tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49800994988028069682024-03-13T11:48:07.516-07:00Teaching Will: The Shakespeare Club<b>What school kids give me that Hollywood can't.</b><br>
As a volunteer, I created The Shakespeare Club, an after-school program for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. Together we grapple with the Bard, life and each other. These are the tales.Mel Ryanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11010321179422448635noreply@blogger.comBlogger426125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980099498802806968.post-5708137956585688842015-01-08T06:00:00.000-08:002015-01-08T06:00:01.780-08:00Ease<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2YaVbSUNcK8/VK4P5xHW1xI/AAAAAAAAD3A/06421P1tk9s/s1600/grouchy%2Bbear.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2YaVbSUNcK8/VK4P5xHW1xI/AAAAAAAAD3A/06421P1tk9s/s320/grouchy%2Bbear.jpg" /></a></div>
<blockquote><i>Our doubts are traitors<br>
And make us lose the good we oft might win<br>
By fearing to attempt.<div style="text-align: right;"><font size="1"></i><i>Measure for Measure</i> Act I, Scene IV</div></font></blockquote>
<p>2014 was an important year for me, with the publication of my memoir, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Teaching-Will-Shakespeare-Hollywood-Couldnt-ebook/dp/B00M0WW4OG/ref=as_sl_pc_tf_til?tag=melrya-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=2BNG5HQQNV37PEWK&creativeASIN=B00M0WW4OG" target="_blank">Teaching Will: What Shakespeare and 10 Kids Gave Me That Hollywood Couldn't</a></i>.
<p>I began 2014 filled with resolve and a serious resolution defined by one word: <i>ease</i>.
<p>I was well aware of the mood swings and pitfalls the publishing business could throw writers into and I was determined to avoid that angst. I would meditate every day and do yoga five times a week. I would flow like a river over any bumps or disappointments. I would sustain a giggly <i>joie de vivre</i> and not let that other stuff get me down. No, sir.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-irl4o2zYoCY/VK4PmilNQOI/AAAAAAAAD24/4XOwJv7tZFs/s1600/yellow_brick_road.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-irl4o2zYoCY/VK4PmilNQOI/AAAAAAAAD24/4XOwJv7tZFs/s200/yellow_brick_road.jpg" /></a></div><p><i>Ease.</i> Ease on down the road. Oh yes.
<p>Here's how that went:
<p>I failed. Miserably and consistently. It got to me. The disappointments and the scary what-if-the-book-flops scenarios plagued me daily and the only thing that improved as my moods sank were my headstands. I did so much yoga that I'm as much at home upside down as I am right-side up.
<p>However, around the house, my husband noticed that I'd stopped humming. That there was barely anything or anyone that escaped my scathing criticisms. I'd read the morning news and make catty remarks about politicians, entertainers, and all those other writers getting top-notch press. I'd pick out typos in the newspaper and snarl. Worse, I'd gripe at my husband for tiny infractions. I was not my best self and certainly not someone you'd describe as "at ease with herself."
<p>Here's what I learned in 2014: When I feel inadequate, when I think that I'm a loser and see myself as a junk heap, I'm intolerable and I pick fights.
<p>And I'm not alone in this. When many of us believe that we are less, we take it out on the world. And when those signs show up, there are only a couple of ways I know of to end the grouchies. Starting with: Talk about it and declare what's going on in a solid voice: "I feel like a pile of rubbish."
<p>Working with kids I often heard:<br>
"Ms. Ryane! He's picking on me!"<br>
"Ms. Ryane, tell her to stop!"<br>
"Ms. Ryane, Ms. Ryane, he's bugging me!"<br>
<p>And I get it. Someone's not feeling so good about themselves and acting out. If it's taken me into adulthood to piece this together, what do we expect of children?
<p>It's not enough to yell, "Stop it. Cut it out right now!"
<p>No one can give someone self-esteem. None of us can repair others' damaged psyches. But we can talk about it and get them to talk about it. Out loud. In solid voices.
<p>Generosity is often born of a sense of well-being, but that state can be fleeting. The other solution for grumps is to act benevolent even on days when we feel like crap. Taking even one step to aid another can levitate our sorrow. This, too, we can help kids learn.
<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uHbXVNPNL7s/VK4P_-UmkEI/AAAAAAAAD3I/COr_s4CG6Ws/s1600/a.baa-Dog-helping-cat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uHbXVNPNL7s/VK4P_-UmkEI/AAAAAAAAD3I/COr_s4CG6Ws/s320/a.baa-Dog-helping-cat.jpg" /></a></div>
<p>So, here we are in 2015, in fine fettle because it's all so new and fresh and possible. I've downgraded my resolution to something more reasonable: Use less water.
<p>Somedays I fail.
<p><br><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YUZDZPmjihw/Sm4SuNs6ilI/AAAAAAAAALM/s2lVVgWlAiw/s1600-h/pencil.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 75px; height: 75px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YUZDZPmjihw/Sm4SuNs6ilI/AAAAAAAAALM/s2lVVgWlAiw/s200/pencil.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363244791406168658" /></a><center><b>CHILDREN'S WRITES:</b> A Journal Entry</center><blockquote><i><b><span style="font-family:verdana;"><p>I learned that I can do anything I like I can be anyone I want I learned that I can do Shakspear.
<p>Well when I was performing in Shakspear I was nerves and scared my fingernails were sweting and I when I saw all the students I was scared. I didn’t think I could do the hole play and when I did my part my legs were shaking and I though was not gowing to live.
<p>Well when I was scared up there I just went for it and did my best I was proud of my self when I did my lines.</span></blockquote></i></b><div style="text-align: right;">—Celia, 5th grade</div>
<p>Mel Ryanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11010321179422448635noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980099498802806968.post-70568602648314868142014-12-23T06:00:00.000-08:002015-01-07T21:08:18.207-08:00Finding the Light<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jWtxC93G5Vc/VJeY0Soor9I/AAAAAAAAD18/SL6w7V3hQ34/s1600/6a00d83451b71f69e20162fe1a7fa1970d-800wi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jWtxC93G5Vc/VJeY0Soor9I/AAAAAAAAD18/SL6w7V3hQ34/s320/6a00d83451b71f69e20162fe1a7fa1970d-800wi.jpg" /></a></div>
<blockquote><i>'Twas a rough night.<div style="text-align: right;"><font size="1"></i><i>Macbeth</i> Act II, Scene III</div></font></blockquote>
<p>An acquaintance recently told me she and her family were off to Ohio for the holidays. They hadn't been home for Christmas in nine years. This is in keeping with recent surveys telling us that holiday travel is up this year. Trains, planes and automobiles are gassed and ready to go.
<p>I wonder why. The economy hasn't improved that much, and yes, oil prices have dropped, but airline tickets haven't. What gives?
<p>This is only speculation, but I suspect it's because 2014 was a pretty crap year. You were there, you saw the headlines and the heartbreak. Much of our world mayhem was human-made but, of course, Mother Nature kept up her share of the calamity. It got to the point that opening my laptop, unrolling the newspaper or clicking on the TV would cause my stomach to clutch. Every day I brace for more horrible news of devastating illness, missing planes, acts of terrorism, more guns fired, bone-chilling cyber wars, or all those hurt children. As a global community we are walking around in a near constant state of dismay.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZKPP3dZXtTo/VJebHYp0AvI/AAAAAAAAD2I/YjYOq8ZGhQY/s1600/christmas-tree-with-lights-outdoors-in-carson-ganci.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZKPP3dZXtTo/VJebHYp0AvI/AAAAAAAAD2I/YjYOq8ZGhQY/s200/christmas-tree-with-lights-outdoors-in-carson-ganci.jpg" /></a></div><p>Maybe this is why we want to gather and return to the familiar. To hug a little closer and laugh a little louder. Maybe we need to share delicious food across tables with those we know and recall sweeter times.
<p>I can't wait to say "So long!" to 2014.
<p>So what to do? How can we hope for better in 2015? We seem to be in a battle of mythic proportions between light and dark — and dark is taking the lead. This is the base camp of our deepest fear, that the light will lose to the dark.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wCLItqGdcoI/VJebcanjBPI/AAAAAAAAD2Q/SB5ZxxDgI4M/s1600/6a00d83451b96069e20128765bcce4970c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wCLItqGdcoI/VJebcanjBPI/AAAAAAAAD2Q/SB5ZxxDgI4M/s200/6a00d83451b96069e20128765bcce4970c.jpg" /></a></div><p>Let us gather and celebrate our Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Year's Eve with the familiar. Let us find strength and fortitude, then let us branch out. Perhaps if we move into the unfamiliar and challenge ourselves, we can fan the light.
<p>I was recently told this: <i><b>Neuroscientists say one of the best things you can do for your brain is step out of your comfort zone, generating new brain circuitry and nourishing healthy neuro-plasticity.</b></i>
<p>It can start small. Read a book to a kid you don't know, praise a stranger, carry a grocery bag to somebody's waiting trunk, I don't know, I'm spitballing here — but I do know this, there is a fountain of youth and well-being in the act of reaching out. I can tell you firsthand that the more difficult the undertaking, the greater the reward. It should be a little uncomfortable to climb a new mountain.
<p>I wonder if more of us did more good for more strangers that we could whip up the embers of light and win.
<p>I wish you a tender-hearted holiday season and a new year of health, adventure and giving.
<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jv5oCAtrWSM/VJebzJFxTUI/AAAAAAAAD2Y/XgTHJNBdiGc/s1600/IMG_5436.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jv5oCAtrWSM/VJebzJFxTUI/AAAAAAAAD2Y/XgTHJNBdiGc/s320/IMG_5436.JPG" /></a></div>
<p><br><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YUZDZPmjihw/Sm4SuNs6ilI/AAAAAAAAALM/s2lVVgWlAiw/s1600-h/pencil.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 75px; height: 75px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YUZDZPmjihw/Sm4SuNs6ilI/AAAAAAAAALM/s2lVVgWlAiw/s200/pencil.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363244791406168658" /></a><center><b>CHILDREN'S WRITES:</b> A Journal Entry</center><blockquote><i><b><span style="font-family:verdana;">It’s a wonder I haven’t abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart. It’s utterly impossible for me to build my life on a foundation of chaos, suffering and death. I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more.</span></blockquote></i></b><div style="text-align: right;">—Anne Frank, July 15, 1944</div>
<p><font size="1">last photo from <a href="http://www.gulfportsunrise.com/2011/10/dawn-flight.html" target="_blank">Gulfport Sunrise</a></font>
<p>Mel Ryanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11010321179422448635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980099498802806968.post-60906509985350857712014-11-06T17:13:00.000-08:002014-11-06T17:14:03.977-08:00An Age-Old Story<p><p>Stop me if you've heard this:
<p>An elderly parent, quite possibly losing his faculties, engages in domestic discord with his offspring. The adult children quibble with the parent and each other as property is divvied up and brain marbles plop out and roll across the shiny floors of a manse.
<p>It's almost impossible these days to avoid news articles on Alzheimer's, dementia, living wills and how to have "that talk" with an aging parent. As it turns out, the Elizabethans dealt with similar issues and our old pal, William Shakespeare, wrote it down in <i>King Lear</i>.
<p>Of course, the Bard being the Bard, he escalates the plot to dizzying heights. Sisters fight over a lover, spike drinks with poison, send old friends into the stocks and yank out eyeballs. As with all of Shakespeare's tragedies, the audience is left to count up the bodies.
<p>It's great fun to watch other families handle their business so errantly.
<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-U4pn8iLdtvc/VFwTpJTzZlI/AAAAAAAAD1g/bOdgp2Gh4TE/s1600/KING-LEAR-Shakespeares-Globe-Tour.-Photo-by-Ellie-Kurttz..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-U4pn8iLdtvc/VFwTpJTzZlI/AAAAAAAAD1g/bOdgp2Gh4TE/s320/KING-LEAR-Shakespeares-Globe-Tour.-Photo-by-Ellie-Kurttz..jpg" /></a></div>
<p><p>I had the pleasure of attending opening night of the <a href="http://www.thebroadstage.com/en/Performances/Theater/Productions/king_lear/" target="_blank">Globe Theatre's production of <i>King Lear</i> at the Broad Stage</a> in Santa Monica. In keeping with the original style of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre — which, by the way, burned down because real cannon fire was used in the war scenes — this production is set on a rustic stage without lighting changes. The actors and the audience are lit as if they are all gathered on a sunny day in London circa 1607.
