
into scenes and assigned to 10 different St. Louis schools.
Each school picks actors to fill all roles in their scenes.
For instance, in the play, "Julius Caesar," there were 10
different kids playing Caesar. Then, the whole play was
performed all in one theater using 10 different casts.
Ms. Vonder Haar said the audience could follow the play
because each Caesar has some common costume element. (Young
Saint Louis.com has written about this program. To read
an earlier story, click
here.)
Shannon said she got "real interested" in Shakespeare while
a 7th grade student at Carr-Lane VPA Middle School. Her
first acting was in 6th grade at Carr-Lane when she had
a part in the play, "The Carnival of Animals."
She said that was a play that had very little dialogue.
"The play was mostly about movement," she said.
Shannon said she signed up for the Saturday Conservatory
sessions "to get better at speaking and movement." She said
she also wanted more training of her voice.
Audrey is a freshman at Crossroads College Preparatory
School. She said she came by her interest in Shakespeare
at the age of 8. That's when she did a radio commercial
for the Shakespeare Festival.
"I played Juliet in the balcony scene of 'Romeo and Juliet.'
I was speaking in the background while others were giving
the commercial's message," she said.
She said she got the radio part because her father is on
the Shakespeare Festival's staff.
Audrey said she signed up for the Saturday classes "to
better understand acting in general and to understand Shakespeare
in particular."
About the Shakespeare language, she said, "It's tough at
first. But, after talking about it with someone else, it's
easier."
She said she'd like to be a professional actor but "it's
pretty iffy right now."
Shannon also wants to be a professional. But, she admits
she's got one problem: "I can't sing." She said she's hoping
to take more voice lessons "so I can at least carry a tune."
