THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 20, 1995 TAG: 9504200142
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
Jennifer Morgan is a fifth-grader with a flair for the dramatic.
She was onstage recently at Kilby Shores Elementary School, doing Shakespeare. It was time for her Juliet dying scene. She rubbed the back of her hand across her forehead, went down slowly, writhed for a second - then, she was gone.
The silent movie-type histrionics took place recently as fourth- and fifth- grade students got a taste - a meal, almost - of Shakespeare, courtesy of the visiting Hampstead Players.
The 10-year-old Center Barnstead, N.H., drama company travels to schools around the country ``promoting literacy, focusing on the classics,'' said Samantha Talbot, one of the two visiting performers.
Several two-person teams cover 30 states during 15-week tours, doing two to four one-hour shows each day, reaching about 45,000 children.
Talbot and Ted Arabian teamed up for the Kilby Shores visit offering a little bit of ``Julius Caesar,'' showing the playwright's approach to tragedy, and ``A Midsummer Night's Dream'' - Shakespeare with laughs.
The accent was on the drama of ``Romeo and Juliet,'' an enactment that called for a lot of swordplay, and a lot of romance - romance to die for, literally.
``I liked when Romeo poisoned himself,'' sighed fourth-grader Erica Daughtrey. ``It's neat that he would do that for Juliet.''
Nicholas Washington, a fifth-grade student, said his favorite scene showed ``Romeo in the bushes proposing to her.''
He said he knew about Romeo and Juliet. Cheryl Ramsey, a fourth-grader, said she did not, ``except that Romeo fell in love with Juliet.''
By the end of the hour with Talbot and Arabian, most of the children had found out a lot about the bard.
Judging from their constantly fascinated gazes, they appreciated what they saw.
Jennifer Morgan, the youngster in the slow-die scene, appreciated the opportunity to perform.
``It was just great getting onstage,'' she enthused. ``It was exciting to see how they do things, how the words went.''
Shakespeare went smoothly, the two performers changing costumes several times, performing before a simple but effective set, acting and interacting with their young audience.
After the performance there were questions. Many hands were raised, the Hampstead Players promising to answer, by letter, any queries they could not get to at school.
Some of those they did get to answer were, ``How do you learn your lines?'' ``Is Romeo and Juliet based on real events?'' ``Have you ever acted on a real stage?'' ``How can you change costumes so fast?''
The answers: ``Studying hard,'' ``We're not sure,'' ``This (Kilby Shores auditorium) is a real stage'' and ``Velcro.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Ted Arabian, left, and Samantha Talbot, right, of hte Hampstead
Players give Kilby Shores student Bobby Gleason some pointers on
``dying'' the Shakespearean way.
by CNB