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An Evening With Shakespeare Staged in the Round at Garrison School
Philipstown community is invited to the 7th and 8th Grade Middle School students' production
By Nancy Wareham-Gordon
Elizabethan times are alive as the 7th and 8th grade students gather to spontaneously rehearse their lines in the hallways of the Garrison School en route to their middle school classes. The 7th graders can be found, in character, quoting lines from The Tempest, while the 8th graders improvise their scenes from Much Ado about Nothing, both comedic plays by William Shakespeare.
Ian Berger, English teacher in the middle school, in conjunction with Allison Mitchell from the Mighty Theater Company, have embraced the Garrison School's continued tradition of students' productions of Shakespeare's plays.
New this year for the middle school students is the technique of performing their roles on a square stage, to be constructed by the Director of Buildings and Grounds, Dick Timmons and his staff, and later, to be placed on the floor of the Garrison School Gym, surrounded on all sides by the audience. This concept of "Theater in the Round," requires no curtain, little scenery, basic costumes and limited props. Adaptations in the set design are made, allowing each audience member to best view the production, and student performers to enter and exit the stage from different directions.
Multiple student performers will be sharing the lead roles for the Garrison School production, An Evening with Shakespeare in both The Tempest and Much Ado About Nothing, following this casting tradition established by director, Carolyn Rossi Copeland, (who has just completed a successful limited engagement of the play, Les Miserables, School Edition, at the James I. O'Neal High School featuring many graduates of the Garrison School.)
Cast members for The Tempest, set on a ship at sea and an uninhabited island, are a total of 36 students in the 7th grade: Avery Anderson, Frank Auth, John Azznara, Jack Bynum, Matthew Chasen, Nicklas Clemente, Simon Close, Graydon Cook, Lianna Culp, Chris Delamater, Connor Filardo, Andrew Ford, Madison Freeman, Ali Galezo, Casey Gell, Jake Heitmann, Skye Horgan, and Erin Kelly.
Also encountering a violent storm and abandoning ship, are 7th graders: Mariah Kozik, Lindy Labriola, Elizabeth Lansbury, Philip Lewis, Julie Marcinak, Nikki Matros, Olivia Mennillo, Kady Neill, Hannah Penner, Sarah Rodzevik, Robby Schartner, Nicholas Shiskoff, Libby Simone, Ander Stebe- Glorious, Richard Stiehl, Justin Voelp, Chloe Wareham- Gordon, and Skyler Young.
Twenty-six 8th grade students comprise the cast of Much Ado about Nothing, set in the city of Messina in Sicily: Andre Adams, Max Bass, Gavin Brower, Dylan Culp, Bryant Dain, Ray DiFrancesco, Matt Donovan, Kyle Downey, Jacqui Ferguson, Frankie Fusco, Aaron Harris, Ryder Hine, Wil Hoffman, and Mac Horgan.
The story of two very different sets of lovers, 8th graders, also participating, include: Trevor Kirwan, Sasha Kleszy, Lucas Lahey, Rose Mackey, Judge Mastrantone, Elle Parkin, Jack Quigley, Elizabeth Richter, Amanda Rodak, Sam Stafford, Justin Toribio, and Sal Yannitelli.
The 7th and 8th grade middle school students gratefully acknowledge the contributions of their English teacher, Ian Berger for his guiding vision in this production; Allison Mitchell and the Mighty Theater Company for her instruction in theater history and basic theater terms and exercises; the Board of Education of the Garrison School and the Arts-In-Education Committee for their continued encouragement of curriculum based arts programming; the Garrison Children's' Education Fund for the financial support in the form of a grant for the services of the Mighty Theater Company; and all the teachers, staff, and parents volunteers from the Garrison School who have made this 7th and 8th grade middle school production of An Evening with Shakespeare possible.
Middle school students will hold a dress and technical rehearsal on Wednesday, April 9, 2008, at 1pm, which will be open to the younger students attending the Garrison School.
Philipstown community members are cordially invited to attend An Evening with Shakespeare, on Thursday, April 10, 2008, at 7:30pm in the Garrison School. The first presentation will be the 7th grade students' production of The Tempest, with a 15-minute intermission, followed by Much Ado about Nothing, the 8th grade students' production. Refreshments and snacks will be sold during this intermission as a benefit for the 8th grade trip. An Evening with Shakespeare is expected to last approximately one-and-a-half hours in length. It is free and open to the public.
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