At This Time of Year

At Christmas I no more desire a rose
Than wish a snow in May's new-fangled mirth;
But like of each thing that in season grows.

Love's Labor's Lost, Act I, Scene I

At this time of year I am jittery with anticipation and tingly with ideas because a new season of Shakespeare Club begins in only a few weeks.


At this time of year I eat extra goodies because I know I will burn calories running hither and yon for props, fabric, and errant tissues for drippy noses.


At this time of year I sleep fitfully because I'm certain this time I will blow it.


At this time of year I wish you peace, goodwill and sweetness.

Hard News: To Quit or Not to Quit

(Not really!)
During my first year of this enterprise known as The Shakespeare Club, I wrestled on a weekly basis whether to pursue it or whether to throw in the proverbial towel.

I wasn't alone. The children of that first season also battled me and themselves. They quit, they came back, they quit and they stayed away as I juggled their roles up, down and sideways.

Quitting anything is big decision. Sometimes it's the right and only thing to do, but more often it can lead us onto a road of habitual running. Staying put, sticking it out and trying again can result in our owning a basket of rich fruit we might otherwise have missed.

But how to do it, how to persevere when it's so damn hard? This is a tricky thing.

Here is an article addressing this very question.

Some people just won’t quit (Heather Summerhayes Cariou, Troy Media)

It's in the Air

HORATIOStay! Speak, speak! I charge thee, speak!

This text is taken from the opening scene of "Hamlet." In the castle fortress, Horatio and a few guards have the unsettling experience of seeing a ghost bearing a remarkable resemblance to Hamlet's dead father, the King.

A few years ago, when The Shakespeare Club performed Hamlet, eight-year-old Geoffrey played Hamlet's best buddy, Horatio. Geoffrey is an actor through and through. The kind of kid that you simply know was born for center stage.

It's not that Geoffrey clamored for attention or cracked jokes or hammed it up. It was his ability to absorb text, to question a character's motive, and his desire to take an audience on a ride that led me to this conclusion.

"Hamlet" is a tragedy defined by a stage littered with dead bodies at curtain's fall. There are a few laughs in the play, but it's not a comedy defined by marriages at curtain's fall.

I watched Geoffrey rehearse the opening scene of the play, where the ghost appears and scares the willies out of the tough guys.

"Okay, fellas," I directed. "Keep in mind that in Denmark winters are way cold and snowy. And remember this scene takes place at night. It's up to you to convince the audience of the atmosphere."

Luis, as Marcellus, hugged himself and pretended to shiver. The other boys followed his lead by exhaling imaginary wisps of air and chattering their teeth until Mr. Ghost arrived, when they widened their eyes and stared.

Geoffrey made a choice to point his sword toward the ghost, letting it quiver and shake. Riotous. His actor mates crowed with glee and copied him. They added knocking knees to their repertoire of stage business.


I had three actors onstage facing a scary ghost as if we were staging a Bugs Bunny version of "Hamlet."

And I let it go. I let their choices stay in for weeks. I didn't mention it, they got lots of laughs from the other kids while they rehearsed and they bathed in the glory of what they believed was inspired. And it was inspired. It wasn't right for the play but it was inspired.

In the club we have a small library of Shakespeare movies on DVD which the kids can check out. One weekend Geoffrey borrowed a film version of "Hamlet."

The next rehearsal the funny, quivering sword bit was gone.

"Oh, I noticed that you made a change, Geoffrey, in that opening scene. It's good, what you're doing, but I just wondered how you came to it?"

"Well, Ms. Ryane, I saw that movie of 'Hamlet' and that guy being Horatio, he was really good and he didn't act kind of, like you know, kind of like funny....He was kind of like, you know, more freaked out...so I wanted to do that."

"Good. I think it works."

Air. Actors need air and space and room for discovery. Who doesn't?

Stephen Dillane as Horatio.

CHILDREN'S WRITES: A Journal Entry

I allways wanted power because my little sister ceeps on taking stuff from me.