<p>This production of <i>King Lear</i> was directed by Bill Buckurst, with only eight actors playing all the parts. I applaud the sheer energy and imaginative approach of this production. Lear's youngest daughter, Cordelia, is all one hopes the character to be in the hands of Bethan Cuillinane. Astonishingly, this same actor takes on the task of playing the Fool. With vocal and physical changes she clambers all over the King, teasing and pulling off some very tricky Shakespearean jokes.
<p>Her duplicitous sisters, Goneril (Gwendolen Chatfield) and Regan (Shanaya Rafaat) gambol about the stage singing, playing musical instruments, and additionally taking on many male roles.
<p>Bill Nash, as the loyal Kent, is committed to giving his all, as is Daniel Pirrie, having a whale of a time as the evil Edmund. These actors also play multiple roles, with the slipping on of a hat, cloak and dialect adjustment. They are matched equally in skill and with a brazen attack on the text by Alex Mugnaioni as Edgar and John Stahl as the tragic and blinded Gloucester.
<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eEdvARFOE0U/VFwWkSx7rwI/AAAAAAAAD1s/HHoLPK82IxU/s1600/ShakespeareGlobe1_426x426.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eEdvARFOE0U/VFwWkSx7rwI/AAAAAAAAD1s/HHoLPK82IxU/s320/ShakespeareGlobe1_426x426.jpg" /></a></div>
<p><p>Topping off this adept and gifted cast is Joseph Marcell as the lord himself, King Lear. Marcell embraces the madness of a man losing his mind, his family and his royal status. His constant swerving and surprising choices had me agape and transfixed. Where would he go next? What would he do now?
<p>No acting decision Marcell makes is expected, right down to his skewed and oh-so-human entrance carrying (spoiler alert!) the dead Cordelia. She is splayed in his arms as if he'd seized her off the floor in a moment of emotional reckoning.
<p>A signature scene of <i>King Lear</i> is the storm sequence, and we're used to seeing this with all the high-tech bells and whistles modern theatre can provide. Not here. Not for the Globe Theatre, no siree. Every actor participates in creating the sounds of rain, thunder and swishing gales — yet I'm pretty certain I saw soaking-wet, windblown characters. Magnificent.
<p>This acting ensemble provides universally strong performances, which is no mean feat because they are asked to do so much. Opening and closing the show, the actors joined together in a rousing, foot-stomping song that had me feeling transported through time as a likely groundling cheering for more blood, guts and family wrath.
<center>♦</center>
<p><p>The production runs until November 16th. The <a href="http://www.thebroadstage.com" target="_blank">Broad Stage</a> offers a 20% discount for weekday tickets: code LEAR.
<p><font size="1">photos by Ellie Kurttz</font>Mel Ryanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11010321179422448635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980099498802806968.post-84425860429515653672014-11-04T06:00:00.000-08:002014-11-04T08:30:57.808-08:00Everybody Has a Story<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C-8HkbiHYDA/VFfjFcD00lI/AAAAAAAAD0w/QEx17kDLgEA/s1600/walki-078-707330.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C-8HkbiHYDA/VFfjFcD00lI/AAAAAAAAD0w/QEx17kDLgEA/s320/walki-078-707330.jpg" /></a></div>
<p><p>I have a confession:
<p>As autumn and winter settle in and early darkness descends, I enjoy evening neighborhood strolls because I spy. Yes, with my little eye, I spy.
<p>Sometimes a family shouting over each other as they gather for dinner, or a lone fellow plucking strings on a guitar, or a couple in their armchairs watching a widescreen TV spilling images of the day's news. And I wonder about these people. I wonder if their dreams are fulfilled and if their disappointments are bearable because I know they each have a compelling story.
<p>
Recently, I guest taught a Shakespeare workshop to eleven-year-olds at an elementary school. Two sixth-grade classes gathered in a single classroom to participate. There was one teacher present. I began by storytelling Hamlet and his need for revenge. Once I'd completed my synopsis I said, "Pencils up! Five minutes, write about a time when you wanted revenge....Now, go!"
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IZzmUsHDK4Y/VFfj4Uc5QxI/AAAAAAAAD04/VpjUavHuj5k/s1600/4762384399_f126047d2b_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IZzmUsHDK4Y/VFfj4Uc5QxI/AAAAAAAAD04/VpjUavHuj5k/s200/4762384399_f126047d2b_b.jpg" /></a></div><p>And they did, fast and furious, scribbling away as the minutes ticked by. Then I extended an invitation for them to share their writing aloud. You can imagine there were lots of BFF betrayals, and many sibling grievances, and terrible parental misunderstandings, all wholly unfair and deserving of revenge.
<p>Then there was Alisha. A dark-haired girl in a yellow T-shirt with her tentative arm raised.
<p>"Would you like to read what you've written?" I asked.
<p>"Yes," she said, looking down at the paper clutched in her fingertips. "But I might cry."
<p>"Okay," I held up a tissue box. "I'm ready, if you are. Go for it."
<p>Alisha's sister had died. And Alisha wanted revenge on the drunk driver who killed her sister.
<p>The tears came. The kids stared. The teacher was frozen in place because this wasn't her student, she did't know this girl and hadn't heard this story.
<p>I moved toward Alisha with a handful of tissues and an arm ready to pull her close.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2Adu1jdjmik/VFfkUwJQ8II/AAAAAAAAD1A/xDJuiYlYRCI/s1600/teacher_training.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2Adu1jdjmik/VFfkUwJQ8II/AAAAAAAAD1A/xDJuiYlYRCI/s200/teacher_training.jpg" /></a></div><p>Are teachers trained for these moments? Are there practice sessions for such unexpected, shocking tales? I was thrust into a scenario of <i>"Think fast and don't mess up!"</i>
<p>With my arm around Alisha's shoulders, I addressed the class because, above all, a teaching moment had presented itself. The kids' eyes were wide; they weren't sure what to do with this very real-life story.
<p>"Alisha has demonstrated huge courage and we understand why she would want revenge."
<p>What I witnessed next was a wave of empathy rising, en masse, from Alisha's peers.
<p>"And here's the thing about art, " I continued. "Every dancer, singer, painter, musician, writer or actor has to have courage because their work carries their personal story. We don't just play Hamlet like he's some other guy. We play him as if he is us. We have to identify with his pain, his anger and his desire for revenge. Not everyone can do this. That's what makes the artist unique. The courage."
<p>The tears were wiped, the nose was blown and a friend of Alisha's took her to the bathroom. Other children read their revenge stories and my hour with them came to a close. As I was bidding farewell, Alisha and her friend returned from the bathroom.
<p>I took Alisha's face in my hands and said, "I wonder if you noticed that when you shared your writing, how much power you had? I wonder if you noticed that everyone listened and everyone cared? Your courage and your power will always stand by you, Alisha."
<p>Yup, everybody has a story.
<p>Shakespeare just wrote them down. Really, really well.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cp7iVXk8Lms/VFflOzj4JoI/AAAAAAAAD1M/K45uh-cgE3E/s1600/Find-Your-Courage_031613.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cp7iVXk8Lms/VFflOzj4JoI/AAAAAAAAD1M/K45uh-cgE3E/s200/Find-Your-Courage_031613.jpg" /></a></div>
<p><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YUZDZPmjihw/Sm4SuNs6ilI/AAAAAAAAALM/s2lVVgWlAiw/s1600-h/pencil.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 75px; height: 75px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YUZDZPmjihw/Sm4SuNs6ilI/AAAAAAAAALM/s2lVVgWlAiw/s200/pencil.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363244791406168658" /></a><center><b>CHILDREN'S WRITES:</b> A Journal Entry</center><blockquote><i><b><span style="font-family:verdana;"><p>My characters name is Lord Capulet and he lives in Verona. He wants his daughter Juliet to mary a man named cout Paris. In the end the gangs learn a lesson. They learn the violence is rong.
<p>This is my second year in the Shakespeare club. I'm not as nervous about the performance as I was last year because I am experienced and that will help me with this performance.
<p>Many people have heard of the story "Romeo and Juliet" but most people don't know what the story is about. And it's mostly kids that don’t know. So the Shakespeare Club gives the kids a chance to perform real plays written by William Shakespeare.</span></blockquote></i></b><div style="text-align: right;">—Cole, 5th grade</div>
<p><font size="1">1: <a href="http://s93883215.onlinehome.us/adamjaneiro/2008/01/is-it-safe-as-if-i-have-to-ask_06.html" target="_blank">Recentering El Pueblo</a>; 2: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/joelmontes/" target="blank">JoelMontes</a> (Creative Commons BY-SA)</font>Mel Ryanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11010321179422448635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980099498802806968.post-4605796271966302442014-08-12T06:00:00.000-07:002014-09-19T03:34:25.690-07:00A Book Is Born<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Teaching-Will-Shakespeare-Hollywood-Couldnt/dp/1939629233/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=melrya-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=B4HDCLGMLG22AWA7&creativeASIN=1939629233" target="_blank" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZoIOXfmbBnM/U-mFhRRLmNI/AAAAAAAADvw/GpRaK3vOVqQ/s400/cover_RGB_400.jpg" /></a></div>
<p><p>In 2006, I wrote a memoir about my first year creating and running the Shakespeare Club at a Los Angeles public school.
<p>In 2007, I met a literary agent who read my manuscript, called me to say it was "fresh, solid, original and delicious" — who the heck doesn't want to hear that? — and said she wanted to represent the book to publishers.
<p>In 2008, the Great Recession hit and the book was not picked up by any editors.
<p>In 2009, my agent suggested I start a blog — this very site — and I did, publishing posts about my fourth, fifth, and sixth years of running Shakespeare Club.
<p>In 2013 — wonder of wonders — a publishing house wanted <b><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Teaching-Will-Shakespeare-Hollywood-Couldnt/dp/1939629233/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=melrya-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=B4HDCLGMLG22AWA7&creativeASIN=1939629233" target="_blank">Teaching Will: What Shakespeare and 10 Kids Gave Me That Hollywood Couldn’t</i></a></b>.
<p>In 2014 — on August 12 — that book is born.
<blockquote><i>The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars<br>
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
<div style="text-align: right;"><font size="1"></i><i>Julius Caesar</i> Act I, Scene II</font></div></blockquote>
<p>I'm not claiming to be remotely close to the genius of Shakespeare, but we have at least one thing in common: He had to bide his time, and I identify. He started as a water boy in the theatre. He had to run around doing errands for the higher-ups, all the while watching and listening to the works of others.
<p>Then the Black Plague hit, theatres were closed and he holed up in a turret, writing poems for cash. William Shakespeare kept writing while he was forced to be patient. He honed his craft and we reap the benefits. I wonder...I wonder if he knows that over 400 years later, how many of his plays are on stages all over the world, every single minute of every single day?
<p>I hope he does.
<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZsreCQov6_g/U-mJ_AnhLXI/AAAAAAAADv8/bN5n1OcWyyY/s1600/shakespeare-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZsreCQov6_g/U-mJ_AnhLXI/AAAAAAAADv8/bN5n1OcWyyY/s200/shakespeare-4.jpg" /></a></div>
<p><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YUZDZPmjihw/Sm4SuNs6ilI/AAAAAAAAALM/s2lVVgWlAiw/s1600-h/pencil.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 75px; height: 75px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YUZDZPmjihw/Sm4SuNs6ilI/AAAAAAAAALM/s2lVVgWlAiw/s200/pencil.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363244791406168658" /></a><center><b>CHILDREN'S WRITES:</b> A Journal Entry</center><blockquote><i><b><span style="font-family:verdana;">Shakespeare is fun. I like it because Shakespears words are so so pretty. I also like the plays romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Misdummers Night dream. Shakespeares words are so butiful and pretty did I mention that already. I joined the Shakespeare Club for two years because the shakespeare club sonded very fun.</span></blockquote></i></b><div style="text-align: right;">—Emilia, 4th grade</div><br /><p>Mel Ryanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11010321179422448635noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980099498802806968.post-83912183779577841262014-05-15T06:00:00.000-07:002014-05-15T18:26:57.453-07:00Juliet of the Subway<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TEuVfLjykVo/U3P4qFcDgwI/AAAAAAAADtY/77s333Wl2Rk/s1600/index.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TEuVfLjykVo/U3P4qFcDgwI/AAAAAAAADtY/77s333Wl2Rk/s320/index.jpg" /></a></div>
<p><br>It happened this week.
<p>It happened this way.
<p>So I'm told by my friend, the writer Heather Summerhayes Cariou ("<a href="http://www.sixtyfiverosesthebook.com/" target="_blank">Sixtyfive Roses: A Sister's Memoir</a>").
<p>Heather was on a NYC subway train, seated near two middle-school girls. The teens were huddled together and poring over a book. One girl read aloud to the other. This alone was a sweet picture, but what were they reading with such intensity?
