Shakespeare fest introduces area students to the Bard

Kimberley McGee

Friday, Oct. 5, 2001 | 8:23 a.m.

Nevada Shakespeare in the Park celebrates its 15th anniversary today through Sunday at Foxridge Park in Henderson. This year the event centers on one of Shakespeare's more famous tragedies, "Othello."

The play follows the troubled marriage of fated lovers Othello and Desdemona. Othello's trusted friend, Iago, manipulates innocent events to achieve nefarious ends.

For the fifth year the Arts Council of Henderson, a nonprofit organization that sponsors the event, will use performers and stage sets from the Los Angeles Shakespearean troupe La Petite Musicale.

William Reilly, co-founder of La Petite Musicale, will direct "Othello" with his own dark twist in regard to the play's set.

"The most important thing to me as a director and a performer is that we come up with concepts that make you look at a piece of art differently," Reilly said.

To excite and entice the audience, he has created a solid black background for the stage. Actors completely clothed in black will move among the main players to hand off props and manipulate the set around the characters.

"They are the invisible life force behind the show," Reilly said. "We all have a cultural and social facade, but underneath there's this dark beast."

Much more tame -- and educational -- is the green show, a free-form performance by local school students on the park's grass, an hour before the play begins.

Featuring mimes, madrigal singers and jugglers, the green show acquaints the audience with the life and laughter of the Shakespearean era.

The students are part of the Art Council's program to educate local school children about Shakespeare.

More than 14 area teachers have joined the Arts Council in the education of Shakespeare to local English, drama and acting students who want to participate. Each student who participates is given a role in the green show.

Through the Arts Council program, students first study Shakespeare in school, then the times in which the author lived and finally don costumes or otherwise participate in the annual park play to immerse themselves in the Elizabethan era, as well as the words of the Bard.

"Instead of just entertainment, it's a way to get the kids excited about Shakespeare and learn about that era," Steele said.

The focus of Shakespeare in the Park has always been on school students, said Judi Steele, founder and president of the Arts Council of Henderson.

"We encourage students to compete, participate and improve their acting talents and have a chance to take into their lives this experience," Steele said.

The Arts Council has expanded its yearly Shakespeare experience to include elementary students, as well as junior and senior high school students.

"We are intermingling as many schools as we can in learning the talents of acting in the Shakespeare and Elizabethan eras," Steele said.

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