Tigers

"Then imitate the action of the tiger."

-- Henry in King Henry V, by William Shakespeare

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Zach just called. He's about ten minutes away.

My car's in the shop, getting its plugs replaced. A good mechanic is hard to find. The honest ones are sometimes hard to trust.

This time tomorrow we'll be somewhere else, somewhere between here and there. Washington, DC, folks. Been a few years since I've been there, and it'll only be a few hours till I'm there again. Seeing the Thurows, Caity W., and perhaps other folks. Spread the word. Reunion is imminent, and most welcome.

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Tonight, the showcase for the Covedale Young People's Theatre Prep. Thirty-one kids, in only four days, memorized and perfected 5 Aesop's fables, a 10-minute play, 4 scenes from contemporary plays and musicals, 11 commercials, 12 standard monologues, 8 Shakespearean soliloquies, AND an entire dance number from Newsies.


I'd call this one a success.

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The Shakespeare group, the eight oldest students, has been awesome. It's made the stressful and difficult job of "lead instructor" nothing short of theatrical bliss. One kid, Michael, really got into King Henry V, the "Once more unto the breach, dear friends" monologue. We went through it line by line. He asked about tone. We talked about tone. And poetic diction. Then I asked him, "Can you think of any situation where you've heard people talking like this?"

"Like a football coach?"

"Awesome, yes."

And from there, he has built. These are middle-school kids, folks. Michael is 12, I think, and he's performing Shakespeare--not just reciting words, but delivering them as lines. Anyone who tells you that middle-schoolers aren't intellectually ready to tackle Shakespeare really means to say that they aren't willing to take the time to teach it.

For Michael, it took four days. He and the others perform tonight at 6pm. Then, pizza party.

And then, DC.