<p>Heather leaned forward, hoping to glimpse the book's cover. Writers do this. We live, in hope, that our book may be the one in hand. We live, in hope, that any book will be in hand. As more and more commuters read Tolstoy on their smartphones, it becomes more difficult to gauge what the public is eating up word-wise.
<p>Heather was delighted to see the girls gobbling up a modern adaptation of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." Their interest made sense since Juliet is close in age to these teens, and Juliet is crazy in love with a teenage boy, and Juliet's parents would flip right out if they knew of her crush. Yup, there's a lot going on there for a couple of New York City teens to grasp.
<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mj-CmYYz1CA/U3P_k0V8arI/AAAAAAAADtk/RvlT1S_y3sg/s1600/starrynightsky1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mj-CmYYz1CA/U3P_k0V8arI/AAAAAAAADtk/RvlT1S_y3sg/s200/starrynightsky1.jpg" /></a></div>Maybe Heather sat back and recalled her own discovery of Juliet. Heather might have been remembering her days in theatre school working on the role of Juliet. She may have smiled to think of how easy it was to identify with Juliet's passion for the boy Romeo since Heather herself had gone a little cuckoo for a certain tall young man.
<p><br>In the confluence of a heart's memory on a city train and a young girl spouting the story to her friend, Heather slightly lost her mind. As the train neared her stop she stood, faced the girls, and said:
<p><center><i>Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,<br>
Take him and cut him out in little stars,<br>
And he will make the face of heaven so fine<br>
That all the world will be in love with night<br>
And pay no worship to the garish sun.</center></i>
<p><br>Heather told me this story and described the middle-school girls' dropped jaws at this middle-aged American woman briefly transforming into a teenage Italian girl in love. With perfect timing, Heather finished the speech and stepped onto the platform as the subway doors shooshed and closed behind her.
<p>"It was like you were with me, Mel," Heather told me.
<p>"And now you know the feeling," I answered. "Oh yes, kids get Shakespeare, all right."
<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jiBTD8_tGXo/U3QEtSPm3jI/AAAAAAAADtw/npHR8HJLkqw/s1600/Juliet_-_Philip_H._Calderon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jiBTD8_tGXo/U3QEtSPm3jI/AAAAAAAADtw/npHR8HJLkqw/s200/Juliet_-_Philip_H._Calderon.jpg" /></a></div>After Heather told me her story I imagined those two girls rocking on the subway train, wondering if their Romeos would ever show up. And I imagined my friend wending her way home with thoughts of how many Romeos it took to find her one true Romeo.
<p><br>Oh, William Shakespeare, here's to you at 450 years of age, continuing to entrance and inspire everywhere, all the time.
<p><br><p><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YUZDZPmjihw/Sm4SuNs6ilI/AAAAAAAAALM/s2lVVgWlAiw/s1600-h/pencil.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 75px; height: 75px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YUZDZPmjihw/Sm4SuNs6ilI/AAAAAAAAALM/s2lVVgWlAiw/s200/pencil.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363244791406168658" /></a><center><b>CHILDREN'S WRITES:</b> A Journal Entry</center><blockquote><i><b><span style="font-family:verdana;">What I learned today is that Romeo didn't want the name Romeo Montague because he liked Juliet Capulet and the Montagues and Capulets had war.
<p>The prince said "We must stop this fighting".
<p>The Capulets and the Montagues fighting remines me of my mom and dad.
<p>William Shakespere was telling us about themes because people just can fight and fight until their son or daughter dies.
<p>My character is Juilet. She lives in a castle.</span></blockquote></i></b><div style="text-align: right;">—Belinda, 3rd grade</div>
<p><br>Mel Ryanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11010321179422448635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980099498802806968.post-36621434019256359002014-02-11T06:00:00.000-08:002014-02-11T06:00:04.376-08:00I Get It<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DREsDntzUzY/UuwlGtXSNuI/AAAAAAAADsc/1qOBiinZ-7E/s1600/william-steig-how-would-you-feel-if-the-mouse-did-that-to-you-new-yorker-cartoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DREsDntzUzY/UuwlGtXSNuI/AAAAAAAADsc/1qOBiinZ-7E/s400/william-steig-how-would-you-feel-if-the-mouse-did-that-to-you-new-yorker-cartoon.jpg" /></a></div>
<p></p><p>A few years ago I strolled past a fourth-grade classroom where a word had been tacked up:
<p><center><i>EMPATHY</center></i>
<p></p><p>with little kid essays hanging below.
<p>I stopped cold because I hadn't learned the value of this word when I was nine. <i>Oh no</i>, I didn't learn the value of this word until I was well...<i>well</i> into adulthood and my therapist pointed out I was lacking in <i>empathy</i>.
<p>"But my yoga handstand is improving..." I argued.
<p>She delivered the steady gaze all psychotherapists must practice in therapy school.
<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g6vMKngGGbM/UuwpaPF5x8I/AAAAAAAADss/04_Gxn77tz4/s1600/altruism.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g6vMKngGGbM/UuwpaPF5x8I/AAAAAAAADss/04_Gxn77tz4/s240/altruism.jpg" /></a></div>
<p></p><p>In the lower-middle-class suburban home where I was raised, empathy was not on display. Instead, we lived with these behaviors:
<p><center><i>CRITICISM
<p></p><p>DEVALUATION
<p>DISPARAGING
<p>MOCKERY</center></i>
<p></p><p>Sympathy showed up in our household in chats about the circumstances of a neighboring family struggling more than we were. We felt sorry for those people. We grimaced at their lot. And we stayed distant as if touching would be contagious.
<p>This is not empathy. It's not even good sympathy.
<p>Empathy evokes compassion. Empathy is putting ourselves into someone else's shoes. Empathy is the kind ear of identification.
<p>Maybe these words are a road map to empathic behavior:
<p><center><i>OBSERVATION
<p></p><p>FEELING
<p>ACKNOWLEDGEMENT</center></i>
<p></p><p>Here's what that fourth-grade teacher knew:
<p><center><i>We are never too young to reach beyond ourselves in empathy.</center></i>
<p></p><p>Here's what I know:
<p><center><i>We are never too old to reach beyond ourselves in empathy.</center></i>
<p></p><p>Here's what we both know:
<p><center><i>Empathy can and should be taught at every age.</center></i>
<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yg9PJ8KYQ1E/UuwpP4PaG2I/AAAAAAAADsk/FMPWiPST_aw/s1600/empathy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yg9PJ8KYQ1E/UuwpP4PaG2I/AAAAAAAADsk/FMPWiPST_aw/s320/empathy.jpg" /></a></div>
<p></p><p><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YUZDZPmjihw/Sm4SuNs6ilI/AAAAAAAAALM/s2lVVgWlAiw/s1600-h/pencil.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 75px; height: 75px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YUZDZPmjihw/Sm4SuNs6ilI/AAAAAAAAALM/s2lVVgWlAiw/s200/pencil.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363244791406168658" /></a><center><b>CHILDREN'S WRITES:</b> A Journal Entry</center><blockquote><i><b><span style="font-family:verdana;">I feel lonely at home then I read a book then I feel more lonely.
<p></p><p>The meaning of lonely is being somewere without people talking to you, not being with you, and most of the time when you are lonely you are sad.</span></blockquote></i></b><div style="text-align: right;">—Kate, 4th grade</div>
<p>Mel Ryanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11010321179422448635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980099498802806968.post-82025556934396652422014-01-25T06:00:00.000-08:002014-01-25T06:00:04.345-08:00And a Child Shall Lead Them<p></p><p>I've been to my share of school meetings led by union presidents, school supervisors, politicians, principals, teachers and parent leaders of booster clubs.
<p>I've heard my share of the rally cries, and those cries are more often than not:
<p><center><b><i>"It's all about the kids! We must keep our focus on the children!"</center></b></i></p>
<p></p><p>Yippee, right on, you bet, and down with the sourpuss who doesn't agree with and espouse this credo, this battle cry for change and advancement in all aspects of educating the next generation.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9YlRs7QVUGU/UuLP7W7ECcI/AAAAAAAADrQ/uXocl_h_6IM/s1600/Free-the-children-leaders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9YlRs7QVUGU/UuLP7W7ECcI/AAAAAAAADrQ/uXocl_h_6IM/s200/Free-the-children-leaders.jpg" /></a></div><p><i>A-hem.</i>
<p>That's me clearing my throat.
<p><i>Blink.</i>
<p>That's me shaking my head.
<p><i>Ah-choo.</i>
<p>That's me with a sneeze and a thought.
<p>For many years, when I ran The Shakespeare Club, filled with eager-beaver kids willing to leap the high bars of the Bard, our club was bullied by a teacher who, for whatever reasons, devalued our work.
<p>This teacher did lots of things to stand in the way of our efforts and I'm not going to whine on and on to promote sympathy because that's not the gist of this story.
<p>I will tell you <i>one</i> of this fellow's habits: his practice of delaying students for 30 to 40 minutes after class. He specifically liked to hold back the ten Shakespeare Club members on our meeting days.
<p>Now, I only had 18 weeks of Shakespeare Club meetings per year and each meeting only lasted two hours, so if you added it up I was losing a lot of time with these children, they were losing a lot of their rehearsal time, and other members were losing their acting partners.
<p>Of course, I tried with Mr. Teacher. I flattered, I made deals, I begged, I stood at the class door while he (with his feet crossed on his desktop) shrugged, smirked and said, "They like me!"
<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xoeuxg9huek/UuLROpU-fAI/AAAAAAAADr8/j15HZvoznP4/s1600/PROTEST.GIF" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xoeuxg9huek/UuLROpU-fAI/AAAAAAAADr8/j15HZvoznP4/s320/PROTEST.GIF" /></a></div><p>I pled with parents, the principal and the booster club for help. I suggested they form an army and stand outside the fifth-grade classroom at 2 p.m. every Wednesday and usher the students out.
<p>"Because," I argued, "isn't it all about the kids? Isn't everything we're doing here about advancing education, encouraging maturity, awakening awareness? Shouldn't we teach the importance of commitment to the team?"
<p>The kids...isn't it all about them?
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pj3iHB3MubE/UuLRZMelcEI/AAAAAAAADsE/3CY9EbN8yQc/s1600/teamwork+clip+art.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pj3iHB3MubE/UuLRZMelcEI/AAAAAAAADsE/3CY9EbN8yQc/s320/teamwork+clip+art.jpg" /></a></div><p>Here's the irony.
<p>During my last year with this school, as the club neared Performance Day and a huge chunk of the fifth-graders' practice had been eaten up by this teacher, I looked up one Wednesday at 2 p.m. to find all the fifth-graders walking into Shakespeare Club on time.
<p>"Whoa...hey...great to see you guys," I said. "What happened?"
<p>
"Well, Ms. Ryane," said Ellie, who looked to have grown an inch or two that week, "we just said, 'We have to go now.' We just said, 'It's Shakespeare Club, Mr. Davis, and we have to leave.'"
<p>"Then what happened?"
<p>"Nothing. We're here is all."
<p>Yup.
<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VaTB5IsG6Q8/UuLRl3Cp5sI/AAAAAAAADsM/u1ZkYNAc-Fk/s1600/DSC_0848a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VaTB5IsG6Q8/UuLRl3Cp5sI/AAAAAAAADsM/u1ZkYNAc-Fk/s320/DSC_0848a.jpg" /></a></div>
<p></p><p><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YUZDZPmjihw/Sm4SuNs6ilI/AAAAAAAAALM/s2lVVgWlAiw/s1600-h/pencil.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 75px; height: 75px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YUZDZPmjihw/Sm4SuNs6ilI/AAAAAAAAALM/s2lVVgWlAiw/s200/pencil.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363244791406168658" /></a><center><b>CHILDREN'S WRITES:</b> A Journal Entry</center><blockquote><i><b><span style="font-family:verdana;">Shakespeare is fun. I like it because Shakespears words are so so pretty. I also like the plays romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Misdummers Night dream. Shakespeares words are so butiful and pretty did I mention that already. I joined the Shakespeare Club for two years because the shakespeare club sonded very fun.</span></blockquote></i></b><div style="text-align: right;">—Emilia, 4th grade</div>
<p><font size="1">1st photo from <a href="http://www.seedsandfruit.com/2010/05/craig-kielburger-childrens-rights-leader/" target="_blank">Seeds and Fruit</a></font>Mel Ryanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11010321179422448635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980099498802806968.post-802323070550669622013-12-20T06:00:00.000-08:002014-01-31T15:01:15.101-08:00Book It<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jVzzg5vIov8/UrNQWh3oAFI/AAAAAAAADqI/IBrY8StlPaM/s1600/underwood5small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jVzzg5vIov8/UrNQWh3oAFI/AAAAAAAADqI/IBrY8StlPaM/s320/underwood5small.jpg" /></a></div></p>
<p>Way back in 2005 I started an after-school Shakespeare program for little kids. The idea grew from two sources:
<p>1. I was disturbed at high statistics of kids dropping out of school because they couldn't read;
<p>2. I was creatively starved and needed a place to be.
