Summer Farewell

The wind blew cold,
Autumn was coming with red and gold.
I had lots to do,
The days grew shorter I knew it was true.
-By Eve Neuhart (in fifth grade)

Yesterday was my last day of summer and my final Midsummer Night's Dream performance. I've had a very good summer and although I'm sad that it's over, I also feel like I accomplished a lot. I have grown so much. I am more confident of who I am.
The play was extremely fun and it was so sad saying goodbye to all my new fairy friends! I hope I can do it again next year. I already miss hearing the lines from on stage while I sit playing cards backstage. The "Oh"s and "But what say I, no Thisby do I see!"s. It was such a fun experience!
Theatricum has taught me so much over the years, but never as much as this year. I learned more about acting and Shakespeare, as well as how to play the flute in front of people. It is a home away from home to me, and I know it will always be that way. My directors and teachers are my family I feel like I can trust them and their judgement. Overall, I just feel so thankful to Theatricum for all it has done for me over the years! I'd be a different person if not for it, and I highly doubt that person would be anywhere as good as the me of today. Thank you so much for all you've done, my directors, teachers, student, and most of all Theatricum, , the place, for welcoming me into your branches.
Goodbye lovely summer. I will not forget you in a hurry. Welcome autumn. Welcome school, tenth grade and the rest of my life. Welcome, and goodbye.

As You Like It

On Saturday, Ventana and I went to see another play at Theatricum. As You Like It has been one of my favorite Shakespeare plays for some time now. Ever since we did it a couple years ago, it has held a special place in my heart.

The play is the story of young Rosalind. When her father, the Duke, is banished by his brother, Rosalind finds comfort in her best friend, Celia. One day at a wrestling match, she meets one of the competitors, a young man named Orlando who she falls in love with. Before she may see him again, she is banished by her uncle. She dresses like a man and travels with Celia into the forest of Arden.

Ventana and I were ready to go, we had our water bottles, hats, cushions and money for the tickets. Her dad went to get the car keys when he realized that her mom took both sets of keys when she left that morning. Since V lives near Theatricum, we decided to ride bikes, but since our water bottles didn't have tops, we could hold them while riding. So, we had to walk. The show started in 20 minutes, which didn't leave us much time considering we still needed to buy tickets and get good seats. So off we went down the dusty road. Running as fast as we could go with pillows under arm, cap-less water bottles and flip flops. After running for about half a minute we began to walk, we were hot, our sides ached and I could feel blisters coming from the flip flops. It was one of the hardest things I've done all summer. By the time we got to Theatricum, we were sweaty, exhausted and ready to sit. We got good seats for coming at ten minutes before the show.

The play was good, but not amazing. First off, it wasn't set in Shakespearean times, which was a little odd to me. It was set in late 1800's, and it felt very southern. They also had a lot of songs, which I wasn't super happy with. Don't get me wrong, I like songs, it just felt like a little to much. I only have one other complaint and that was the actor who played "Phoebe". I didn't like her portrayal at all. She didn't deliver the lines right and she didn't have a good presence.

The leads were really, really good! It seems that every year there is a play that my teachers, Mike (left) and Willow (left), star in. Their characters always fall in love. Anyways, they were really good! Everything else was well done as well, costumes, other actors, etc.

In the end, it was a good play, and I do recommend it. It was not my favorite production this summer, but it was fun and it was nice to see my favorite play again.

Pictures are thanks to Theatricum.com.

Macbeth

For the past couple of weeks Ventana and I have looked forward to seeing some of the repertory plays at Theatricum. We wanted to see Macbeth, but decided to wait until our teacher Susan Angelo was going to perform the role of Lady Macbeth. We decided to go on Friday (the 15th). Everything was all planned out, I would go with the Ventana and her parents, we would have a "picnic" there and then see the show. That day at camp, Mallin asked if she could join us, and we said yes.
The show was very good. I did Macbeth when I was younger, so it was fun to see a professional version. It was really neat seeing it at night for it added to the play tremendously. The costumes were great as always. While doing the scenes and monologues class I spent a lot of time backstage in the house they use for the plays. During that time I looked a lot at the guys costumes (the girls costumes were upstairs where we weren't allowed). I found one that I liked the most. It is a long stripy, earthy colored shirt with big Shakespeare sleeves, and a vest on top. Once the play began, I realized that the costume belonged to one of my directors, Mike, who was in the show.
The acting in the play was very good! Susan (right) was great, she had a nice strong presence on stage which was perfect for the character. Mike (top left), who played Malcom, was also good. He always seems to play the rather innocent characters, which he is good at! Aaron (top middle), my other director, was also really good! He played Macduff. The only person who I didn't like very much was Macbeth. He just didn't play the part right. During the whole play I had to keep reminding myself that he was Macbeth. He played the part too weak, almost like a beggar, not like the strong and evil king that Macbeth should be.
In all it was a very good play, I recommend it!

Pictures are thanks to Theatricum.com.

Scenes and Monologs

Yesterday we had our performance of the scenes and monologue high school group at Theatricum. Camp was really different than the previous years, and yet it was still really fun! I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did. It was a good mix of fun theater games, Shakespearean life and vocal warm ups.

I didn't know anything about the play "Twelfth Night" from which my monologue is from. I had heard that it was a fun play and I was excited to work on my monologue. We found out that we would be spilt into three groups for our monologues, each would be working with a different director. I would be working with Aaron, which I was reasonably happy about. I've had Aaron as a fencing teacher for many years now. He's one of the teachers that I've known the longest. We started out by reading our monologues on stag in front of everyone else in our group. I was un-happy that Ventana was not in my group, but I was also looking forward to getting to know new people. I began to read the monologue the way I thought I would be said, in a sort of comedic, storytelling way. Aaron stopped me and asked if I knew what the monologue was about. In the end, it turned out that it was in the opposite direction as how I had originally interpreted it.

I was extremely excited to work on my scene, not only because Ventana was in my group, but also because my director was Mike, who is probably my favorite director. He did our last two plays in the youth camp, which have both been great. We all read threw our scenes, then began to block them. It was harder than I expected. I didn't seem to have enough emotion. Besides, my partner was nowhere near the man of my dreams. It was challenging, to say the least. And then there was Mike, he was still my favorite, but he wasn't as cheerful and friendly as before. He was in a bad mood.

We continued to work on the scenes and monologues. The later was going very well, Aaron said I was doing great and I felt good about it. My scene was the opposite. My partner Max would spit when he talked and it often times landed on my face. He would get to close and I would have to step back, which didn't work when I was supposed to love him. Mike's bad mood continued, and over all, it wasn't quite going according to plan. Ventana was also having trouble with her scene. She didn't like her partner Brogan at all, and she had to get thrown to the ground, which she didn't enjoy.

As the weeks past, I made some great friends, old and new. I have known Corinne since we did "Shakespeare's Magic" six years ago, but this is the first year I became good friends with her. We get along really well. She's really nice and likes to talk, which is nice on those mornings when all you want to do is listen. Since she loves to bake she decided to bring different cookies everyday to camp. She brought tons of tasty treats like apple oatmeal cookies, or Russian tea cakes, or chocolate cookies cooked around a Hersey's kiss. They were all very very yummy. I can't wait to visit her bakery once she gets one!

Another friend I made was Julia. I first I thought Julia was one of the annoying girls who I never get along with, but I soon got to know her and found that I got along with her quite well. She is really sweet and has a gentle way about her. Although she is going into twelfth grade, she didn't feel any older. She was in my scene group and soon we became good friends. She to had a scene partner who she was not very happy about. I'm happy because Julia is in Taming of the Shrew with me, so I will see her again soon!

In the end, all is well that ends well.

We had a great performance. I did my scene better than ever and my monologue was very good! I had a ton of fun and I will miss everyone a lot!