Shakespeare instructor Judith “Sparky” Roberts helps select a costume for Ella Deck who is playing Cressida in Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida at the Blue Door Theater June 9.
Othello and Hamlet will share a stage June 4 when the theater department’s Shakespeare Showcase celebrates its 20th year.
The event began as a collaboration between two theater instructors and has grown over the years as a vehicle for drama students to test their Shakespearean chops. The bits are performed on a replica of the infamous Globe Theater, which was built by local carpenter Scott Williams.
“There have been a lot of students who have performed in the Shakespeare Showcase over the years, some of whom it was their first time acting, who got hooked,” theater instructor Patrick Torelle said. “They started taking acting classes and decided to become theatre majors, or they got involved in many other productions of Shakespeare.”
Bill Woolum was hired as a full-time English instructor at LCC in 1991. In the fall of that year he was asked to teach a Shakespeare literature class, and for the final project Woolum gave his students the option of writing a paper or performing sections from the Bard’s works.
Only two students took him up on the latter of these two options.
“I introduced myself to Sparky Roberts and asked her if she would help, by directing my two students through some rehearsals” said Woolum.
Judith “Spraky” Roberts is a theater arts instructor at LCC.
A collaborative and creative friendship was born between the two, and by the end of the next term Woolum had ten students practicing with Roberts and performing for their final projects.
What had started as an informal recital played before classmates blossomed into the Shakespeare Showcase, which is an end of each term Saturday matinee and nighttime S.P.A. production at the Blue Door Theater, of which Roberts is still the director.
As interest grew for the showcase, the format started changing too.
“Now, not only do Shakespeare Lit students perform, but also LCC faculty, musicians, acting students and professional actors in the community,” Roberts said. “It’s a creative smorgasbord of every level of actor and performer. People have written and played songs based on Shakespeare’s sonnets. It’s a really fun night where people who love the Bard, get together and put on a show.” Roberts went on to say “The success and interest generated by the Shakespeare Showcase drove me to create the Acting Shakespeare class.”
The college’s affinity for the Bard is evident. S.P.A. has a policy of producing a Shakespeare play every year.
“Shakespeare is very seductive to a lot of people,” Torelle said. “It’s about the words. The way in which he’s able to construct these lines with his complex and rich language, and then how those lines connect and explore the themes of his plays.”
Shakespeare Showcase performances begin with a matinee at 2 p.m. June 4. The late show starts at 7 p.m.