<p>By 2006 I'd written a memoir of my first year with The Shakespeare Club.
<p>By 2007 in a heady swirl I was signed by a New York literary agent.
<p>And then....
<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wOwgynkAymU/UrNR14uBzGI/AAAAAAAADqU/3PGvVFC_64Q/s1600/Waiting_for_the_President.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wOwgynkAymU/UrNR14uBzGI/AAAAAAAADqU/3PGvVFC_64Q/s320/Waiting_for_the_President.jpg" /></a></div></p>
<p>I ran the Shakespeare program for six years, I started this blog in 2009 to chronicle my adventures with the kids and I waited and waited as a recession took grip of the economy and my book didn't sell.
<p>I learned for the billionth time that nothing happens in our time frames.
<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HYngJREFEs4/UrNWRur5AhI/AAAAAAAADqg/PKoRgYDDmZM/s1600/if-you-were-waiting-for-a-sign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HYngJREFEs4/UrNWRur5AhI/AAAAAAAADqg/PKoRgYDDmZM/s320/if-you-were-waiting-for-a-sign.jpg" /></a></div></p>
<p>I kind of forgot about the book. I kind of gave up. I kind of moved on.
<p>Last August while in New York City I met my agent for dinner.
<p>She said, "I have some interesting news."
<p><i>TEACHING WILL: What Ten Kids Gave Me That Hollywood Couldn't</i> sold in August 2013 to Familius Press with a planned release of autumn 2014.
<p>I'm currently waiting for editorial notes. And waiting for two of my novels to sell. And waiting for Santa to come down the chimney.
<p>Note to self: NOTHING ever happens in your time frame. Give it up.
<p>But kind of hang on too.
<p><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YUZDZPmjihw/Sm4SuNs6ilI/AAAAAAAAALM/s2lVVgWlAiw/s1600-h/pencil.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 75px; height: 75px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YUZDZPmjihw/Sm4SuNs6ilI/AAAAAAAAALM/s2lVVgWlAiw/s200/pencil.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363244791406168658" /></a><center><b>CHILDREN'S WRITES:</b> A Journal Entry</center><blockquote><i><b><span style="font-family:verdana;">I would like a life of peace. Because my mom always says that she wants peace. When she gets her peace she feels better. I also want peace because I want a good job, a good family, food to put on the table and I want to be able to pay my rent. Most of all I love Peace. I like me too! Me me me me me Peace peace peace peace me me me me peace peace peace peace me me me me
<p></p><p>I learned things while being the narrator. One thing I learned was that when I am on stage try not to laugh at the people who are acting funny parts. Another thing I learned that don’t be jumpy be centered. Ms.Ryane says that is cheesy. Before we did our last performance Ms.Ryane had us say "I am centered I am focused."</span></blockquote></i></b><div style="text-align: right;">—Belinda, 4th grade</div>
<p>
<font size="1">typewriter photo from <a href="http://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/" target="_blank">The Classic Typewriter Page</a></font>Mel Ryanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11010321179422448635noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980099498802806968.post-83125421395074787432013-02-26T06:00:00.000-08:002013-02-26T06:00:01.756-08:00From the Galaxy: Quvenzhané Wallis<p><center><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4iQw9nhjKtQ/USp4E_BKR_I/AAAAAAAADec/4CbQ5usjt1c/s1600/Quvenzhan%C3%A9-Wallis-Beasts-of-the-Southern-Wild-e1360750195193.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4iQw9nhjKtQ/USp4E_BKR_I/AAAAAAAADec/4CbQ5usjt1c/s320/Quvenzhan%C3%A9-Wallis-Beasts-of-the-Southern-Wild-e1360750195193.jpg" /></a></center></p>
<p>This sometimes happens. A breathtaking talent sent from the stars to become a star among us. A supersonic arrival delivered to shake us up and make us wonder if, indeed, reincarnation exists. Because this child, this actor, this wonder landed on our movie screens full to the brim with something to say and the instrument to say it.
<p>As if she'd burned up the stages of Europe in another era and wasn't finished. As if she demanded an encore and, five years after being (re)born in Houma, Louisiana, shouted, "I'm ready. Bring it on. I'm taking on the Western hemisphere."
<p><center><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f6d0xk1Plzg/USp4FH_uL1I/AAAAAAAADek/gBWQbgSK_Qg/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f6d0xk1Plzg/USp4FH_uL1I/AAAAAAAADek/gBWQbgSK_Qg/s320/images.jpg" /></a></center></p>
<p>Quvenzhané Wallis is the star of Benh Zeitlin's visual jewel BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD. It is inconceivable to imagine the film without her. This is not to say she's not surrounded by talent — to be sure she is, most notably in a performance by Dwight Henry as her father — but it's this child's ferocity and immediacy that hold each frame in place and hold our hearts tight.
<p>In an interview, Henry claims she would give him direction on the set. "Do it this way," she would say, then show him. In an even slightly older actor such behavior would be conduct unbecoming, but from a tiny girl one can forgive and be amazed.
<p><center><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S9mJ5dk44AE/USp4E6HnpfI/AAAAAAAADeY/Q3YN0Jf4bDw/s1600/Quvenzhane-wallis-dwight-henry-beasts1.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S9mJ5dk44AE/USp4E6HnpfI/AAAAAAAADeY/Q3YN0Jf4bDw/s320/Quvenzhane-wallis-dwight-henry-beasts1.jpg" /></a></center></p>
<p>I'm ambivalent about Wallis receiving an Oscar nomination. On the one hand, of course she deserves the honor and the red-carpet attention for her work. On the other hand, I fear for her future in the hands of Hollywood handlers.
<p>This gifted actor was born for center stage with qualities that are unteachable. It's impossible to teach an actor to have an emotional instrument. It's there or it isn't. It's impossible to give an actor timing. It's there or...it isn't. However, these qualities in her are still unrefined. If this bundle of talent sets sail without developing her craft, it would be heartbreaking. And there's the rub.
<p>Hollywood is about profit. Wallis is now nine years old and a commodity. Hollywood managers, agents, directors, producers and studio heads tend to think, <i>Don't damage the goods</i>. There's an archaic view in the industry that raw ability will lose its punch or spontaneity in an acting class.
<p>This opinion is infuriating. First and foremost, because she'll need the armor of craft to see her through a career. There are too many working directors who don't actually understand what an actor does or is capable of doing because they've never studied the craft. She'll need to know how to play her instrument like the Stradivarius it is. She'll need technique to give her backbone, to hold her strong and steady in the heady clouds of the Hollywood Hills.
<p>I wish we could collectively embrace her in a blanket of protection. I hope she's being advised by one of the few smart ones in this town. I want her to fly as an actor for years and years, not just this year or next.
<p>Quvenzhané Wallis is already gold. She doesn't need the statue. Not yet.
<p><center><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8yz-bYYDTpU/USp4FLuo-lI/AAAAAAAADeg/6O4Kzydm87s/s1600/2082f91b9b234521220f6a706700447b.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8yz-bYYDTpU/USp4FLuo-lI/AAAAAAAADeg/6O4Kzydm87s/s320/2082f91b9b234521220f6a706700447b.jpg" /></a></center></p>
Mel Ryanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11010321179422448635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980099498802806968.post-85761712691606649532012-06-12T06:00:00.000-07:002012-06-12T06:00:16.118-07:00Free to Leave<p><center><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--sTdsLm_JL8/T9U0IOw9aEI/AAAAAAAADd4/_BMYFBu3zuo/s1600/DSC_7410a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="213" width="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--sTdsLm_JL8/T9U0IOw9aEI/AAAAAAAADd4/_BMYFBu3zuo/s320/DSC_7410a.jpg" /></a></center>
<blockquote><i>Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor: suit the action to the word, the word to the action....<div style="text-align: right;"><font size="1"></i><i>Hamlet</i> Act III, Scene II</div></font></blockquote><p>2012 marks the seventh season of The Shakespeare Club and the first year of the club without me.
<center><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_uc7xvlhqpA/T9Unw20M9bI/AAAAAAAADdE/oNte6i_EQLs/s1600/DSC_7401a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="212" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_uc7xvlhqpA/T9Unw20M9bI/AAAAAAAADdE/oNte6i_EQLs/s320/DSC_7401a.jpg" /></a></center>
<p><br>I watched from the sidelines as Rachel, who had assisted the club for three years, took the reins and hit the trail. I helped where I could from my new position in the background. I gave Rachel a weekly curriculum with the admonition that she should tweak and toss as she saw fit. I gave her templates for letters to parents, teachers and the principal. But mostly I gave Rachel encouragement to venture forth into the role of director because I knew she would succeed.
<p>On May 24, 2012, I attended two of the Shakespeare Club's performances of "Much Ado About Nothing."
<p>It was, I promise you, much ado about something. My eyes teared up to see little actors wrestling with big text. My heart leapt as they discovered power. And I sighed with the surety that the club can and will go on.
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<p><br>The Shakespeare Club was an idea formed in 2005. A thought, a musing and an experiment...but it was never mine to keep. It was a seed meant to grow.
<p>And it has. This was a relief. It can blossom anywhere, under different auspices and different leadership. This is most heartening.
<center><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zkKzKNfPJJE/T9UoYY3zxZI/AAAAAAAADdc/SHdIpNfdGD0/s1600/DSC_7405a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zkKzKNfPJJE/T9UoYY3zxZI/AAAAAAAADdc/SHdIpNfdGD0/s320/DSC_7405a.jpg" /></a></center>
<p><br>At the end of last year I told the children I was leaving to travel and write. I have spent 2012 doing exactly that.
<p>To sit in the audience and bear witness to the club flourishing was pure satisfaction. The kernel of an idea that popped into my head in the middle of the night seven years ago was worth pursuing, nurturing and passing forward.
<p>When Rachel ran onstage after the final performance to embrace her cast and crew, I recognized the enormity of their pride. Olympians, all of them.
<p>Here's what it took:
<ul><li>1. Community support.
<li>2. An adapted script.
<li>3. Will.</ul>
<p>That's all: <i>Teaching Will</i>.
<p><i>You</i> can do this.
<center><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P5CR-mInMx8/T9Um4fP4ETI/AAAAAAAADc4/1ggmPbg_tJE/s1600/DSC_0135a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="213" width="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P5CR-mInMx8/T9Um4fP4ETI/AAAAAAAADc4/1ggmPbg_tJE/s320/DSC_0135a.jpg" /></a></center>
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YUZDZPmjihw/Sm4SuNs6ilI/AAAAAAAAALM/s2lVVgWlAiw/s1600-h/pencil.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 75px; height: 75px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YUZDZPmjihw/Sm4SuNs6ilI/AAAAAAAAALM/s2lVVgWlAiw/s200/pencil.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363244791406168658" /></a><center><b>CHILDREN'S WRITES:</b> A Journal Entry</center><blockquote><i><b><span style="font-family:verdana;">Yes, I fifilled my goal because even though I didn't get the part I wanted to, the part I got I made him into a real person.
I learned that Shakespeare was a grat person that wrote plays and was married and that he had kids. I also learned that Henry the 8 had 6 wives and remember all 6 I did, Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived.</span></blockquote></i></b><div style="text-align: right;">—Kamili, 5th grade</div>
<p>Mel Ryanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11010321179422448635noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980099498802806968.post-21307052125931930892012-04-24T06:00:00.000-07:002012-04-24T06:00:04.862-07:00An Open Book<p><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<blockquote><i>O, cut my lace in sunder, that my pent heart<br>
May have some scope to beat....<div style="text-align: right;"><font size="1"></i><i>Richard III</i> Act IV, Scene I</div></font></blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7iLw5aONbm0/T5TfYcFCidI/AAAAAAAADcs/L9kdkkzRt0M/s1600/mendelsohn_1-022411___jpg_470x418_q85.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="132" width="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7iLw5aONbm0/T5TfYcFCidI/AAAAAAAADcs/L9kdkkzRt0M/s200/mendelsohn_1-022411___jpg_470x418_q85.jpg" /></a></div><p>In addition to gathering critical acclaim, the AMC series "Mad Men" is introducing a new generation of women, many of whom loathe the moniker <i>feminist</i>, to the lives of women in another time.