I wanted revenge when Dominick keeps on making fun of my name. I waanted to make fun of his name but I just walked away and he cept saying it and I got relly mad.

—Lizzie, 4th grade

snow picture by Flickr user MMMR

We've Been What?

On Performance Day I give a chit-chat to the audience before each show. I have motives, and they're not altruistic.

"I'd like to direct your attention over here to my left to what I like to call 'The Shakespeare Club Museum'."

Atop tables I've set up photo displays of the five years of Shakespeare Club. The pictures are mostly candid shots of the kids rehearsing, doing warm-ups, making props or goofing off.

"Along with the photo collage there is an Honor Roll of club members who earned special mention for acting or writing. Some have made Honor Roll because they went out of their way to live up to our mottos: We help each other and we share with each other."

Parents and relatives like to take pictures of the Honor Roll when they see a familiar name on it. And the kids, both current and from years past, love to pore over images of their younger selves. The museum is popular and draws crowds.


"There is also a board with excerpts of the children's journal writing. And finally, I'd like to point out our Shakespeare Club donation box. If you have an extra nickel or dime we could use it to feed the actors and fund the props."

The donation box is an empty square tissue box covered in tin foil and with SHAKESPEARE CLUB DONATION BOX printed on all four sides. Highly unprofessional, but I figure we're an elementary school with a small-town feel.

At the one o'clock performance, a parent stuck a hundred-dollar bill in my hand and said, "I don't want to put this in the box."

"Sure, no problem," I answered...and twigged, problem. But I had so many other problems that I didn't think about it again.

I did, however, go to the box and emptied out some donated bills totaling thirty-six dollars. I left six dollars to encourage other donors.

GRUMIONothing comes amiss, so money comes withal.

The Taming of the Shrew Act I, Scene II

After the three o'clock performance, I was busy with dinner and a movie for the kids.

At the end of the night, I got the shock. The box was empty. Even the lousy six dollars was gone.

But, but, but...we're an elementary school with a small-town feel.

Lesson learned, Ms. Ryane. Get a professional box with a professional lock on it. I have no idea who did it and I don't want to know. I only hope they really, really needed it.

So, the Shakespeare Club this year made $136 in donations.


CHILDREN'S WRITES: A Journal Entry

Adventure

Adventure is a wonderfull life. I will tell you one of my adventures.

One day I was hikeing in the woods, I found a large black cave. I was scared to go in at first. But I remembered I had a flashlight. So I went in …splash! I fell into a underwater lake. I swam to the edge. I looked for a exit. The ground fell! I was falling fast. It was so scary. I saw a dino. I ran so fast. It chased me to a mountan. I climed it to where it was snowing. I found some shushi. I thought, "Why would shushi?" I ate it. I was transported back! But I fell down in the cave again. And started all over. But this time I brought a gun.

—Henry, 4th grade

Cutting the Cheesy

In the two days before performances, when I have the auditorium and the kids walk the stage for the first time, we have protocol to cover.

"See those microphones taped to the floor? That's a no-go zone. Those are expensive and could be easily damaged. So, only actors and crew are allowed onstage from this point on...no friends."

Oh, they love that part. Only us, no one else. No. One. Else.

Means we're special. And let's face it, they are.

Another popular ritual they love more than almost anything (except saying the mottos and eating) is "Let's get cheesy out of our systems."

I stand on the floor in front of the stage while they sit in their chairs onstage. I jump up and down and pretend to be a parent, grandparent or sibling.

"Oh, Henry, hi!" and I wave my hands while calling out. "Henry, over here, it's Auntie Betty!"

What does Henry do? Nothing, absolutely nothing, because he's been trained.

"See that, guys? Henry is not going to be cheesy and wave back or call out 'Here I am....Oooh look, I'm getting my crown on and here comes my big speech!' "

"Me, me, Ms. Ryane, do me!"

"Wendy, Wendy, over here! We came to see you! Hey, Wendy!"

I run back and forth and leap up and down, and Wendy, all cool as a cucumber, shines me on.

"That's how it's done, kids. It's not done. You're real actors and you're acting professional and readying yourselves to work. You're not just little kids anymore."

So, that was fun and they understood. I had a teensy rush of pride at their deportment until the six o'clock performance — when all those adult relatives arrived.

The grown-ups did exactly as I'd rehearsed, then got ticked off because their offspring did not respond in kind.

I had to run around before the show, explaining my head off.

"They're not being rude, they're just not going to be cheesy and wave back. They're acting like professionals right now."

Wendy told me a couple of days later that her granny was still royally mad " 'cause she thought I was giving her the bird."

I'm training the wrong crowd.


CHILDREN'S WRITES: A Journal Entry

What I will miss about Shakespeare Club. I will miss every body in Shakespeare even my director because I mite go to Miami Florida with my family I will miss my friend and people in thierd grade.

—Wendy, 3rd grade

boy jumping from Grrraphics

'Oh, I Was...'

When I tell people what I do with my time in Los Angeles, I inevitably get this response:

"Oh, I was Bottom in 'Midsummer Night's Dream'!"

or

"Oh, I was Lady Macbeth in high school!"

or, from our current principal,

"Oh, I was a witch in 'Macbeth'!"


Perhaps to prove the veracity of the statements, or because they loved their experience, they go on to quote lines from the play. Words that have remained inside their heads for lo, these many years....

BOTTOMI have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream; past the wit of man to say what dream it was. Man is but an ass if he go about to expound this dream.

or

LADY MACBETHOut, damn'd spot! out, I say! — One; two: why, then 'tis time to do't. Hell is murky. — Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our pow'r to accompt? — Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?

When I watch the performances of The Shakespeare Club I sit either to the far right or far left of the audience and take notes. It's also a great perspective for me to view reactions.

A theatre director told me that during previews and on opening night he liked to stand on the side of the house in order to study the audience's movements. When they sat back for too long a time he felt he was in trouble and had more work to do. When they leaned forward, he breathed a sigh. We've got 'em.


At our one o'clock performance, our principal curled upon the floor of the front row with a kindergartner in her lap. I had a perfect vantage of her profile and smiled as she leaned forward and mouthed along with the witches:

WITCHESDouble, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

Our principal was with us, in the auditorium and watching, but she was also somewhere else. Somewhere in her younger self. Somewhere when she discovered she was capable, had power and potential.

WITCHESFor a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

It's in moments like this that I know we're on to something. Something far-reaching and full of possibility.


CHILDREN'S WRITES: A Journal Entry

What I will miss about Shakespear club I will mess everything about Shakespeare even the bad times and good times exepacally the show. I might go to another school but I will be doing acting in Hollywood and doing commercials on T.V.

—Krystal, 3rd grade

Gettin' Nervy

"Okay, who here is a teensy bit more nervous about tonight's performance?"

I had stopped the hilarious movie "A Bug's Life" near, but not at, the end because we needed to prepare for our final "Macbeth."

Sometimes when I ask questions of a confessional nature, the kids share glances to see who will go first.

"Well, I'm not so nervous but maybe I'm sorta sad 'cause then it will be over," Oliver offered.

"Yup, I get that and we'll spend some time talking about that at our wrap party next week. Have any of you wrestled with butterflies today?"

Hands went up. Butterflies in the tum — we all get that.

"Here's what I want you to know about being an actor and being nervous. It means that you care."

Blink, blink.

"Nervousness is a sign that you care about giving your best. I would be nervous if you weren't nervous. And seriously, very famous actors get nervous. I knew an actress once who won an Academy Award — the Oscar — and when she did a Shakespeare play she threw up every night before going onstage."

"She lost her cookies?!" Mark cried out.

"Yes she did, but that won't be happening here because we're going to take a few minutes to focus and remember that even though you may be a little scared, you know what you're doing, you know your job onstage, and all you have to do is look at each other, talk for real to each other...and the nerves will not win."

