Getting in the Act

 by Barry Owens

It's the first scene in the first act in A Midsummer Night's Dream and already some of the audience seems lost.
Third graders in the back of the house are beginning to whisper. A girl in braids in the fourth row rests her head deep into her hand. And Julie Applebaum, a volunteer community arts coordinator at P.S. 150, has a clear view of it all. She shifts uncomfortably in her chair. Despite weeks of preparation for the play, Applebaum fears the students of P.S. 150 may not be ready to appreciate the work of William Shakespeare.

Assigned to be statues, Kai Primus-Dawson, Adam DeHovitz and Jed Letneski strike poses. Photo: Carl Glassman

Enter Puck. Cue the laughter. Applebaum sighs in relief.

In weekly workshops last month, students in all grades at P.S. 150 were gently led through the basic plot points of the play before attending the performance on March 18.

"It's a dream about the most amazing summer night you could ever have in the most amazing place you could ever be," explained teacher Josh Broder. "In this dream there is a princess, there is magic, a man who gets turned into a donkey, and a fairy named Puck who likes to make trouble."

Broder is a performer with the Lincoln Center Institute, which teams up with city teachers in an effort to bring the arts into classrooms. An actor and writer, he also led the students through acting exercises.
"What kind of face do we want to put on next?" Broder asked a group of first graders, wiping his angry face away with a theatrical wave of his hand.

"Can we make a silly face?" a student asked.

"Good. One of the hardest things to do as an actor is not to laugh when you do silly things," he said.

Josh Broder, a teaching artist with the Lincoln Center Institute, leads a group of first-graders in acting lessons. "One of the hardest things to do as an actor is not to laugh when you do silly things," he explains. Photo: Carl Glassman
Actress Jenna Kate Louis talks to kindergartner Thelia Torrez following the performance. Photo: Carl Glassman
Broder toured the line of students arrayed in a semi-circle in the school's music room, checking each of the young actors' expressions.

"Hold it, hold it, good. I'm seeing some great work here."

The performance, held in the auditorium at P.S/I.S. 89, remained faithful to the script. While the dialogue may have gone over the heads of many in the audience, the low comedy and slapstick played well in the back row.

"I was sitting behind the unruly third graders, and even when they were talking among themselves, they were talking about the play and not about a Gameboy or something," Applebaum said, relieved the performance eventually engaged the students. "It was amazing."

After taking their final bows, the company of players from Lincoln Center remained in costume, fielding questions from the audience.

Puck: "Yes, in the back."

Third GRADER: "Why were the actors in the beginning dressed in modern clothes"

TITANIA: "It was a directional choice. You were probably expecting ruffles and tights, right?

PUCK: "Next question? Yes, you."

FIFTH GRADER: "That play in the inside of the play, what was that supposed to be? Because me and my friend Emma think it's supposed to be 'Romeo and Juliet.'"
Jay Painter (center) of the Aquila Theater Company hams it up as Bottom in a production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Photo: Carl Glassman
OBERON: "That's very good, a very good question. Yes, it is a lot like "Romeo and Juliet."

PUCK: "Anyone else have a question?

SECOND GRADER: "Did you all, even the guys, really have to kiss?"

TITANIA: "Yes, yes, I'm afraid the kissing in the play was real."

ENTIRE P.S. 150 STUDENT BODY: "Ewwwwwwww!"