<p>And as "Mad Men" is to advertising, so Janice "Jenny" Van Horne's memoir, "A Complicated Marriage" (Counterpoint Books), is to the mid-century era of modern American art.
<p>I am crazy about this book. What young person leaping into adulthood doesn't wonder <i>Who am I?</i> and <i>What's going to happen to me?</i> Jenny Van Horne took me on a adventure that recalled my own questions and my own search. I was with her all the way through both the pain and exuberance of life in the city, in the country and coast to coast.
<p>In compelling fashion, Van Horne takes her readers by the hand and, beginning in 1955, leads them decade through decade on a fascinating odyssey of time, place, culture and a marriage as modern as the art on the walls.
<p>Jenny arrives in Manhattan as a Bennington graduate and at a cocktail party meets Clement Greenberg, the man who would become her partner and husband — and pariah to her anti-Semitic family.
<p>Greenberg, an art critic many considered the best of his generation and perhaps of all time, was the man behind the artists who drove American modern art on to the world stage. These artists exploded like rockets into the stratosphere, and holding tight to their tails were their wives.
<p>Quiet women at the ready to prop up their geniuses as the Scotch and vodka flowed and self-importance rattled forth. One of these wives took to humming as the men jabbered. Was she quelling her own madness?
<p>In an ironic turn, many of these artists' wives have found their power as artists' widows. They are now the guards at the gate and the curators of the work. Now they can be heard. Now they can be respected.
<p><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dCzJBD7h-H8/T5Te72ZSWZI/AAAAAAAADcU/I7Ja7G5Veo8/s1600/arts-graphics-2006_1174295a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="231" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dCzJBD7h-H8/T5Te72ZSWZI/AAAAAAAADcU/I7Ja7G5Veo8/s320/arts-graphics-2006_1174295a.jpg" /></a></div><center><i>Jackson Pollock</center></i>
<p><br>Van Horne quietly slips into the milieus of Greenwich Village, East Hampton and Provincetown. Jammed into the smoky atmosphere of Pollock, de Kooning and Kline, she paints delicious verbal pictures for us. We join her in tasting, hearing and feeling the silent desperation of a woman in search of purpose.
<p>Once engaged, Clem informs her they'll marry "as long as nothing changes" and announces they'll enjoy an "open marriage." Of course, everything changes, and the concept of an open marriage is as foreign to this young wife as are the dazzling paint splashes of Jackson Pollock. Small wonder that <i>"Hey there, you with the stars in your eyes..."</i> became their song.
<p>At acting classes at the HB Studio, then under the prickly scrutiny of Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio, Jenny Van Horne finds her voice. As <i>ensemble</i> theatre takes hold, with actors and audience grappling in drug-induced protest against the war in Vietnam, she finds place. Change happens. Clem introduces the freedom of that open marriage and Jenny follows with her own experiences and unearths self.
<p><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HOIHgvCBd54/T5Te8MSC9CI/AAAAAAAADcc/IjZf5DjpyUw/s1600/morris-louis-31a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="226" width="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HOIHgvCBd54/T5Te8MSC9CI/AAAAAAAADcc/IjZf5DjpyUw/s320/morris-louis-31a.jpg" /></a></div><center><i>Morris Louis</center></i>
<p><br>Jenny Van Horne's roles as wife, mother, actor, singer, writer, editor and witness transport us from the fifties through the nineties and into a new millennium, where introspection and forgiveness are offered.
<p>Van Horne and Greenberg marry, divorce and marry again. Whatever drew them together in 1955 anchors the twosome to the end. It can be a tricky business to grow as an individual within the institution of marriage and I can't say this book convinced me that an open marriage is the ticket. However, I was left with the sense that Jenny and Clem knew themselves, respected and accepted each other and nurtured a deep affection...over a very long time.
<p>On completion of this vivid read I wondered, "What now, Jenny Van Horne?" because I wanted more. More words, more pages, more people....<i>What now, Jenny Van Horne?</i>
<p>She may well whisper, "Live your own life." And this too is the signature of a good book.Mel Ryanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11010321179422448635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980099498802806968.post-68858159377402087802012-04-17T06:00:00.008-07:002012-04-17T06:00:03.828-07:00Fear Not<p><br><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vXex5dMwj-A/T4tD-grA5gI/AAAAAAAADaw/6xNDQJLwGsc/s1600/045043878fe6d8090b0f6a706700bd6b.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 236px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vXex5dMwj-A/T4tD-grA5gI/AAAAAAAADaw/6xNDQJLwGsc/s320/045043878fe6d8090b0f6a706700bd6b.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731749691960387074" /></a><blockquote><i>Present fears<br />Are less than horrible imaginings.<div style="text-align: right;"><font size="1"></i><i>Macbeth</i> Act I, Scene III</div></font></blockquote><br />A couple of years ago in the Shakespeare Club, I staged "Macbeth" with ten-year-olds playing the royally ambitious Him and Her.<br /><br />Even younger kids played other heroic roles and all of them digested the plot as we discussed the moral choices of Shakespeare's characters.<br /><br />Let me emphasize these were elementary public school children reading, journaling and acting out this bloody drama.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SHTzMeotm_0/T4tD_E_BzDI/AAAAAAAADa8/t2isoFUVXV0/s1600/shakespeare-must-die.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 261px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SHTzMeotm_0/T4tD_E_BzDI/AAAAAAAADa8/t2isoFUVXV0/s320/shakespeare-must-die.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731749701708008498" /></a><br />Leaders in Thailand have decided their adult population cannot handle "Macbeth" and have banned a film about a theatrical company performing the play.<br /><br />The film's director, Ing Kanjanavanit, is as dismayed — as any in the free world might be — to have learned that higher-ups are afeared her updated, relevant telling might incite "divisiveness among the people of the nation."<br /><br /><blockquote><i>Art thou afeard<br />To be the same in thine own act and valour<br />As thou art in desire?<div style="text-align: right;"><font size="1"></i><i> Macbeth</i> Act I, Scene VII</div></font></blockquote><br /><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57409344/thailand-bans-macbeth-adaptation-as-too-divisive/" target="_blank">Thailand bans "Macbeth" adaptation as too divisive</a> (AP/CBS News)<br /><p>Mel Ryanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11010321179422448635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980099498802806968.post-73942653601821199302012-02-28T06:00:00.006-08:002012-02-28T06:00:12.570-08:00Say Amen to Theatre<p><br><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XNKh8MptWCc/T0vahoYGm8I/AAAAAAAADaY/Z_9TjLGQPyI/s1600/cool%2Bshakespeare.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 234px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XNKh8MptWCc/T0vahoYGm8I/AAAAAAAADaY/Z_9TjLGQPyI/s320/cool%2Bshakespeare.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5713900823558659010" /></a><br />A line of a hundred and five students filed by, pausing to make quick knee dips. For an instant I had an impulse to bow in return, but of course they weren't genuflecting to me. They were honoring the man of the house as they'd been trained to do.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YyiLMzx4WIg/T0vZ_xXUtlI/AAAAAAAADZ0/rAS9gTNPZl0/s1600/DSC_4014.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YyiLMzx4WIg/T0vZ_xXUtlI/AAAAAAAADZ0/rAS9gTNPZl0/s320/DSC_4014.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5713900241855755858" /></a><br />I'd been invited to teach two hour-long Shakespeare workshops at a local Catholic School. A last-minute venue change had to be made as the result of a water main breakage flooding their auditorium. Would I mind using the church?<br /><br />Mind? With those acoustics? It's the next best place to a theatre. So, in they came, the first group consisting of third-, fourth- and fifth graders — an age group I was familiar with after six years of Shakespeare Club. <br /><br />I'd designed an interactive curriculum of <i>Calm</i>, <i>Curious</i> and <i>Courageous</i>, three items found in an actor's toolbox. We started with meditation, followed with writing and finished up with sharing their words and reading a scene aloud. <br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fQqyRpSslXY/T0vaADKBWTI/AAAAAAAADaA/4wkjVvXVm_o/s1600/DSC_4067.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fQqyRpSslXY/T0vaADKBWTI/AAAAAAAADaA/4wkjVvXVm_o/s320/DSC_4067.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5713900246631799090" /></a><br />For this first group I covered the Bard's life, the lives of Elizabethans, the plague and some of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Boys in the audience groaned at the idea of Elizabethan-era boys wearing dresses, and girls found it unfair girls back then couldn't be actors. <br /><br /><i>If I was an Elizabethan girl, I would like it that I didn't have to go to school</i>, one child wrote. <i>I would like to be at home to cook and sew.</i><br /><br />I gave them the prompt OBEY, as Hermia was being asked to do. "When did you have to obey? What happened when you obeyed?"<br /><br />"I wrote about Hermia," a small girl said by my side up at the altar. <i>If I was Hermia I wouldn't obey. I would run away with Lysander.</i><br /><br />"Wait a second, have you read this play?"<br /><br />No.<br /><br />"That's exactly what Hermia does. You should play Hermia."<br /><br />The older kids — sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders — filed in for the second session. I was now into fresh territory. The atmosphere rang, <i>Cool, so cool, way too cool for this stuff.</i><br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-reubTqh43ig/T0vaAQdnXPI/AAAAAAAADaM/boiduB4o1LM/s1600/DSC_4187.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-reubTqh43ig/T0vaAQdnXPI/AAAAAAAADaM/boiduB4o1LM/s320/DSC_4187.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5713900250203643122" /></a><br />"I want to tell you about this kid...he's a teenager with a wrecked hand and a lousy foot, and if that weren't bad enough he's got a crummy hump on his back. It's not his fault, he was just born this way. Imagine this teenager, Richard, stumbling around the cafeteria looking for a place to eat while other kids call him a 'bottled spider' and 'bunch-backed toad.' Anyone here ever feel like they didn't fit in, or weren't cool enough, or that other people were calling them names?"<br /><br />A couple of hands went up.<br /><br />"To all of you with your hands up I say, You may well be a writer, an actor, a director, a painter or musician — because artists have to understand what hurts."<br /><br />More hands flew up.<br /><br />With this group I covered themes of <i>Power</i>, <i>Revenge</i> and <i>Love</i>. They wrote but were less than eager to share. The first time I asked only one boy stepped forward.<br /><br /><i>I would like to have power to make my own decisions about things. I would like to make my own choices but I would probably make terrible decisions</i>, David read aloud.<br /><br />"I think we can all identify with what David has written. Who wouldn't like to decide whether or not to attend school, or to sleep in, or what to eat? But David, I don't agree with the last part of what you wrote. Look out here. See all these kids, your classmates?"<br /><br />Nod.<br /><br />"You're the only one, of all these hundred kids, brave enough to come up here and share. You've already made a brilliant decision."<br /><br />And so it went with Hamlet's need for revenge, Viola and Sebastian's search for love and Macbeth's lust for power. Jaws hung open as tales of murder and bloody gloves shared a space usually reserved for God's word.<br /><br />More kids wanted to share their writing. More hands flew up to read aloud a scene with Hamlet and Gertrude or Viola and Olivia. <br /><br />A young fellow bravely read to us of love for those in his life who had passed on.<br /><br />It doesn't seem fair a thirteen-year-old should have to write of death. There's something wrong with a child losing loved ones and yet, if anyone would have understood, it would be William Shakespeare. <br /><br />What I could offer these kids was power. The power to be understood, to be heard and to be acknowledged. Anywhere, anytime...who doesn't want that?<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1yTLcp9qA8E/T0vah8ck2RI/AAAAAAAADag/ext0LOhflR8/s1600/shakespeare.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1yTLcp9qA8E/T0vah8ck2RI/AAAAAAAADag/ext0LOhflR8/s320/shakespeare.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5713900828946127122" /></a><br /><p>Mel Ryanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11010321179422448635noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980099498802806968.post-26529973895488892752012-01-13T06:00:00.000-08:002012-01-13T06:00:03.813-08:00An Interview: Carina<p><br><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m5makPA4fcc/TwEdfP7ySdI/AAAAAAAADYg/hB99atgvJcA/s1600/DSC_3618a.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m5makPA4fcc/TwEdfP7ySdI/AAAAAAAADYg/hB99atgvJcA/s320/DSC_3618a.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692863826663459282" /></a><br /><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">carina</span>: Um, my name is Carina and I'm in third grade and I played Tom Snout and in the play within the play I played the Wall.