"She lost her cookies." This made a few more rounds with gales of giggles because Mark liked saying it over and over.

"Hands on your lap, feet on the floor and eyes closed. Big breath...hold it, hold it, hold and let it go....Again...."

We took a few big breaths together.

"Keep your eyes closed and repeat after me: My mind is calm."

My mind is calm.

"My body is ready."

My body is ready.

"I know what to do."

I know what to do.

"Everything is fine."

Everything is fine.

We said that three times.

"Open your eyes."

They did.

"You're going to follow me in a line into the auditorium. You're going to go onstage and take your places. And I promise you'll have your best show. Ever. Enjoy it."

They lined up, they followed and when we entered the auditorium, where pre-show music rocked, folks chatted and empty seats were few, I had an enormous rush of pride.

The looks on those adult faces...astonishment.

CHILDREN'S WRITES: A Journal Entry

I loved Shakespeare Club because I found out I'm good at acting. I think.

I will miss is Shakespeare Club is, acting, Ms. Rachel and Ms. Ryane. I will miss doing shows. But…..the good part is I can adition! It is hard to leave everyone and being on stage. I wish every Wednesday in my whole life…Ms. Ryane and Ms. Rachel and everybody in Shakespeare Club to do more and more plays till I grow up. When I grow up I want to do grown up Shakespeare plays. I will do camp and it will be the same thing. I was insulted when my cusin said, "I hate Shakespeare." That day I punched him in the nose.

—Millie, 3rd grade

An Interview: Darby

mel: Tell us who you are, please.

darby: Um...my name is Darby, I'm ten years old and this was my third year in Shakespeare Club.

And what did you play in "Macbeth"?

I played Narrator Two.

Tell me why you first thought you wanted to be in Shakespeare Club and why you wanted to continue with it.

I always really had a passion for acting and when I saw the play "Hamlet" I told my mom to sign me up and I really liked it.

What did you learn about yourself in these last three years of doing Shakespeare Club?

That acting can really build friendships and that it's also really fun and rewarding.

What was your favorite thing about Thursday, the performance day?

I just liked the whole thing and the curtain call.


Did you learn anything about yourself this year, Darby?

[Darby's hair hangs halfway over her face, she shrugs, pauses and answers] Yeah, I guess.

What did you learn?

[bursting out] That I wish I could be in Shakespeare Club next year!

How do you feel about moving on to middle school?

Scared.

What are you scared of?

Everything.

What did you like best about Shakespeare Club?

Well...having to get lines and learning about a character and getting to be with friends in a really great production.

And what about the writing part? You're quite a good writer.

I really like the journal part because it does give the other actors a chance to express themselves and how they felt about the play.

What do you think you're going to be when you grow up?

A writer and an actress, those are just two of the things out of three.

What's number three?

A medical research scientist. I want to do that because I want to know how to cure fatal diseases like cancer and leukemia.

Have you ever known anyone with cancer or leukemia?

Yeah. My grandmother died on February 5, 2008, of cancer.

CHILDREN'S WRITES: A Journal Entry

I wish to have a life of purpose because I want to help others. I would write and buy some books to give to charity. I would raise money to help hospitals reaserch diseases like cancer and landerhans cell histocylosis which is a rare blood diseases that is very much like cancer. I would help animal shelters feed the animals there. A life of purpose suits me very well in my opinion.

—Darby, 5th grade

It's a Bug's Life After All

The kids finished their gourmet dinner and we had time to kill before their final performance at six o'clock. This last show is the toughest because parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts and neighbors attend. It's the grown-ups' show and it was impossible not to notice an edgy nervousness in the cast.

As hard as it was for the actors to act in front of their classmates, it was nothing like trying to impress the adults. These children are still of an age where they hold their parents in high regard and want to blow their socks off.

