Monday July 16th
Show Title: Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Director: Marshall B Garrett
Assistant Directors: Chase O’Neill and Olivia Pedigo
Production Intern: Abraham Joyner-Meyers
Rehearsal Room: Tyson
What we did
After our first introductions, the cast dived directly into the text of Pericles. We paused after each scene to summarize and discuss the action and the worlds of the play. Once the read-through was complete, we launched into discussing the big picture of our production, from the movement work that the cast will be doing to differentiate each different environment to the music that makes the magic of Pericles happen. It’s amazing to think that only this morning campers were preparing for auditions!
Quick and Quotable
From the play
GOWER: To sing a song that old was sung,
From ashes, ancient Gower is come.
[A Chaucer-era poet comes back from the dead to narrate the play!]
From the director
MARSHALL: You all are responsible for the characters, I will be responsible for the play.
From the cast
CAMPER: “Severed heads?! Oh yeah.”
Production Insights
While Pericles is an unfamiliar play to many, it was exciting to hear from several people with deep connections to the play. An ASC company member described how powerful the text has been to him, explaining, “I’m glad people as young as you get to experience this magic.” Our director Marshall told the cast about the production of Pericles at which his parents met. After asking how many of the actors had read the play, he said, “Great! I can’t wait to see you experience it for the first time tonight.” I’m excited to see the cast create their own memories and experiences during the next three weeks.
Abraham Joyner-Meyers
Abraham Joyner-Meyers is a fiddler, a juggler, and a huge Shakespeare nerd. He completed watching the Shakespearean canon in the fall after seeing ASC’s production of The Fall of King Henry (Henry VI, Part 3). His passion for the Bard also led him to attend ASCTC for two summers, where he acted in Two Gentleman of Verona and Much Ado About Nothing. When Abe is not furiously reading, seeing, or acting in Shakespeare plays, he’ll often be found teaching himself to play new instruments, dancing at contras and with Morris teams, or training with his school archery team. He just completed his freshman year in the dual degree program between Harvard University and Berklee College of Music.