<br /><br /><b><i><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">mel</span>: Why did you audition for Shakespeare Club, Carina?</b></i><br /><br />I auditioned because I like to act and perform in front of audiences.<br /><br /><b><i>What surprised you about Shakespeare Club?</b></i><br /><br />Um...yoga.<br /><br /><b><i>You didn't think we would do that?</b></i><br /><br />Yeah...'cause I knew that yoga would help sometimes when you perform onstage but I never thought that you would do it.<br /><br /><b><i>Do you think it's important....Do you think we should do it at all?</b></i><br /><br />Um...yeah, I think we should do it because it helps you be calm before we act onstage...it helps me learn my lines...it helps me think of them in my head when I do yoga.<br /><br /><b><i>What do you think about the meditation part we start with?</b></i><br /><br />I like it because, um, it warms up my mouth and it helps me enunciate.<br /><br /><b><i>What do you think about our rules and mottos?</b></i><br /><br />I like them...I think they're right because a lot of actors whine and they don't have the courage to be silly. <br /><br /><b><i>What did you learn about you this year?</b></i><br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Z1NvGXQkMwk/TwEdfECP89I/AAAAAAAADYo/9bc1oWv5__4/s1600/DSC_3629a.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Z1NvGXQkMwk/TwEdfECP89I/AAAAAAAADYo/9bc1oWv5__4/s320/DSC_3629a.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692863823469343698" /></a><br />I learned that I'm one of the kids who actually can do Shakespeare because some people think that kids can't do Shakespeare.<br /><br /><b><i>Did that surprise you about yourself?</b></i><br /><br />Yes, very much.<br /><br /><b><i>What did you think about Performance Day?</b></i><br /><br />Cool...and I thought it came out pretty well.<br /><br /><b><i>What was your favorite performance?</b></i><br /><br />Um...probably the last one because that one you gave us all the notes and we remembered them and then we didn't need any other notes because it was the last one.<br /><br /><b><i>Were you nervous performing in front of the other kids in the school?</b></i><br /><br />Um...no. Because I act a lot and I usually don't really get nervous.<br /><br /><b><i>What do you like about acting?</b></i><br /><br />I like that I can be other characters...not just me...like I can be Tom Snout.<br /><br /><b><i>What were you proud of with this play?</b></i><br /><br />I'm proud that I actually learned about Shakespeare because I didn't know who Shakespeare was before I came here.<br /><br /><b><i>Do you have any tips to make Shakespeare Club better?</b></i><br /><br />Well, sometimes some actors were saying other actors' lines and they shouldn't really do that.<br /><br /><b><i>You mean while they were onstage?</b></i><br /><br />Yeah.<br /><br /><b><i>Do you know what that's a sign of? Because sometimes adult actors do that too.</b></i><br /><br />What?<br /><br /><b><i>It means they're not really listening to the other actor.</b></i><br /><br />Oh.<br /><br /><b><i>What do you think Tom Snout's goal was in the play? What did he want?</b></i><br /><br />He wanted to, um...make the King and Queen happy when they saw the play.<br /><br /><b><i>What do you want to be when you grow up?</b></i><br /><br />An actor...no an actress...an actor...no an actress, yeah. <br /><br /><b><i>I think they're the same thing. If you wanted to be a doctor no one would say, "Oh, Carina wants to be a doctress."</b></i><br /><br /><i>[Carina laughs]</i><br /><br /><b><i>What kind of acting would you like to do?</b></i><br /><br />I'd like doing things that show up on TV.<br /><br /><b><i>What do you think an actor's job is?</b></i><br /><br />To stay focused and perform for the audience.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CKdd7Mo1eS4/TwEdfVEVvpI/AAAAAAAADY4/GqXBtDjfoUc/s1600/DSC_3634a.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CKdd7Mo1eS4/TwEdfVEVvpI/AAAAAAAADY4/GqXBtDjfoUc/s320/DSC_3634a.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692863828041514642" /></a><br /><p>Mel Ryanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11010321179422448635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980099498802806968.post-70991572174687762432012-01-10T06:00:00.000-08:002012-01-10T06:00:10.634-08:00A Word from the Wise<p><br>I was in emotional turmoil leaving The Shakespeare Club. The jumble of rage and sadness made for sleepless nights and bewilderment...until I heard from a sage.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5Tzh12UAUrs/TwEeQbYjo3I/AAAAAAAADZE/s3akOey2Avc/s1600/41644_1050440726_6837_n.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5Tzh12UAUrs/TwEeQbYjo3I/AAAAAAAADZE/s3akOey2Avc/s200/41644_1050440726_6837_n.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692864671550514034" /></a>My friend and writing teacher, Eunice Scarfe, called me for a chit-chat and I poured out the details of my hurly-burly. How unjust the world could be...how crummy...and <i>sniff, sniff</i>...just a sec...<i>blow</i>...and also this and that and...for God's sake!...and did you ever?...and can you imagine? And—<br /><br />"Mel?" Eunice cut me off in a gentle voice.<br /><br />"Yeah?"<br /><br />"It was inevitable."<br /><br />"What? What the...what?!"<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_zzfLuiINkY/TwEecB4KeaI/AAAAAAAADZQ/gabG6tazM-I/s1600/blowing_nose.gif"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 180px; height: 156px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_zzfLuiINkY/TwEecB4KeaI/AAAAAAAADZQ/gabG6tazM-I/s200/blowing_nose.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692864870862191010" /></a>"Look, you're neither a parent at the school nor a district-endorsed teacher. You never had to adhere to state testing. You didn't have to go in every single day to an overcrowded classroom. You were able to teach whatever you wanted, in whatever creative fashion you wished and, for whatever reason, you were able to <i>afford</i> to do it for <i>free</i>. And then it was a success. We are people. Just people with human feelings. The reaction you received from a small minority was inevitable."<br /><br />Eunice's words were sound. They rained over me like balm on my burns. Most especially that word of wisdom: <i>inevitable</i>.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lqYxIaiGUzU/TwEel0jcX0I/AAAAAAAADZc/D7WggyuRJXg/s1600/waterfall_wallpaper_001_1024.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lqYxIaiGUzU/TwEel0jcX0I/AAAAAAAADZc/D7WggyuRJXg/s200/waterfall_wallpaper_001_1024.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692865039084314434" /></a><br />I wished I'd had the common sense to have figured that out earlier and held my stormy experience at bay, but I didn't. I was too caught up. I was self-righteous in my indignation and caused myself more angst than was necessary. But there you have it.<br /><br />The truth is after six years it was time for me to change things up. I have travel and writing I want to do. I have been invited to teach a day of Shakespeare workshops at another school in February. And this week The Shakespeare Club will start a new season under the leadership of Rachel, and it will be a sensation.<br /><br />I created and was given a peerless opportunity. I was able to encourage, inspire and love so many. It was my privilege and I am grateful. That is my takeaway. <br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HOkf-3Xp--E/TwEemP9vC6I/AAAAAAAADZk/6Nut9lB_6PQ/s1600/love4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HOkf-3Xp--E/TwEemP9vC6I/AAAAAAAADZk/6Nut9lB_6PQ/s200/love4.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692865046442347426" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YUZDZPmjihw/Sm4SuNs6ilI/AAAAAAAAALM/s2lVVgWlAiw/s1600-h/pencil.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 75px; height: 75px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YUZDZPmjihw/Sm4SuNs6ilI/AAAAAAAAALM/s2lVVgWlAiw/s200/pencil.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363244791406168658" /></a><center><b>CHILDREN'S WRITES:</b> A Journal Entry</center><blockquote><i><b><span style="font-family:verdana;">My goal for Shakespear Club. My goal was to have the best time of my life. I accomplished my goal. I love being on stage. My fun jorny through education and acting has come to a stop (with Ms. Ryan). I will stay on the Shakespear but Ms. Ryan won't wich makes me sad but we still have Ms. Rachel. Farewell friends of 5th grade. Future 5th graders keep your memerys strong.</span></blockquote></i></b><div style="text-align: right;">Bailey, 4th grade</div><br /><p>Mel Ryanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11010321179422448635noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980099498802806968.post-47010571903641652862012-01-06T06:00:00.000-08:002012-01-06T06:00:14.952-08:00The Volunteering Thing<p><br><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uPq7gjjDTC4/TwEcTxknFwI/AAAAAAAADYI/HOK-6hQnLtw/s1600/33-%257BFED11FE4-E366-48B3-B105-7EAAE443AE4D%257D_school_lunch_1.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 226px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uPq7gjjDTC4/TwEcTxknFwI/AAAAAAAADYI/HOK-6hQnLtw/s320/33-%257BFED11FE4-E366-48B3-B105-7EAAE443AE4D%257D_school_lunch_1.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692862530023003906" /></a><br />It's well documented many prison inmates came from tragic, skewed and messed-up homes.<br /><br />A wrecked childhood can certainly lead to a wrecked adulthood, where anger supersedes all else. <br /><br />On the other hand, it's worth noting how many adults, every single day in every single city, make children's lives better despite their own shattered experiences.<br /><br />I don't know how this happens. How can two people with similar circumstances arrive at opposing lifestyles?<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HmshJ5U89qA/TwEcUDW8C9I/AAAAAAAADYU/S0jMOIqscVc/s1600/giveaway-goodness4.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 165px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HmshJ5U89qA/TwEcUDW8C9I/AAAAAAAADYU/S0jMOIqscVc/s320/giveaway-goodness4.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692862534797495250" /></a><br />A teacher, a coach, a parent...a citizen with little reason to see the upside ventures forth anyway to make some kid's life a better one. <br /><br />It can take so little to offer hope. A smile, a word, an acknowledgment...things will get better because you have worth.<br /><br />It is both bewildering and uplifting to read of these children passing it forward one sandwich at a time. Where did they get this goodness? <br /><br />As we launch into a new year with so much to fear and enrage us...maybe there's time to deliver the gold. <br /><br /><a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2011/dec/27/local/la-me-school-food-drive-20111227" target="_blank">Two fourth-graders find a way to share school's food</a> (LA Times)<br /><p>Mel Ryanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11010321179422448635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980099498802806968.post-12579316136737497932012-01-03T06:00:00.000-08:002012-01-03T06:00:06.224-08:00An Interview: Bailey<p><br><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TcoSAMEIHVw/TwEZ49SVzuI/AAAAAAAADXw/yR-Y-3u-LC0/s1600/DSC_3582a.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TcoSAMEIHVw/TwEZ49SVzuI/AAAAAAAADXw/yR-Y-3u-LC0/s320/DSC_3582a.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692859870287875810" /></a><br /><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">bailey</span>: Hi, I'm Bailey, I'm ten years old and I played the part of Hermia in "A Midsummer Night's Dream."<br /><br /><b><i><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">mel</span>: Why did you audition for Shakespeare Club?</b></i><br /><br />Because I wanted to learn a lot about William Shakespeare and also I love acting so I thought it would be pretty cool to be in the school play.<br /><br /><b><i>So did anything surprise you about the work we did together?</b></i><br /><br />Yes, it surprised me what part I got because I didn't really...it was my first time in Shakespeare Club and I got a really big part and I thought I would get something like Robin Starveling or maybe Snout or Snug....I really didn't think I'd get that big of a part.<br /><br /><b><i>Now, what did you learn about yourself doing Shakespeare Club?</b></i><br /><br />That if you really relate to the character you can maybe add a piece of the character to yourself and now I kind of feel like Hermia and I can think about what Hermia can think because I played that role.<br /><br /><b><i>What do you like about Hermia that you'd want to hold on to?</b></i><br /><br />I liked how she was demanding, like if she wanted something and it affected her life...she wouldn't give up and she would keep on trying until she got what she wanted.<br /><br /><b><i>What was your favorite performance on Performance Day?</b></i><br /><br />Yes, I think that the last one could have been my favorite because I tried my very best because that would be the last "Midsummer Night's Dream" I would do that year and um...and so I tried all my hardest and I think everyone did and so it really made me happy that we did such a good job.<br /><br /><b><i>Was there anything boring for you in Shakespeare Club?</b></i><br /><br />I didn't think it was boring but I thought doing those warm-ups was harder than I thought it would be but it still helped me loosen up and it helped me with my acting.<br /><br /><b><i>Any tips to make Shakespeare Club better?</b></i><br /><br />Um....well...not really. I think it's a really great club and I think it's good enough as it is today.<br /><br /><b><i>What advice would you give another kid about auditioning for Shakespeare Club.</b></i><br /><br />Well, if you're scared about Shakespeare Club performance and you have stage fright just picture the audience in their underwear.<br /><br /><b><i>Is that your trick?