Throughout the day, it became apparent that the work of Oliver, as Macbeth, simply could not be ignored. As the kids grouped together with me, Rachel and their stage manager, Celia for notes, it was Oliver who took our words most to heart and blossomed petal by petal for each performance. In doing this, he led others to improve and grow as well.

"Okay, wipe your faces and sit up. We're going to have a movie now," I addressed them in the library, where we had just dined.

"What movie, Ms. Ryane?"

"You'll see," I answered and crossed the room to the television and DVD player.

Then I heard a rustling behind me and half-turned to catch Lizzie whispering to a group of girls and the boys closing in on the hubbub. What now?

They all froze as I studied them. I turned back to prepare the movie and they started the chatter again. What the heck was going on?

I stuck the DVD into its slot and faced them.

"Um, Ms. Ryane," Lizzie started.

"Yes?"

"We have something...I mean we have to do something first." She looked around to her gang before launching into song.

"Happy Birthday to you...."

It was the day after my birthday and they had remembered. It was one of the sweetest moments of the day. Lizzie handed me a homemade card of purple construction paper. Inside were their signatures, big and small, printed or scrawled in newly-learned cursive.

I thanked them for their thoughtfulness and reminded them of the only gift I wanted. "Your fine work onstage is my gift. Thank you."

I switched the movie on.

"A Bug's Life." I chose this film because there are actors in it. Traveling actors, and these kids know the story of a young William Shakespeare's introduction to the theatre. He caught the "bug" when actors in horse-drawn carts came to his town of Stratford to share their magic.

As the kids laughed and listened and watched the movie, I pored over their messages in the birthday card.

I hope we have a good show! Love, Oliver

Perfect. A boy with his priorities in order.

CHILDREN'S WRITES: A Journal Entry

One day me and my friend and my dad road our bikes around the block then we found a tile house everything was made of tile. I really wanted to go in so I rang the doorbell and the people who lived in it were artist. Then I ask if I can go inside and she said yes. We went inside and it was amazing. I ask my dad if I can buy something there and he said yes. And I looked around I finally found something with was a flat bottle and the coler was blue so I got it. We got to go in the place where they make the art it is called the art room. That was one of the adventures I had.

—Page, 3rd grade

photo from Flickr user joycel789

An Interview: Celia & Natalie

Celia and Natalie.
mel: And who are you guys?

[the girls laugh as each points to the other to answer]

natalie: I am Natalie and I'm eleven years old. We study about Shakespeare and some other things.

celia: [points to herself] Me? I'm Celia and I was the stage manager and we did a Shakespeare play called "Macbeth."

Celia, how was it being stage manager after being an actress last year? Which did you prefer?

C: I like both.

What did you like about both?

C: I like being onstage because you are seen. But you can't be shy. But at the back you can be shy because no one's looking at you.

What did you like about your role as stage manager?

C: Because I could help.

Natalie, why did you audition for Shakespeare Club?

N: I wanted to because I heard it would be really fun.

And did that turn out to be true or not?

N: Yeah.


What was fun about it?

N: We have parties and we have snacks and take turns reading stories from our writing.

C: [nudges Natalie] What about the play?

N: I like the play because I was somebody in that play.

What part did you play in the play?

N: Donalbain and Witch Three.

And Natalie, what did you think about the acting part of it?

N: I was really shy, it was fun though on stage.

What did you learn about yourself, Natalie?

N: That I can act.

And Celia, what did you learn about yourself in two years of doing Shakespeare Club?

C: Um, that I can't be shy.

And do you feel like now you're less shy or more shy?

C: Less.

What's it like for you two when you've finished the show and people recognize you?

N: [throws her arms wide] Like we're the top of the school!

How does that feel?

N: Good.

What do you think about William Shakespeare?

N: He's a good story writer.

What was your favorite part of being in Shakespeare Club?

C: It's because...um...people don't laugh at you when you make a mistake.

What do you think about being in school in general?

N: [squishes up her nose and frowns]

What don't you like?

N: Work.

C: Sometimes I like to work in class but not always.

