Season Nine: Week 18

Friday / January 3 / 2020
Written by Lauren

We began the session with a chat about cuts to the script. A couple of women had concerns regarding some proposed cuts, so as a group we discussed those and how they would or would not be missed in the final script. Since this can be difficult work, we followed it by playing a couple of games.

The first game was new to us, and suggested by an ensemble member. It’s number game called Buzz and was very fun! After that we played a group favorite: WAH! Even a certain member who “does not play games” joined in for that one.

We moved on to Act 3 Scene 1. The discussion about Ophelia started out with one ensemble member describing her as a “ditz.” The more we spoke about Ophelia, the clearer the sadness of her life became. After clarifying that she is often spoken about right in front of her, one woman commented, “No wonder she jumped.”

We then focused specifically on Hamlet’s famous “To be or not to be” speech—its being spoken in front of Ophelia, and what that could mean for her interpretation of Hamlet’s words. One woman suggested that when Ophelia is on stage but being ignored, she could sit in a chair with her back to the audience, almost as if being placed in time out.

Unfortunately, our session came to an end not long after that, but I am looking forward to seeing how the group decides to work with these ideas!

Season Nine: Week 16

“Shakespeare is the place where I feel like I can truly, truly be myself.”

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Tuesday / December 17 / 2019
Written by Maria

Today we tackled the lengthy Act 2 Scene 2, breaking it into smaller chunks to work through. “This is half the play!” one woman said as we all flipped through the long scene we were about to undertake. Kyle G. proceeded to give us a quick synopsis of the scene before we dove in with the entrance of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and Polonius discussing Hamlet’s madness with the king and queen.

The woman who was playing Polonius has a great understanding of playing comedic moments and physicality, clearing her throat before reading Hamlet’s note to Ophelia—and clearly not impressed with his attempts at sonnet writing. “Was Polonius the old King Hamlet’s right hand man?” a woman asked. I responded that I had just assumed that the man came with the job, but another woman responded that Polonius has a disdain for Hamlet that doesn’t fit for him if he was the old king’s right hand man. “Maybe Polonius was there because he was so loyal to Claudius. He could also be there to be the fall guy,” the woman who asked the question said. “Literally,” another woman agreed.

“I get lost in my own conversation,” the woman playing Polonius observed. We then discussed why Shakespeare wrote this fuddy duddy character that we are not meant to take seriously. Is it just for comedic effect, or is there something else at play? Kyle G. said that each person in the court represents a part of the court that Hamlet hates. When we asked how the scene had gone, one woman in the audience praised the actors’ work but wanted more movement in the scene. She suggested that they move the action closer to the audience. Since we were discussing the roles of the court, that also brought up the status of each character—how could we make that clear to the audience, physically? We have these great steps between the stage and the house that we can use to have a person literally stand above someone of lower status, or to show a power shift in their interaction.

Keeping all of these ideas in mind the second time through, the scene moved further downstage, sparking Polonius to ask if it was too far. We all enthusiastically assured her that it was great and that we loved it. She also said that she had gotten a little in Claudius’ face, hoping that the king would put her in her place. Kyle G. suggested that Polonius make good use of the steps, crossing back and forth as she reads the letter, and our resident stage manager reminded us that we could set the king’s and queen’s thrones upstage to help give power to those in charge. Everyone already felt a lot better about the scene and looked forward to pushing through to the next bit.

The third time through, we continued into Hamlet’s entrance, and we added thrones for the king and queen. “It’s hard to grasp the emotions when trying to read,” our Hamlet confessed. A supportive veteran pushed Hamlet to be more aggressive with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. “Hamlet is getting madder and madder. You should move toward them when you’re asking why they are here.” We also suggested using some chairs so Hamlet could force Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to sit for her interrogation. “[Rosencrantz and Guildenstern] look busted with their tail between their legs,” one woman said, smiling, when the two were caught out by Hamlet.

One woman suggested that Hamlet enter from the house to give time for a shift in the scene (the royals to hide for eavesdropping), and everyone got ready to tackle this section of the scene again. We stopped a few times to give Hamlet some suggestions to go bigger and really push for answers from her friends, and for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to show us their fear of Hamlet’s questioning.

