Pictured: Sophie (Bianca) playing upset to gain the sympathy of her father (Ella). 

Today’s Date: 7/26/2019

Show Title: The Taming of the Shrew

Director: Kim Newton

Assistant Directors: Austin Harleson & Taylor Lamb

Production Intern: Margot Flanders (Dramaturg) & Jules Talbot (Stage Manager)

Rehearsal Room: Hunt

What we did 

This morning we began rehearsal with more ensemble building warm ups before moving into running the first half of the show. We stopped occasionally so that Kim could tweak things. After that we spent time reworking the Bianca and Lucentio (with some Hortensio) wooing scene and the Katherina and Petruchio wooing scene. 

Quick and Quotable

From the play 

“Come, where be these gallants?”

—Petruchio, Act III

From the director 

“This is a great time to use a gallant”

“Sometimes Shakespeare gives us roller coasters. Of emotions, of character building and here we are reaching a high point.”

—Kim, about the Katherina & Petruchio wooing scene

From the cast 

‘This seems like a great moment for some audience contact.”

Production Insights 

Here at the American Shakespeare Center, we use universal lighting which means that the lights all stay on for the entire show. The actors can see the audience, the audience can see the actors and the audience can see each other. As they say “We do it with the lights on.” This in addition to audience being seated onstage on gallant stools allows the campers to use the audience and connect with them during the performance. 

During the first week of camp, our lovely camp director, Lia Wallace, leads a workshop on audience contact. It is about playing with the audience using the Ask, Assign, Ally, Act methods (ask your camper about what each of them mean when they return home). These methods allow specific contact with audience members to enhance the narrative and keep the audience wondering who will be next. 

Today in rehearsal as we were working the Bianca and Lucentio wooing, they decided to use someone sitting on a gallant stool as a holder for the whiteboard on which the Latin Lucentio is teaching Bianca is held. Other times in the show we take stools from the gallants, talk directly to them, use other audience members for sympathy or for support and for a myriad of other uses. Just as the actors in the company do, we teach our campers how to integrate the audience into their show.