The student-led Shakespeare Society celebrated the first of its two-week Shakespeare Festival with an outdoor performance of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” one of the famous playwright’s more celebrated works.
From Feb. 25-28, the group performed at the Williams and Snell House courtyard, where a smaller, but similar cast will return to act out “Cymbeline” another renowned Shakespeare play starting March 3.
The second annual festival was organized by the Department of Verbal and Visual Arts and the MLA in Liberal Studies program.
Nick Bottom, portrayed by Betty-Jane Parks (center), is met with a new love interest, by fairy queen Titania (far left), accompanied by her fairies, including USFSP student Damani Harris (standing, far right).
Written in the late 1500s, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” revolves around the marriage of Theseus, Duke of Athens and his wife Hippolyta, while also following the often eccentric adventures of four young Athenian lovers, a small troupe of amateur actors and forest fairies.
The story features some of Shakespeare’s most memorable characters of all time, notably Puck and Nick Bottom, who are portrayed by local actors Chad Jacobs and Betty-Jane Parks, respectively.
Dr. Lisa Starks-Estes, dramaturg and faculty adviser to the club, teaches the play in her classroom and many of her students were involved in the production, working behind the scenes on costumes, lighting and sound.
Two of her students, Beth Heisel and Damani Harris were part of the acting cast. Heisel also serves as president of the Shakespeare Society.
The rest of the cast is comprised of community members, USF St. Petersburg alumni and local actors, some from the American Stage Theater Company in St. Petersburg.
Veronica Matthews, academic program specialist in the History & Politics Department and USFSP alumna, served as the artistic director for the play.
Matthews said she and Starks-Estes knew last year that they wanted to expand the festival for its second run by adding programming and an additional week to produce another play.
Oberon (Thom Jay) instructs his servant Puck (portrayed by Chad Jacobs, seated on his lap) to carry out his plan to alter the Athenians’ love using a magical juice from the “love-in-idleness” flower.
“Between Dr. Starks and I developing and planning the festival, and bringing her students and people in the community together – this kind of event really just creates an important culture here on campus,” said Matthews. “There are a lot of Shakespeare societies at very prestigious schools in the country… so I’m very excited.”
Auditions were held in the beginning of December and because many of the actors have roles in both productions, they organized a rotating rehearsal schedule that began in January.
“It shows their love of theatre and for the school in general,” said Matthews. “I think the students in particular have worked so hard and have shown their dedication to Shakespeare.”
Even students who weren’t involved in the Shakespeare Festival are still experiencing (Shakespeare in a similar way) As part of Starks-Estes class, students are assigned to work roughly five hours with the Shakespeare Festival –even if it’s just helping out backstage – or at a nonprofit organization in the community.
“I use a learning through performance approach. In groups, they discuss the play, then carve out a scene to further explore that issue. They perform it for the class and talk about the choices they made in their mini impromptu,” said Starks-Estes. “They still do a lot of writing. They think about the plays when they perform them. The creative writing – I see that as a different kind of performance. I bring the creative and critical together.”
Matthews was once one of Starks-Estes’ students.
“You have this professor that you completely respect and now you’re working together,” said Matthews. “I’m personally interested in the ways we can reinvent Shakespeare. I look at the text in one way, and she (Dr. Starks-Estes) looks at it in another. We balance each other out.”
With no formal budget in its first year, the festival was funded by personal investment, but this year they received a 50th Anniversary grant from the university –allowing the group to afford modifications that included marketing materials, a backdrop and LED lighting.
“My students – past, present and future – have been involved,” Starks-Estes said. “It has really blossomed.”
The group will recognize the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death by holding a funeral for the late poet and dramatist, where students are invited to dress and act as their favorite character in remembrance.