</b></i><br /><br />Yes, and it works.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lpSX9QbvOBQ/TwEZ45b5L5I/AAAAAAAADX4/vzn1G2V1Esk/s1600/DSC_3587a.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lpSX9QbvOBQ/TwEZ45b5L5I/AAAAAAAADX4/vzn1G2V1Esk/s320/DSC_3587a.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692859869254201234" /></a><br /><b><i>What do you want to be when you grow up, Bailey?</b></i><br /><br />I want to be an actress on Broadway.<br /><br /><b><i>Why Broadway specifically? Have you seen shows on Broadway?</b></i><br /><br />Yes, "Chicago" and "Wicked" and those are my two favorite plays and now I think "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is my third favorite play.<br /><p>Mel Ryanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11010321179422448635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980099498802806968.post-51183367526239808902011-12-30T06:00:00.000-08:002011-12-30T06:00:07.647-08:00Auld Lang Syne and Stuff<p><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PV9z25IKHQc/Tuz9SkrNdSI/AAAAAAAADXk/drREUpT4Hb0/s1600/party_horn_drawing.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 181px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PV9z25IKHQc/Tuz9SkrNdSI/AAAAAAAADXk/drREUpT4Hb0/s200/party_horn_drawing.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5687198924986479906" /></a><br />2011 was a good year. The Shakespeare Club exceeded all expectations. <br /><br />More little kids now know about William Shakespeare than a year ago. <br /><br />More children have unearthed their own possibilities through acting out the plots of Shakespeare's plays.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E5zrVjVUFsg/Tuz9SJqmqzI/AAAAAAAADXc/-xUEILWmg5g/s1600/new_years_eve.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 132px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E5zrVjVUFsg/Tuz9SJqmqzI/AAAAAAAADXc/-xUEILWmg5g/s200/new_years_eve.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5687198917736180530" /></a><br />I will sleep well, likely dropping off before midnight as usual, and will be ready for 2012.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N1EcQOUEZCQ/Tuz9RxhyWqI/AAAAAAAADXM/BLV1qV4ax-4/s1600/Sleepy_OK_214572K2a.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 154px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N1EcQOUEZCQ/Tuz9RxhyWqI/AAAAAAAADXM/BLV1qV4ax-4/s200/Sleepy_OK_214572K2a.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5687198911256746658" /></a><br />I wish you the same: Great sleeps, better dreams and open hearts to all that 2012 has to offer.<br /><br /><center><b><i>Happy New Year!</center></b></i><br /><p>Mel Ryanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11010321179422448635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980099498802806968.post-87619614332188554812011-12-27T06:00:00.000-08:002011-12-27T06:00:13.220-08:00Hard News: Luck<p><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cZP_OI4YPBI/Tuz8UwbI1qI/AAAAAAAADXA/EW0g6lePYmM/s1600/600full-demian-bichir.jpeg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 274px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cZP_OI4YPBI/Tuz8UwbI1qI/AAAAAAAADXA/EW0g6lePYmM/s320/600full-demian-bichir.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5687197862988404386" /></a><blockquote><i>...the readiness is all.<div style="text-align: right;"><font size="1"></i><i>Hamlet</i> Act V, Scene II</div></font></blockquote><br />Some say luck is when preparation meets opportunity.<br /><br />Demian Bichir, it appears, was ready in body, mind and voice to take on an acting career in the U.S.<br /><br />Raised in a prominent theatre family in Mexico, Mr. Bichir learned the discipline required to tackle Chekov and Shakespeare. When he came to this country, he worked as a dishwasher in New York City while pursuing his dream.<br /><br />Last week, he was nominated in the leading actor category by the Screen Actors Guild for his performance in "A Better Life."<br /><br />Congratulations, Demian Bichir. You have set a great example for so many.<br /><br /><a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/a-better-life/" target="_blank">SAG Awards: Demian Bichir on his surprise nomination</a> (24 Frames/LA Times)<br /><p>Mel Ryanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11010321179422448635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980099498802806968.post-50372307605581338252011-12-23T06:00:00.000-08:002011-12-23T06:00:03.267-08:00Celebration<p><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WEdLZw5xCOc/TuQLmeGjkmI/AAAAAAAADWE/w8Ob12Ez1QA/s1600/english-christmas-pudding.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WEdLZw5xCOc/TuQLmeGjkmI/AAAAAAAADWE/w8Ob12Ez1QA/s200/english-christmas-pudding.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5684681385191903842" /></a><br /><blockquote><i>When Christmas bells are swinging above the fields of snow,<br />We hear sweet voices ringing from lands of long ago,<br />And etched on vacant places<br />Are half-forgotten faces<br />Of friends we used to cherish,<br />And loves we used to know.<div style="text-align: right;"><font size="1"></i>~Ella Wheeler Wilcox</font></div></blockquote><br /><blockquote><i>On Hanukkah, the first dark night,<br />Light yourself a candle bright.<br />I'll you, if you will me invite<br />To dance within that gentle light.<div style="text-align: right;"><font size="1"></i>~Nicholas Gordon</font></div></blockquote><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PgvKvayEVlw/TuQL7CQZ9yI/AAAAAAAADWQ/JwBQYFosh2M/s1600/kwanzaapix.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 250px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PgvKvayEVlw/TuQL7CQZ9yI/AAAAAAAADWQ/JwBQYFosh2M/s320/kwanzaapix.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5684681738494277410" /></a><br /><blockquote><i>For somehow, not only at Christmas, but all the long year through, The joy that you give to others is the joy that comes back to you.<div style="text-align: right;"><font size="1"></i>~John Greenleaf Whittier</font></div></blockquote><br /><blockquote><i>The moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.<div style="text-align: right;"><font size="1"></i>~James Baldwin</font></div></blockquote><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OmcjamK07Fs/TuQL7V-ij6I/AAAAAAAADWg/LqDkAxmg47k/s1600/F0498_bundle.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 92px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OmcjamK07Fs/TuQL7V-ij6I/AAAAAAAADWg/LqDkAxmg47k/s320/F0498_bundle.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5684681743788052386" /></a><br /><blockquote><i>I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.<div style="text-align: right;"><font size="1"></i>~Charles Dickens</font></div></blockquote><br /><blockquote><i>Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable.<div style="text-align: right;"><font size="1"></i>~Kenyan proverb</font></div></blockquote><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8GPzkADeBEQ/TuQkN-6k-2I/AAAAAAAADW0/NzYPNO_OGEI/s1600/tiny_tim_4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 122px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8GPzkADeBEQ/TuQkN-6k-2I/AAAAAAAADW0/NzYPNO_OGEI/s200/tiny_tim_4.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5684708452293999458" /></a><br /><blockquote><i>Wishing you happy holidays and a creative 2012!<div style="text-align: right;"><font size="1"></i>~Mel Ryane</font></div></blockquote><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ObhhW2wgkCA/TuQL7lzE14I/AAAAAAAADWo/YslOrUKJuUQ/s1600/3332467-evening-forest-snowy-landscape.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ObhhW2wgkCA/TuQL7lzE14I/AAAAAAAADWo/YslOrUKJuUQ/s320/3332467-evening-forest-snowy-landscape.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5684681748034934658" /></a><br /><p>Mel Ryanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11010321179422448635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980099498802806968.post-8888433572216764662011-12-20T06:00:00.000-08:002011-12-20T06:00:04.311-08:00Exit Stage Left<p><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g5aUPR6K-to/TuQF9sTXJQI/AAAAAAAADVI/Z4EG3hLvoJw/s1600/cartoon-invite-to-party-drink-over-indulge-invitation.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 279px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g5aUPR6K-to/TuQF9sTXJQI/AAAAAAAADVI/Z4EG3hLvoJw/s320/cartoon-invite-to-party-drink-over-indulge-invitation.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5684675187070936322" /></a><blockquote><i>I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano,<br />A stage where every man must play a part,<br />And mine a sad one.</i><div style="text-align: right;"><font size="1"><i>The Merchant of Venice</i> Act I, Scene I</font></div></blockquote><br />I'm hardly a professional partier. I can't remember the last fete I attended, but I do know this: <i>As important as the arrival time may be, the exit time is even more relevant</i>.<br /><br />You want to get the heck out before the chips are crumbled, the dip is gone and the ice a mere puddle. It's simply too damn sad when we stay too long at the faire. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y8PmNjVN9z8/TuQHWlAb5LI/AAAAAAAADVU/PJgYyMy-nos/s1600/Cocktail_Glass_1.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 147px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y8PmNjVN9z8/TuQHWlAb5LI/AAAAAAAADVU/PJgYyMy-nos/s200/Cocktail_Glass_1.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5684676714120864946" /></a>The evening that began with a bubble bath, a spritz of perfume, and that hot shoulder-baring number shouldn't end with wilted lemon twists in empty martini glasses.<br /><br />And yet it's a tricky business in the midst of hilarity — and "no...no....just one more...this'll kill ya'...so funny..." — to tuck into the winter coat, swaddle the scarf...and bolt.<br /><br />It was not without sleepless nights and restless meditations that I arrived at the decision to end my time with The Shakespeare Club. <br /><br />Every year, as the successes grew, I had tiny kids running to clutch my legs with the news that they too would be auditioning for Shakespeare Club the next year. <br /><br />Seriously, how could I walk away from them? <br /><br />Every year, club members clamored to know, <i>"What's the play next year, Ms. Ryane? Is it a comedy or tragedy?"</i> These words were often sprayed through missing front teeth.<br /><br />How could I leave this party?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2XghqJ0A2Cs/TuQHhfHnt5I/AAAAAAAADVg/SGfqEmKiPZ8/s1600/electrical-shock-cartoon-trans.png"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 144px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2XghqJ0A2Cs/TuQHhfHnt5I/AAAAAAAADVg/SGfqEmKiPZ8/s200/electrical-shock-cartoon-trans.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5684676901518948242" /></a>It may come as a surprise to some that my presence on the campus was not welcome by everyone. It was a hell of a shock for me, I can tell you.<br /><br />I just assumed that a volunteer with goodwill, energy and positive results would accrue full support.<br /><br />Assumptions and expectations are dangerous.<br /><br />I attempted to ignore the signs year after year. I did my best to calm fears and unruffle feathers, but I was not entirely successful and the undermining by a minority wore me down. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p4K2u6aIZuA/TuQH5WbBiQI/AAAAAAAADVs/bqWSBjvBqs8/s1600/free-virtual-worlds.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 177px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p4K2u6aIZuA/TuQH5WbBiQI/AAAAAAAADVs/bqWSBjvBqs8/s200/free-virtual-worlds.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5684677311501273346" /></a>It struck me as preposterous that I was going to bed at night in tears and struggling in a hostile workplace when I was doing this for free. It struck my husband too, since he was picking up my broken pieces.<br /><br />After some long talks, I decided the party, for me, was over.<br /><br />And then I cried the hardest, deepest and longest.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K1LGLQcBRV8/TuQIFFObddI/AAAAAAAADV4/s-gO_Qf_0LM/s1600/DSC_0192%2B%25282%2529a.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K1LGLQcBRV8/TuQIFFObddI/AAAAAAAADV4/s-gO_Qf_0LM/s320/DSC_0192%2B%25282%2529a.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5684677513043473874" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YUZDZPmjihw/Sm4SuNs6ilI/AAAAAAAAALM/s2lVVgWlAiw/s1600-h/pencil.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 75px; height: 75px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YUZDZPmjihw/Sm4SuNs6ilI/AAAAAAAAALM/s2lVVgWlAiw/s200/pencil.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363244791406168658" /></a><center><b>CHILDREN'S WRITES:</b> A Journal Entry</center><blockquote><i><b><span style="font-family:verdana;">What I loved about Shakespeare Club was almost everything. I loved the role of Demetrius! The ocean of applause coming over me. I will miss all of you and your annoyance. I will also miss Ms. Ryane<br /><br />P.S. I will really miss Ms. Ryane</span></blockquote></i></b><div style="text-align: right;">Oliver, 5th grade</div><br /><p>Mel Ryanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11010321179422448635noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980099498802806968.post-27686904327360554872011-12-16T06:00:00.000-08:002011-12-16T06:00:07.585-08:00An Interview: Sabrina<p><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NjH4XECP2W0/TuOrXjYlwtI/AAAAAAAADUk/r07YiUHzQhU/s1600/DSC_3592a.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NjH4XECP2W0/TuOrXjYlwtI/AAAAAAAADUk/r07YiUHzQhU/s320/DSC_3592a.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5684575575795417810" /></a><br /><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">sabrina</span>: My name is Sabrina and I'm in fourth grade and I played Puck.