As we got into the scene more, I stopped taking notes and just enjoyed watching the interaction unfold before me. Hamlet, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern did a great job of taking our suggestions and pushing the scene into something funny and connected. The two friends squirmed as Hamlet pushed for the real reason that they were there. Rosencrantz took the note of being more physical, scooching her chair to be closer to Guildenstern, and even falling to the floor in an attempt to lean away from Hamlet’s pointing finger. We were all laughing, and when Hamlet pointed at the chair for them to sit, there was a lot of power in that small gesture. After coming to our stopping point, we asked how the scene had felt, and our Hamlet responded, “I appreciate not just the facilitators’ input, but the other ensemble members as well: you’re the ones watching it.”

“It made it more understandable from an audience perspective. To see you [Hamlet] toying and playing with them. I like when Rosencrantz fell out of the chair.” a woman from the audience shared. Another women praised Hamlet for always staying open to the audience. Even though she doesn’t have performance experience, this makes it a lot easier for us to understand both what she is saying and the intention behind it. Kyle S. praised the teamwork of the entire ensemble, saying that they made each other’s gestures work.

Before we could run the scene again or get into the entrance of the Players, it was time to raise the ring and say goodbye. “I haven’t laughed and smiled this much in ages—my face hurts from smiling,” one woman told a facilitator as we were leaving for the evening. It was a pretty great way to end our last Tuesday before the holiday break.

Season Nine: Week 15

“This is an awesome play for prisoners. 100% of us have felt like Hamlet.”

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Tuesday / December 10 / 2019
Written by Emma

One of our newer members piped up almost immediately after lowering our ring, suggesting that we “start from the beginning [of the play.]” Nodding heads around the circle seconded her idea, as one of our returning members began strategizing how we should go about doing that. She remarked that last season, “we ran the scenes three times--it was the magic number!” She smiled and added, “but for me, it’s two.”

Facilitators didn’t even have to ask the group what we would like to do today--it seemed they already knew! We started at the very beginning (which, as Lauren pointed out, is “a very good place to start”) with 1.1. Our goal was to run the scene once, collaborate on blocking, then run it again with some new ideas. Before we even got started, one woman hopped up and began strategically setting chairs, tables, and even artificial plants across the stage. “What are you setting up?” another woman asked. The first woman stopped, thought for a moment, and said, “When there’s more objects, there’s more to do!” When she finished, we got some actors onstage and began our run.

The tone of this run was, surprisingly, rather comedic. In this scene, we find guards on watch duty discussing the odd goings on in the kingdom, and they encounter a ghost who looks just like the recently-deceased King Hamlet. The actors playing the guards delivered their lines with an almost machine-like quality: upright and stoic. That is, until the ghost came onstage. One of our guards scurried behind a fake plant in fear, which elicited laughter from the entire ensemble. Even our ghost, who had held a chilled expression, began to crack a smile.

One big highlight of the run was watching one of our first-season members read for Horatio. At multiple points this season, she has expressed discomfort with acting, saying she wasn’t sure what to do when she was onstage. Facilitators and ensemble members alike have spent the past few months giving her time, space, and support to help ease her stress. It seemed like it all paid off as she confidently walked around the stage. At one point, she even realized that she was upstaging her scene partner, so she repositioned herself to open up the stage. A real pro move!

“You already know what I’m going to ask!” Lauren remarked as the scene came to a close. The question, of course, was how that scene had felt for the actors. We talked about how we liked the comedic undertones and strategized on how we could re-stage and block in order to ham it up a bit more. We imagined where the guard tower could go (using a music stand as a marker), and after some rearranging, we were ready to run it again. The second run immediately looked better. One actor stood at attention behind the music stand/guard tower, scanning the horizon for any signs of disturbances. Two more guards marched back and forth across the stage, turning on their heels in unison, as Horatio struggled to get them to listen. It was much more apparent what was going on in the scene, and we got some new blocking ideas.

The group was ready to move on to 1.2. This scene is significantly longer than the previous one and provides much of the background information needed to understand the events of the play. One of our new members volunteered to read for Clauduis, who more or less talks at everyone else in the scene for a few straight pages. Realizing what she had gotten herself into, she didn’t shy away from the task. Instead, she let everyone know that she struggles with pronunciation but to not correct her if she made mistakes. We all agreed, and the scene got started.

“Really, who isn’t in this scene?” I wondered as almost our entire ensemble took the stage. Claudius took a strong stance in the center of the stage, and the other actors fanned out behind her in a way that visually emphasized the relationships between the king and his people. Claudius carefully made her way through the challenging text, taking her time with phrases and occasionally substituting words to maintain a flow.

