Summer With the Bard

THOUSAND OAKS —  When teens plan fun summer activities, few would start their list with “performing Shakespeare.”

But for eight amateur thespians, a highlight of their vacation will be appearing with Cal Lutheran’s Kingsmen Shakespeare Company in its summer tribute to the bard.

“I’ve always loved Shakespeare, it’s so singsongy,” said 17-year-old Nathan Dugi-Turner, a member of the company’s junior apprentice program. “You can’t get caught up in the words. The trick is--like they teach Spanish--try not to understand everything, but enjoy it as a whole.”

Some people consider Shakespeare’s lyrical rhythm to be the earliest form of rap, but his rhymes have been on the charts a lot longer--about 400 years.

“It wasn’t written to be read in school; it was written to be acted. And it is so accessible to people when you see the emotion,” said Nathan, an Oak Park High School senior who has been portraying Paris’ page in “Romeo and Juliet” since last weekend.

The students from Oak Park and Thousand Oaks high schools have small parts in Shakespeare’s most famous romance and later in his “The Taming of the Shrew.” They will perform alongside senior apprentices in lead roles and professional actors through Aug. 6 during CLU’s fourth annual Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival.

Many high school students have an “oh-well-whatever” response to learning Shakespeare.

“It’s like riding a bike--it’s difficult at first,” said 16-year-old Jeff Newman, a member of Oak Park’s track team last semester. “But once you understand what he’s saying, then the language just flows out.”

At the beginning of rehearsals, director Michael Arndt brought in a Shakespearean language lexicon so anyone who did not understand the words could research them.

“It’s hard to read Shakespeare’s plays, but when it’s put on its feet--it’s amazing,” said Allie Rhodes, 16, who began acting in school plays at age 3 and who will perform in “The Taming of the Shrew.”

“A lot of his jokes are hidden in big words,” she said. “When you see the actors pantomiming, then you understand. It clicks. . . . You get so involved, you forget that you’re watching a Shakespeare play.”

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This is the second year the CLU company of 30 performers has recruited apprentices from other colleges and theater companies across the country. These apprentices include seasoned professional actors and children as young as 8 years old--some of whom are related to acting professionals or other company members.

“If we let children see Shakespeare,” said Terry Fisher, a board member of the company, “we will be booting an audience for the future.”

To grab the audience’s attention and update the play, Arndt set “Romeo and Juliet” in Ireland during the early 1800s with the Capulets as Irish Catholics and the Montagues as British Protestants, and award-winning director Allan Hunt harnessed “The Taming of the Shrew” in a Wild West theme.

In recent years, Hollywood has delivered a steady crop of updated Shakespeare into movie theaters. “Romeo and Juliet” with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, “Hamlet” with Ethan Hawke, and Kenneth Branagh’s recently released “Love’s Labours Lost” have novel settings.

“As I was watching ‘Ten Things I Hate About You,’ I heard lines from Shakespeare,” Allie said of last summer’s modern retelling of “The Taming of the Shrew.” In the CLU version she will portray Cherri, a serving maid who has been modernized into a saloon girl. “The language is different, but the story is the same--they even use the same character names.”

Added Nathan: “The themes in Shakespeare are universal. If you put it in a different context then people are more willing to drop their hang-ups about the language. Even if it is not entirely faithful to the original it will spark people’s interest in Shakespeare because they are seeing the bigger picture.”

Increased appeal in the playwright can be measured in the growing number of Shakespeare festivals across the nation and the fact that the Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival’s audience has jumped in the past two years from 6,000 to 10,000.

“It is really fulfilling to see people my age coming back night after night to see Shakespeare,” said Allie.

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Arndt, a CLU professor and chairman of the university’s drama department, said, “Shakespeare is a growth industry.”

“Audiences on a lawn, families, a plain stage, actors and story--that’s what makes Shakespeare live, and his characters still breathe 400 years after his death,” Arndt said.

Professional theater companies value training in Shakespeare’s works, because it teaches actors important skills that are transferable to other types of acting.

“It makes them focus,” said Niall Padden, who performed for nearly 10 years with the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in London.

“They learn to analyze and dissect text,” said the actor, who has appeared in more than 200 TV episodes and several movies. He plays Juliet’s father in “Romeo and Juliet.”

“It gives them the opportunity to discover for themselves the context of the material and to look at contemporary work with a little bit more care rather than listing it off the page and presenting it,” he said.

As in most Shakespeare companies, experienced actors share information and training with young apprentices. “The craft is passed on,” Padden said.

“I get to watch some of the best, most talented actors in this company,” said Allie, who became involved with the theater company the year before the apprentice program began.

Some students suggest studying Shakespeare has helped them with schoolwork.

“I’m better at note-taking in class,” said Jeff Newman, an incoming senior who wants to pursue a stage and screen career. “I can really understand things a lot faster.”

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Other junior apprentice actors from Oak Park High include Johanna Fair, Becky Rothman and Jackie Luttrell. Two student actors from Thousand Oaks High, siblings Ben and Stephanie Hengst, were also chosen. And three junior technical crew members were selected from Oak Park High: Evan Cohen, Max Orgel and Clayton Green.

The Kingsmen Shakespeare Company will hold performances Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Aug. 6 at Kingsmen Park on the CLU campus. The season began with “Romeo and Juliet,” and on July 14 “The Taming of the Shrew” opens.

Pre-show Elizabethan entertainment, including sword-fighting demonstrations, juggling and dancing, will be staged on the picnic and theater grounds beginning at 5:30 p.m. The plays begin at 8.

Lawn seating on blankets or low-back chairs is free. Reserved seating is $10. For more information call (805) 493-3455.