<br /><br /><b><i><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">mel</span>: Sabrina, why did you audition for The Shakespeare Club?</b></i><br /><br />Because I like acting...I love acting, actually...and I thought it would be very fun, and also to learn about Shakespeare and...well, it was my second Shakespeare play.<br /><br /><b><i>Tell me about the first experience you had with Shakespeare.</b></i><br /><br />Well, the first experience was when there was an audition for "The Merry Wives of Windsor" at the Globe Theatre and I got in and I was a fairy and that was actually pretty fun 'cause there was a lot of Shakespeare people....People were actually talking in Shakespeare voices backstage.<br /><br /><b><i>What did you learn being around professional actors in that play?</b></i><br /><br />That they are quiet backstage and they actually do warm-ups and they were very professional.<br /><br /><b><i>Was there anything about being in Shakespeare Club that surprised you?</b></i><br /><br />What surprised me a lot actually was that we did yoga. I didn't know that Shakespeare Club did yoga 'cause I do yoga outside of school so that was kind of fun.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sLbOg37WQ28/TuOrX9CPRYI/AAAAAAAADU0/ENhMwcvXk98/s1600/DSC_3595a.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sLbOg37WQ28/TuOrX9CPRYI/AAAAAAAADU0/ENhMwcvXk98/s320/DSC_3595a.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5684575582680991106" /></a><br /><b><i>Anything else?</b></i><br /><br />Um, and that we could have our scripts onstage...that was fun.<br /><br /><b><i>Did you learn anything about your self over these five months of doing Shakespeare Club?</b></i><br /><br />That I can actually act for Shakespeare...in Shakespeare...that I actually act in it.<br /><br /><b><i>What was it like doing those four performances?</b></i><br /><br />Well, it was very exciting and I felt very proud of being in Shakespeare Club because I thought our play was really good and people actually did really great.<br /><br /><b><i>So you were proud of the audience seeing everyone, not just you?</b></i><br /><br /><i>[nods]</i> Everyone, yeah.<br /><br /><b><i>What about Puck did you like?</b></i><br /><br />Well, I like Puck because he gets to do tricks on people and I don't really have magical powers outside. I can't, like, squeeze flowers on other people, so that was actually really fun for five months of practicing.<br /><br /><b><i>What did you think about doing the journal writing and learning history like Henry the Eighth and Queen Elizabeth?</b></i><br /><br />Well, at first I started writing a little bit because it was my first time in Shakespeare Club and I didn't really know what to write but through the months I actually started writing more and then it was fun because I actually wrote what I thought. <br /><br /><b><i>How do you think journal writing helps your acting?</b></i><br /><br />Um...it helps your imagination....It helps you express yourself in the journal.<br /><br /><b><i>What was your favorite performance on Thursday?</b></i><br /><br />I actually liked the one o'clock.<br /><br /><b><i>Did you? Why was that?</b></i><br /><br />Because my class was there...'cause they were asking lots of questions the day before and I wanted them to see the answers, like how Puck puts a trick on them and how they are fighting over Helena. And I also liked the three o'clock because my parents were there. <br /><br /><b><i>Were you nervous doing the play in front of your classmates?</b></i><br /><br />Um...well...yeah....Well actually no, not really, because they're kind of like family. <br /><br /><b><i>Were you nervous at all during the day?</b></i><br /><br />Yeah, during the first one 'cause it was like the opening....first audience.<br /><br /><b><i>What would you tell another child who was interested in Shakespeare Club but not sure?</b></i><br /><br />If you don't like acting professionally then I wouldn't go because Shakespeare Club is really professional.<br /><br /><b><i>What's the difference between Shakespeare Club and regular kid plays?</b></i><br /><br />Well, regular kids plays, they're just acting, but they don't really understand the concept of acting....They act but they don't know what it means.<br /><br /><b><i>What do you think acting is?</b></i><br /><br />Performing for the audience.<br /><br /><b><i>Telling a story?</b></i><br /><br />Yup.<br /><br /><b><i>What do you want to be when you grow up?</b></i><br /><br />An actor...a dancer and a singer.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eQsmQqAyddU/TuOrYVON0fI/AAAAAAAADU8/iJPkmDnCP9Q/s1600/DSC_3600a.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eQsmQqAyddU/TuOrYVON0fI/AAAAAAAADU8/iJPkmDnCP9Q/s320/DSC_3600a.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5684575589173678578" /></a><br /><p>Mel Ryanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11010321179422448635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980099498802806968.post-57869073305219055092011-12-13T06:00:00.000-08:002011-12-13T06:00:06.395-08:00Picking Up the Party Pieces<p><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7kSkAa5_c5w/TtwZcdCCnjI/AAAAAAAADT0/9e8ihwDJA6U/s1600/201263_med.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7kSkAa5_c5w/TtwZcdCCnjI/AAAAAAAADT0/9e8ihwDJA6U/s320/201263_med.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5682444806454943282" /></a><br />Oh, what's a good party without a few sniffles and heart-wrenching boo-hoos? <br /><br />When theatre folk gather, they laugh loud and weep louder....Fun times.<br /><br />After I made the announcement of my exit, we all made our way through a box of tissues, then made our way to journal writing and sharing.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O7H1mQ-mcO8/TtwZh4mCcwI/AAAAAAAADUA/FrIE21UcpVw/s1600/hamlet.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 164px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O7H1mQ-mcO8/TtwZh4mCcwI/AAAAAAAADUA/FrIE21UcpVw/s200/hamlet.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5682444899753030402" /></a><center><i>I'm really proud that we did our play.<br /><br />I'm really sad that Ms. Ryane is leaving Shakespeare Club.<br /><br />I really liked that we made the audience laugh.<br /><br />Is it time for snacks?</center></i><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Hcwd5o7DABY/TtwZqnpPlDI/AAAAAAAADUM/ZiiGL8_wEok/s1600/slice_of_pizza-896.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Hcwd5o7DABY/TtwZqnpPlDI/AAAAAAAADUM/ZiiGL8_wEok/s200/slice_of_pizza-896.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5682445049821893682" /></a>Out came the pizza, the chips, the grapes, the pineapple, the cupcakes, the fruit-like drinks, and the sugared-up hilarity of elementary-school humor.<br /><br />Henry had brought his Shakespeare Club T-shirt and asked us all to sign it. He planned to hang it up on his bedroom wall.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kbBcUWaXWJM/TtwZ52QhdiI/AAAAAAAADUY/Iwkl4E8MBdg/s1600/hamlet%2B%25281%2529.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 149px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kbBcUWaXWJM/TtwZ52QhdiI/AAAAAAAADUY/Iwkl4E8MBdg/s200/hamlet%2B%25281%2529.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5682445311442777634" /></a>We shared great laughs as we gave a final viewing to "The Simpsons" and their versions of "Hamlet," "Macbeth" and the story of Henry VIII.<br /><br />I had printed wallet-sized pictures of our group and handed those out. The kids wanted a signature and I scribbled <i>Love, Ms. Ryane</i> on the back of each.<br /><br />I pushed open the heavy auditorium doors to a gathering of parents waiting for their Shakespearean offspring. <br /><br /><i>Bye...bye...see ya...you're welcome...my pleasure...another hug?...okay!...so long....</i><br /><br />Rachel and I plopped in a couple of auditorium seats after cleaning up. <br /><br />"We did good," I said.<br /><br />"Yeah, great year," she answered.<br /><br />"You can do this."<br /><br />"I don't know...."<br /><br />"Yeah, you can. You're ready."<br /><br />"I'm not sure. Scary."<br /><br />"Yeah, well...scary is the reason to do it. You'll have the best time of your life. I promise."<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MG_1Ax_Gb58/TtwY43MOhhI/AAAAAAAADTo/4_JtDeSn7IM/s1600/DSC_2399a.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MG_1Ax_Gb58/TtwY43MOhhI/AAAAAAAADTo/4_JtDeSn7IM/s320/DSC_2399a.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5682444195001697810" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YUZDZPmjihw/Sm4SuNs6ilI/AAAAAAAAALM/s2lVVgWlAiw/s1600-h/pencil.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 75px; height: 75px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YUZDZPmjihw/Sm4SuNs6ilI/AAAAAAAAALM/s2lVVgWlAiw/s200/pencil.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363244791406168658" /></a><center><b>CHILDREN'S WRITES:</b> A Journal Entry</center><blockquote><i><b><span style="font-family:verdana;">I loved working with Mrs. Ryane and the cast. I'm really sad that Mrs. Ryane is leaving next year. I learned about different people and about my friends that I never thought could do the stuff they did.</span></blockquote></i></b><div style="text-align: right;">Bridget, 3rd grade</div><br /><p>Mel Ryanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11010321179422448635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980099498802806968.post-18276785464692551402011-12-09T06:00:00.000-08:002011-12-09T06:00:08.734-08:00An Interview: Peter<p><br><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4MRtsGOsEZs/TtwTPwi8obI/AAAAAAAADSs/P3aBiG9GSQE/s1600/DSC_3533a.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4MRtsGOsEZs/TtwTPwi8obI/AAAAAAAADSs/P3aBiG9GSQE/s320/DSC_3533a.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5682437991285170610" /></a><br /><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">peter</span>: My name is Peter, I'm in grade three, and I played Thisbe and Francis Flute.<br /><br /><b><i><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">mel</span>: Why did you audition for Shakespeare Club, Peter?</b></i><br /><br />Because I thought it would be interesting and I thought about auditioning last year but I was too young and then I auditioned because I had nothing else to do on Wednesday afternoons and it looked fun.<br /><br /><b><i>Did anything about being Shakespeare Club surprise you?</b></i><br /><br />Only when I got the part of a girl.<br /><br /><b><i>What surprised you about that?</b></i><br /><br />I had to play a <i>girl</i>.<br /><br /><b><i>And how did you feel about that?</b></i><br /><br />It was fine. The only reason I stuck with it and I didn't whine was because I knew I would get laughs and that's one of my number-one things in life...to make people laugh. <br /><br /><b><i>And how did you feel through the performances during the day?</b></i><br /><br />It was funny and fun and I think my funniest was the last performance.<br /><br /><b><i>Did you learn anything about yourself in Shakespeare Club?</b></i><br /><br />I learned that if I stick to something and just don't stop practicing for however long...I can do it. And I found my inner comedian...right here <i>[taps heart with fist]</i><br /><br /><b><i>You have a comedian inside you?</b></i><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NfKmjadhj2k/TtwTPyAs4yI/AAAAAAAADSc/aKPIsHkOzQc/s1600/DSC_3540a.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NfKmjadhj2k/TtwTPyAs4yI/AAAAAAAADSc/aKPIsHkOzQc/s320/DSC_3540a.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5682437991678403362" /></a><br />Yes. My little conscience, he's up here <i>[taps head]</i> and then he walks down here <i>[taps heart]</i>. It takes him twenty minutes because he has midget legs. He's small. <br /><br /><b><i>And who's in control of this guy?</b></i><br /><br />I have no idea.<br /><br /><b><i>Just comes out when he wants?</b></i><br /><br />Yeah.<br /><br /><b><i>Does he have a name?</b></i><br /><br />Fub.<br /><br /><b><i>Bob?</b></i><br /><br />No. FUB. Funny, unique, boy.<br /><br /><b><i>Funny unique boy who lives inside of you at all times, ready to come out the drop of a hat?</b></i><br /><br />Yeah. At the peak of boringness.<br /><br /><b><i>So, how do feel about doing tragedy then?</b></i><br /><br />Well, I'll do tragedy....I would turn it funny. I like falling down.<br /><br /><b><i>But what if you were in a play like Hamlet?</b></i><br /><br /><i>[shrugs]</i> I don't know....It'd be different.<br /><br /><b><i>Didn't you think sometimes in Shakespeare Club things were boring and there was hard work?</b></i><br /><br />Nothing was boring and nothing was hard work.<br /><br /><b><i>The history and stage directions?</b></i><br /><br />Nope. That was actually interesting...not like doing math and social studies <i>[drops torso all the way to the bench]</i>....It makes me die like I had to do onstage.<br /><br /><b><i>What do you want to be when you grow up, Peter?</b></i><br /><br />A chef. <br /><br /><b><i>What would be your specialty?</b></i><br /><br />Food.<br /><br /><b><i>Well, I know that!</b></i><br /><br />First I would go to college and get my degree and then I would travel all over the world learning about all the different foods...how to do stuff and then come home...and get settled and then maybe open up a restaurant or two. And the restaurants all over the world would have American food and maybe another kind, like Asian food...so you could have partly what you normally like to eat in America and try something different. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0KyGwyZD6E8/TtwTPgqlz4I/AAAAAAAADSU/K85GQzvOSYA/s1600/DSC_3548a.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0KyGwyZD6E8/TtwTPgqlz4I/AAAAAAAADSU/K85GQzvOSYA/s320/DSC_3548a.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5682437987022262146" /></a><br /><p>Mel Ryanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11010321179422448635noreply@blogger.com0