After a few minutes, we took a break to re-strategize. Where should people be standing? What should actors who aren’t speaking be doing to keep the energy high? The facilitators pointed out that much of the text will be getting trimmed down for performances, but it’s still a good idea to start thinking about ways to block this scene.

After tossing around a few blocking ideas, Claudius piped up to say that she was having difficulty understanding her character. She said that she was feeling more connected to Hamlet in this scene, what he was saying and doing. Lauren gave her some more ideas of what Claudius may be thinking based on where he’s at in the play, which seemed to put her at ease.

Before we could run the scene again, our time was up. We raised the ring, having made some excellent progress on serious blocking!

Season Nine: Week 14

Tuesday / December 3 / 2019
Written by Maria

What with the PCAP art show and winter sickness working its way through the facilitators, it was a small group of us today. The energy seemed a little subdued, as is wont to happen around the holidays, and no one was really interested in playing a game.

We did start to get into the nitty gritty of things though, like how to cut this monster of a play down and what roles people are starting to be interested in playing. A couple of women said that they were interested in playing Ophelia but didn’t want to sing. I assured them that if that was the only thing holding them back from considering that role, to go for it, as there are plenty of ways to get around the singing noted in the script. Another woman, who was originally only interested in pulling the curtain, said that she is considering playing Fortinbras or the Ghost. This made one of our veterans very happy, and she noted that this woman’s consistency and dedication are what’s needed to make the play a success.

We hopped around the play a bit, looking at cuts to Hamlet’s speech in Act 4 Scene 4 after meeting the captain and seeing Fortinbras for the first time. Then we jumped to the last scene of the play so we could have a little fun with the sword fight. Our Hamlet got a bit overzealous with the fighting, and I had to jump in a few times to pause the bout, as there was important dialogue between King Claudius and Queen Gertrude, and poor Laertes was trying to both follow the story and defend herself.

It seemed to lift our spirits, though, as almost all of us hopped onto the stage or called out a line or two from the audience during the play’s final scene. We left the theatre eager to start working with a trimmed down script, and with a renewed focus on working towards casting the play.

Season Nine: Week 13

“I’ve never felt so supported, like my talent meant something.”

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Tuesday / November 26 / 2019
Written by Lauren

We started out with a check-in. One woman was very excited about Thanksgiving this week and the opportunity to decorate the Christmas tree that will be going up in her unit. Another woman had some of her drawings accepted into an art show! Good news all around.

After the Ring exercise, we played some games. We had a couple of fast and furious rounds of “Zip, Zap, Zop” and “Wah.” Since we were in the auditorium, the ensemble was anxious to jump into the material and get a feel for performing on the stage. They are starting to think about what characters they might audition for, so this was a good opportunity to try acting out some of those out.

The first scene we worked was Act 3 Scene 4. One woman commented that it was a lot more fun acting on the actual stage than in the classroom. The woman playing the Ghost does not typically read or act out scenes, but was feeling adventurous tonight. After running the scene, she had ideas for the Ghost that she wanted to try out during another run. A woman who was not in the scene added that she liked some of the choices the woman playing Ghost had made, such as taking Hamlet’s sword. The woman playing Gertrude enjoyed the dynamic between her, Hamlet, and the Ghost, most notably seeing Hamlet’s reactions to the ghost while Gertrude could not see it. The woman who played Hamlet commented on how many emotions Hamlet has in the scene.

We ran the scene again. Some women chose to stick with their characters, while some new actors stepped into others. A different woman played Gertrude this time, and there were comments on how “there” her emotions were. She said that the character’s emotions were easy to pinpoint. The woman playing the Ghost tried her idea of entering from the back of the house, and the reactions to that choice were positive. We talked a little bit about staging this scene, and the overall agreement was that there should be somewhere to sit—possibly a vanity type set-up—for Gertrude.

Next, we ran the end of Act 5, Scene 2. One woman who hasn’t performed much really enjoyed getting up on the stage. It felt good to her. The woman who played Horatio told us that she is considering auditioning for that part. She struggles a bit with pinpointing characters’ emotions, and Horatio has become a character whose emotions are clearer to her than the rest.

