The Pilot News - A ‘twist’ on Shakespeare

This year’s play, says Shafer, is a bit different. The play opens with two modern students – played by Devon Binion and Ed Rzepczynski – discussing Shakespeare with their teacher and expressing predictably dubious attitudes about the worth of a long-dead European playwright. As the conversation transpires, scenes from two of the bard’s best-known works, “Romeo and Juliet,” and “Macbeth,” are played out on the stage and around the gymnasium-theater. The first half of the play showcases key scenes from the productions in their original language and context. The latter half, however, allows Monterey students to explore their creative sides and reimagine the plays as they themselves might have written, with understandably humorous and unusual results.
One example came during the climax of “Macbeth,” when two main characters whipped out “Star Wars” style “lightsabers,” the character of Macbeth himself (played by Jacob Kinchler) donning a Darth Vader mask as “Star Wars” theme music plays in the background. Lane Larsen, playing MacDuff, ponders the value of vanquished Macbeth’s crown on Ebay.
Kinchler enjoyed the experience. Not terribly familiar with Shakespeare before his experience in Shafer’s class, Kinchler concludes that “he’s pretty cool.”
Caleb Dehning, who plays the part of Romeo, says he “knew the basic idea (of “Romeo and Juliet”) from people that quoted lines from it in movies and stuff, but that’s the only thing. I know more about it now.”
“People think Shakespeare is boring,” continues Dehning. “But he’s actually quite interesting. This play changed my opinion.”
Like Dehning, Sara Bottorff, Lady Macbeth in the play, is interested in acting in the future. “I didn’t know a lot about Shakespeare. I know a lot more now, and it’s pretty awesome.”
“When I first started these plays,” says Shafer, “I did it as a challenge for a small group of students. However, it slowly began to expand into a whole class project…first off, I personally feel that many stories nowadays come from Shakespeare plays, and it could be good for students to see the connection. The stories themselves can be interesting.”
“Secondly,” he continues. “I think it is important for students to learn how to speak in public; it’s a skill they will need forever. It’s (also) a neat way for the students to see a connection between social studies, reading, language, etc. The fourth reason -- and in some ways, most importantly -- I wanted these students to know that they could do anything. I tell the kids every year that sometimes they will come across a problem, some trouble, something in their lives that will seem insurmountable. They will always have something that will be hard to deal with. I will then tell them that in life, some people see performing Shakespeare as one of the most difficult things to do.”
He has seen students come out of their shells over the years and develop a sense of pride and self-worth as a result of involvement in the Shakespeare production. “I just recently talked to a student who was in the play 12 years ago,” he notes, “and she still remembers her lines (and) what happened the night of the play…it’s a neat feeling to have that impact.”
In spite of a rough start this year due to bad weather and illnesses, Shafer says all of the students learned their lines and worked together to accomplish a common goal, one of the most gratifying aspects of the productions for him. He hopes that the students will derive gratification – and a few life lesson’s – from putting in hard work to make something difficult happen. “When they are finished with the play, they can always say, for the rest of their lives, that they have performed Shakespeare. When they come upon something difficult, they can always realize that they did something that many people consider difficult, and they survived and made it through.”