Thursday, April 21, 2011

Shakespeare's Birthday - and what he means to me...

Shakespeare. He's 447 years old now, or, better yet, he's been around for 477 years. So, what does Shakespeare mean to me?

Happiness.

That's about it, simple and easy, wrapped in one word. Although I should probably elaborate on why, however, it is that simple.

Why Happiness? Well, partially mine, somewhat teachers and parents, but mostly, kids. I write Shakespeare for Kids books. I got into writing these books because the kids wanted me to. Well, in the end it was that kids wanted me to. Truth be told, actually, it was my wife telling me I had to make some money if I was out of work. So, she set me up to do afterschool programs. So, at that point I did my first shortened Shakespeare script, Hamlet in a can, and let it rip. The kids loved it! Actually, they loved the sword play and dieing all over the stage... nothing like ending a play with 10 kids scattered around all melodramatically dieing! Great fun! It snowballed from there. I started writing more scripts and doing more performances for other cities and schools. As well as theater groups were requesting my scripts to perform to.

At that point, I actually had to get a real job. But, then came On-Demand Publishing. So I thought I would print a few, and see how it goes. Well, I must say, it is going better than I had imagined! The absolute best part is seeing all the emails from teachers about how much their kids LOVED performing my scripts, and, most importantly, how happy they were to play with the Bard. The videos I have seen are amazing. I have seen kids perform Macbeth while dancing to Thriller, I have seen chase scenes that have gone through the audience and back stage with parents rolling in their chairs laughing, and I have seen countless kids wanting more and more Shakespeare. Oh yeah, and I have seen hundreds of kids melodramatically die on stage!

It is a great feeling, that I have been given the privilege to create this avenue for kids to embrace Shakespeare, at such a young age. It makes the kids happy, it makes the parents happy, the teachers happy, and me... happy. And I am sure, somewhere, Shakespeare is happy as well.

Happy Birthday Bard,

Sincerely,

Brendan P. Kelso


Thursday, April 14, 2011

Interview with Pursued by a Bear.net - (part 2 of 3)

This is a continuation of Shakespeare for Kids of the interview with Pursued By a Bear, part 2. This interview is with Jessi Nowack, comedian, actress, and an all around fun person who loves Shakespeare.

Tell me a little something about who you are and what you do.

Jessi Nowack, internet voice actress and comedian. I do a show for Pursuedbyabear.net called “Reading is Dum”. It dissects high school required books and makes them fun.

How did you get into comedy? With a name like "no-wacking" I can come up with about six reasons on my own :)

My friends have always told me I was funny, so when I began my voice acting career, I decided to make parodies that I could voice act in. Killed two birds with one stone. Loved it so much, I stuck with it. I love entertaining people. And yes, when your last name is Nowack, you have to have a sense of humor. :P

So, can you give us an example(s) of what the other kids would interpret when they read, "It is the east..."

Mostly they would just stare blankly, but if they took a guess at what it meant and failed, it'd be pretty funny. For example, when we were reading Othello and our teacher asked us to explain what a "green eyed monster" is, one kid was like, "I don't think that's appropriate to talk about in school." I think I know what he thought it was.

I like your concept of "reading is dum", can you give me a brief summary of it's goal and a link to see it?

The goal of "Reading is Dum" is to help teens learn and understand high school required reading and actually enjoy it, whether it be by explaining the book more thoroughly or by putting it into more modern terms. I hate that students just look up Sparknotes, memorize something for a test, and then are done with the book forever. I want them to enjoy learning about the book and, as I'm a teenager myself, it'll be a relief to see me teach the material rather than a teacher who's mad at the world and talks too fast for you to write notes down. Not that I'm saying all teachers are like that; just saying we've all had that teacher at one point. As for a link, check out my stuff here.

Where can someone find out where you are doing your next comedy act or production?

I update my site, Wack Attack, as often as I can. There you can find my complete resume, my blog, (in which I talk about what recent parodies I've been in, update on what videos I'm working on, etc.) and lots of other stuff. I'll also post when I come out with a new "Reading is Dum" so that's the best place to visit to see when I have new videos out. You can visit the Wack Attack at http://nowacking.pursuedbyabear.net/

What’s your background with Shakespeare?

(In highschool) I could understand things other students couldn’t. They’d see, “It is the East, and Juliet is the sun” and not understand a word of it, but I did. I had particular attraction to Shakespearean literature.

What was the reason that started you doing Shakespeare videos?

I transferred to a public high school for my senior year and I was sick of students falling asleep in class or paying attention, but not understanding. I wanted to give them a way of tolerating, heck even “enjoying” literature.

How long have you been doing Shakespeare-related productions?

Technically haven’t done one, yet. Waiting for things to slow down.

Was it intimidating at all to approach Shakespeare through this type of format?

No, no, been doing comedy for years. It is a natural, familiar style for me to be writing in.

What are your long term goals for PursuedByABear.net?

Stupid cliché, but just want to help kids. If I can help one person, then that'll be cool.

What’s your one piece of advice for other educators trying to reach students with Shakespeare?

Don’t be a record. Whatever you have to say in a boring way about a book, they’ve already heard it. Gotta connect with kids or you’ll lose them before the lesson even begins. Connect events in book with modern day situations and such. Oh, and for God’s sake, PLEASE do not rap anything in the lesson plan. Ever. Don’t. Unless you wanna end up as a viral video on Youtube.

What’s your favorite Shakespeare play?

Only read two, “Othello” and “Romeo and Juliet”. Both were really good, really ironic twists. Preferred “Romeo and Juliet,” but bias: love “West Side Story”

Who is your favorite Shakespeare Character(s)?