You girls traveled a long way to be in Los Angeles and to be in Shakespeare Club. Tell me about that.

N: [directs her hands to Celia as if to say "you take it" but then answers herself] We were born in Haiti.


C: But then someone else adopted me and I lived in Minnesota. At that time I didn't even know Natalie and Phoebe and Mariah....Well, I knew Mariah but not the rest of them but then I didn't want to live in Minnesota and I asked my mom if I could live with Mariah. And then after I came here.


And how do you feel about being here?

C: Good.

N: Fine.

CHILDREN'S WRITES: A Journal Entry

Dear Lady Macbeth,

I can't believe what I heard but I met some witches, they said I would be Thane of Cawdor. They also said I would be King. Do you think that is so? It couldn't be because Duncan is King.

You think the witches lied? If it's true I'll serve them right but if they are lying I will kill them.

Next I'll deserve the crown and of course you will be queen.

Your dearest husband,
Macbeth

—Celia, 5th grade

How to Chow Down...Nicely

Every year on Performance Day, I spend a good deal of time running around arranging food for the kids.

I've ordered pizzas and planned their delivery. I've shopped at Costco for water, fruit platters and turkey wraps.

This year, Trader Joe's was kind enough to donate bottles of water, oranges and protein bars, which I stacked on a table at the back of the auditorium for the cast and crew to nibble on throughout the day. Like a professional craft service table, I thought, until I heard:

"Ms. Ryane! Ms. Ryane, hurry! They're eating our food!"

And I looked up to see other small hands grabbing and pocketing the snacks. These hands belonged to fellow students unable to resist the banquet.

"Okay, move along now....So sorry, but this is not for you....Off you go."

As if I didn't have enough to do, I had to be the food cop as well.


After the third performance and after notes had been given, I corralled the boys and girls into lines in front of their respective bathroom doors.

"All right, here's how this is going to go: You'll go into the bathroom, one after another, and wash your hands. Then you'll make a line down front and we'll walk, in an orderly fashion, to the library for dinner. You'll behave as polite young men and women about to enjoy an elegant meal."

As the children entered the library, their eyes widened and their jaws dropped. Silence reigned as they stood perfectly lined up.

This year, a mother from our parents' group graciously agreed to help The Shakespeare Club. Erica runs Bonne Bouffe Catering and happens to be especially experienced at feeding large groups of children.


Round tables were laden with bowls of pasta, baskets of chicken salad, ham sandwiches in freshly baked brioche, crisp julienned vegetables alongside creamy dips and green salads. Erica had grilled corn on the cob and then cut it into small pieces for small hands. There were platters of purple grapes tumbling over slices of watermelon and cantaloupe and sweet red strawberries.


Further along were the desserts: individual bread puddings and small chocolate mousses topped with raspberries and blueberries.


Gentlemen in white chef's coats stood at attention, waiting to serve the thespians.

The actors looked around, over and under, and finally up at me.

"For us, Ms. Ryane?"

"All for you."

They methodically filled plates, found places to sit and all was perfect until Garth snapped his fingers and called out:

"Garcon! Garcon, over here!"

"Shhh, Garth, no. Absolutely not. Nicely. We will behave as polite people do and we will be grateful. We will not be ordering folks about."

"Okay, Ms. Ryane."

And so we dined. On good food, beautifully presented as if we were all somebodies.

CHILDREN'S WRITES: A Journal Entry

My name is banquo. I have six children. I have six children becaus I had six wives. But I broke up with them. I also have one wife named teriqsha. My kids names are Jacson, ricky, markes, Janet, Juleit, and ashaly. I have three boys and 3 girls.

Where I live in a Big Manchen. My friends would be Macbeth, Duncan, and Macduff. What I would eat is sweet bread an fruits. What I believe is that my sons will once be Kings. What I want is to be King. What I am afraid of is dieing. Am scard of Malcom. What I am loyal to is Shakespeer. Who I am loyal to is Mark.

—Garth, 4th grade