We moved on to the end of Act 1 Scene 2. The woman playing Hamlet really liked this scene and felt her own emotions coming out in the character. She said she felt like she was asking the questions about the Ghost herself, not as Hamlet. The woman playing Horatio (previously mentioned as being interested in the part) understood the scene and the character more after having the chance to act it out. One woman responded to her with a short analysis of the character. She commented on how Horatio is so in-tune. She said she thought that Horatio does not know that the king was killed, but definitely feels that he was. He is loyal to Hamlet and shows that loyalty by going to Hamlet about the Ghost instead of to the guards. He never doubts Hamlet—he is “empathically connected to him,” she said. He never judges Hamlet or turns his back. Even in Hamlet’s death, Horatio does not have anything bad to say, sings his praises, and tells his story to Fortinbras.

Finally, we moved on to the end of Act 3, Scene 3. One woman commented that playing Claudius in this scene is like waiting for Hamlet to pounce, but he never does. We started talking about staging, and one woman suggested that the Ghost could be behind Hamlet, and that his presence could symbolize Hamlet’s conscience, since Hamlet considers killing Claudius but chooses not to in that moment. Another woman made the comment that there are a lot of inmates who are there at WHV for a long time, and that those women have seen our shows before will be seeing many more in the future. She suggested having tie-ins such as Zannis (Twelfth Night) to connect the shows from year to year, as well as to provide some comedic relief in such a dark play. This is something that the ensemble is interested in exploring further as we continue working on the play.

Friday / November 29 / 2019
Written by Maria

“I have an idea for a game!” one woman said, jumping up enthusiastically. I should have called her a “thought burglar” because when she suggested playing Bombs and Shields, I said that I had been thinking of the same thing earlier that afternoon. Someone else suggested charades since it’s a typical party game that one plays with the family at Thanksgiving.

We cleared the stage of all the chairs and everyone who wanted to play got into a circle as we explained how to play Bombs and Shields. Each person silently picks someone in the circle to be her bomb (who she will want to stay away from) and another person to be her shield (who she will want to keep between her and her bomb). We played this a couple times, and we were all giggling as we dashed around the stage in small circles of people trying to hide or escape from their bombs. “What did we learn from this?” we asked once we had all settled down. “Getting comfortable with the stage,” one woman replied, “and it’s okay to have fun.” We agreed and also briefly discussed objectives and spatial awareness, which will definitely come into play when we start staging. We then played one round of Party Quirks with five party guests, Lauren as the hostess, and the rest of us in the audience shouting out guesses about each party guest.

After more laughter, we eagerly jumped into some scenework. Two of the women wanted to look at a scene with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, so we started with their introduction to Hamlet in Act 2 Scene 2. When we asked how the scene had gone, the woman playing Hamlet replied, “He’s got some funny lines, but sometimes you just want to pinch him. He’s very wordy.” Rosencrantz had crossed down to sit on the stairs at one point in the scene, but we ran into some challenges, as the light is dimmer around the edge of the stage and our Hamlet was having trouble seeing the words in her script.

The second time we ran the scene, we added some chairs and a table to play with upstage of the curtain line where the lights are brighter. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern played off each other amazingly, with Guildenstern copying Rosencrantz’s mannerisms and facial expressions. “I understood the scene more this time,” Guildenstern said. “I was proud of [Guildenstern] because she came out of her shell more and followed her instincts.” our Rosencrantz shared.

One woman said that she really wanted to look at Hamlet with the gravedigger in Act 5 Scene 1. There was some whispering as the two women playing the gravediggers dug around (pun intended) backstage to find a way to create the grave. They ended up rolling the chalkboard over and grabbing some drumstick “shovels,” and the scene was on its way. “I want more skulls!” our Hamlet lamented after the scene was over. She also said that she wanted Yorrick’s skull jaw to flap as she played with it. It’s so great when we can start to look past understanding what’s going on in the scene and start to play with design elements, comedic relationships and connecting with other people on the stage. “She played Horatio good,” our gravedigger commented after we finished the scene for the first time. “I felt like I was playing ping pong listening to the two of them,” our Horatio replied, shaking her head back and forth. We replied that it worked for both her character and the scene.

We then ran the scene a second time, with each of the women playing a different character. Our new gravedigger created a shallower grave from a tipped over table, and our new Hamlet added two chairs. In both renditions of the scene, I burst into laughter as the gravedigger popped up with enthusiasm and pride, shouting, “Mine sir!” to Hamlet when he asked whose grave this was.

“This scene has to stay in! It’s a good comedic scene to break things up,” one woman insisted as we asked the audience for their thoughts on the scene we had just watched. “It kept us tuned in and was entertaining to watch,” another woman jumped in. There was so much silliness and energy that the time flew by, and before we were able to run the scene again, it was time to go.