Mercutio. Such a free spirit, punny, cool character Causes a lot of stuff to go down.

If you could spend an evening with the Bard, what would you do?

We’d probably find every copy of “Gnomeo and Juliet” and destroy them before the movie’s released. Then go have some pie.

Last Comments?

Stay in school, kids!

Check out the interview via video:


Part 1 of Pursued by a bear.net interview can be found here.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Interview with Pursued by a Bear.net - (part 1 of 3)

One of our goals at Playing With Plays, Shakespeare for Kids, is to get educators great resources for engaging their kids with Shakespeare. I recently had the privilege to meet and work with another Shakespeare group called, Pursued by a Bear. Their main goal is to make Shakespeare interesting and fun (NOT BORING) via video. Audience: Teens and adults.

Teachers, this really is a wonderful place to connect your highschoolers to the Bard. The important piece here... HAVE FUN!

One of the main drivers of PursuedByABear.net and their overall concept is Sharky:

Tell me a little something about who you are and what you do.

I'm the Founder and House musician of http://pursuedbyabear.net. I also run a Shakespeare database ( http://plays.pursuedbyabear.net ) which has all of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets.

What’s your background with Shakespeare?

Where I'm from, we didn't really study Shakespeare, so I picked it up on my own. Eventually, I was tasked as the fight choreographer for a production of Romeo and Juliet, and ended up playing Romeo. To date, it's the only Shakespeare production I've been involved with.

Hey, you also do fight choreography? How did you start doing that?

I've been doing Fight Choreography since I was a high school sophomore (initially, because no one else wanted to do it), and most of what I apply are what I saw in Martial Arts and Swashbuckler movies, observing what looks good on camera and putting my own spin on the fight sequence.

Any quick advice that you want to give on doing fight choreography?

Pretty basic pointer would be to start slow until the actors get the rhythm down, and remind them that they're not really supposed to be trying to hurt each other, but to look cool (which is why you often see excessively slow, wide swings to simulate force when a character is carrying a "heavy sword.") Also, for whoever is directing, make sure that the walls on either side of the stage are a completely different color than whichever weapons are being used. This allows the actors to see the weapons in motion better, thus allowing them to avoid injury by being able to duck out of the way should the other actor make a movement error. I used this concept during the Romeo and Juliet production I was in, since both actors were using thin fencing foils, and I wanted them to see where the blades were at all times.

What was the reason that started you doing Shakespeare videos?

I saw The RSC's production of Hamlet starring David Tennant and Patrick Stewart, and it looked very alive and very modern (despite using the classical language) and I thought more people should know about it, especially people who hated Shakespeare during High School archaic.

How long have you been doing Shakespeare-related productions?

Besides Romeo and Juiet, nothing until Pursued By A Bear. I did talk about Shakespeare and aspects of his plays with various people, but no real, direct involvement. I am far more active now than I was back then.

Why Pursued By a Bear?

It's from “The Winter's Tale” Act III.3, and I would really like to see how the original actors reacted to see that stage direction on their scripts. It was a really funny mental image to me, so I decided to use that for the site's name.

Why Sharky?

It's a nickname I chose for myself, because Sharks are cool. Specifically, Mako Sharks, but Hammerheads are pretty neat as well.

Was it intimidating at all to approach Shakespeare through this type of format?

I didn't find it intimidating at all, since my original plan was to take a look at Hamlet from the perspective of a Film Major. However, once Cassius was onboard to present it side-by-side as a Shakespeare adaptation, any small doubts that may have existed were immediately extinguished. Unlike myself, she does have the “Shakespeare Cred” to talk about the Theater aspects of the adaptation, which would placate the Shakespeare aficionados that would enevitably view the video.

What are your long term goals for PursuedByABear.net?

I have quite a simple answer to that, and that is to keep using it as a way to make learning about Classical Theater, Literature, and History fun.

What’s your one piece of advice for other educators trying to reach students with Shakespeare?

Teach them as plays, and let your students have their own opinions of the characters and story. Trust that the play's plot and story will still hold itself together, regardless of your students' interpretation of the characters. Shakespeare wrote these characters (fairly) realistically, and much like real people, their actions will still be (relatively) real, regardless of what your students think. The point is to engage them in the play, and let them realize exactly why the storytelling and character development in these plays still endure even today.

What’s your favorite Shakespeare play?

For artistry, Richard II. For story, Hamlet. It knows exactly where it wants to go from the very beginning, and barely ever delineates from the main plot. The fact that the on-rails story is still engaging despite the 3-hour run time is a testament to Shakespeare's storytelling ability.

Who is your favorite Shakespeare Character(s)?

That would be Rosalind from As You Like It, who is one of the stronger female characters in Shakespeare's plays. Admittedly, I like strong women.

If you could spend an evening with the Bard, what would you do?

I would ask him what was going on in his life when he wrote The Merchant of Venice. As far as I can tell, it's the Frankenstein's Monster of theater. It has four completely different plots that are barely linked together by a few lines of throwaway dialogue. They don't even have any tangible common themes, like Shakespeare wrote the play under duress, or in a hurry, and just grabbed four random manuscripts, wrote some extra lines, and made a chimera of a play out of it.

Any last comments?

If you're an educator (or something to that effect), try to make learning about Shakespeare fun. True, not everyone will like it, and very few people will use their knowledge of Shakespeare once they're out of school and working, but at least let them remember it as something that was fun to study.

Thank you very much for the Questions. This has been Sharky. Take Care!

You can find Sharky at PursuedByABear.net

You can find melodramatic fun Shakespeare for Kids at PlayingWithPlays.com

Part 2 of the interview can be found here

Video of the interview can be found here: