Boys play Romeo — and Juliet — during school performance

Heather Cory

Acting out a scene from “Romeo and Juliet,” Shakespeare in the Park’s Nicole Maggi, left, and Michael Rachlis fight to the death in front of a group of students at Hank and Barbara Greenspun Junior High School Sept. 29. A number of performers visited the school to teach students about acting as well as perform a brief show.

By Frances Vanderploeg

Monday, Oct. 6, 2008 | midnight

Shakespeare comes to school

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Eighth-grader Cameron Osborn wasn't completely sure what to expect Wednesday when actors from Shakespeare at Play showed up to work with his honors class at Hank and Barbara Greenspun Junior High School.

He blushed and laughed nervously as the actors invited him to the stage and began placing skirts and corsets on him.

In the late 1500s, when Shakespeare was alive, Cameron and his classmates were told, women weren't allowed to be on stage. Boys played the female roles, which is why Cameron was dressed in skirts.

The Shakespeare at Play cast members visited in advance of their Shakespeare in the Park performance of "Romeo and Juliet" Oct. 3-5. It was the 23rd year Shakespeare in the Park has come to Henderson, the last several featuring the California-based company Shakespeare at Play. In 16 of those years, members of the troops have visited with middle and high school students as part of the Shakespeare in the Schools program.

Archie Lee Simpson, Michael Rachlis and Nicole Maggi visited Greenspun as one of four teams traveling to 25 schools.

"The actors performed on a bare stage with no props," Simpson told the students. "People were used to listening more than seeing, so they're always using this beautiful language."

Shakespeare had to learn how to please three separate classes of people — peasants, merchants and royalty — and sought something different in the plays, Simpson said. Shakespeare entertained them all by including a lot of action, a lot of comedy and a lot of beautiful language, Simpson said.

However, the language once thought beautiful is considered stuffy now by some students, who can't quite comprehend what Shakespeare was trying to say.

To help, the team brought several students up to display cards that each had an individual word on them, some well-known words, and some drawn from Shakespeare's works. With the help of the entire class, students had to decide what Shakespeare's words meant with today's translation.

The eighth-grade honors classes are reading "Romeo and Juliet." As of the visit, they had made it through the first 50 pages, students said.

Most seemed to agree the lessons would makes the play more accessible.

"I think it'll be a lot easier to understand now," Richie Derrick, 13, said.

Austin Higgins, 14, said if the class had not been enjoying Shakespeare, the day would have been spent working on their grammar.

The presentation was way better, he said.

Frances Vanderploeg can be reached at 990-2660 or frances.vanderploeg@hbcpub.com.