February 10, 1999
Shakespeare comes alive on stage
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Was it a little-publicized production of the Old Town Playhouse? No. Perhaps or a visiting theater company giving a sneak preview? Nope, try again.
This full, five-act version of Romeo and Juliet was performed by the ninth grade Academically Talented Language Arts class at West Junior High. Pulling out all the stops, these students presented the bitter rivalries, ribald humor and intense passions of the play with aplomb and grace.
"It was amazing, they did really, really well," said Lana Crandall, teacher of the class. "Memorizing Shakespeare is not something everyone could do, they are gifted. They studied poetry for three months before going on stage and produced their own book of poetry before the holidays."
For the fourth year, Crandall has led her ninth grade 'AT' students through the play, who produce it on for an eager audience of students, teachers and parents. The audience this time also included most of her cast from the previous three year's productions.
Romeo and Juliet is part of the ninth grade curriculum and all students district-wide study it. Crandall decided that performing it was truly the way to learn it and her students have met the challenge for the past four years. They have memorized hundreds of lines each, learned to throw themselves into the character and portray and project the intense emotions of this play.
"It's fun how it has gotten to be THE thing to look forward to for eighth grade 'AT' students," said Crandall. "Some students show up in the fall with a part already memorized."
Most of the actors - even those playing lead roles - were novices on stage, at most acting in an elementary school play years ago. However, the immortal Bard lit a fire in many of these students and they plan to continue acting in high school.
"I would love to act more, I never knew how much fun it was," said Karl Stein, who played Romeo and had never acted on stage before. "Romeo starts as a pathetic, whining little boy and ends up as a man. I knew very little about the play, there's a lot more depth and humor than you think."
The role of Juliet was shared by Laura Mittendorf and Alisha Dahlstrom, each playing the lead role one night. Both said they were playing a dream role but also found it spooky to play a girl their own age who experiences so much in such a short time: true love, marriage, separation and death.
"We haven't had that much life experience," said Dahlstrom. "Playing Juliet is the ultimate fantasy, it's kind of like stepping into a character and becoming that character."
The students began studying the play in November, after months of studying poetry. They began memorizing lines for different parts and trying on different characters. Crandall assigned students to the roles after watching them act scenes and looking at a list of their preferences. She did not always listen to a student's wishes if she saw a spark of something in them that they might not see.
"Romeo was on my Really Don't Want list," said Stein. "When I saw my name up there as Romeo, I didn't know what would happen. But I love it, it's fun and I'm glad I got this part."
Months of daily rehearsals in class were capped by two six-hour dress rehearsals on the City Opera House stage. The first time on stage, in costume, was magical for the actors and the play came together for the cast and crew.
"When we were in the classroom, I was stumbling along," said Mittendorf. "Then when I stepped on stage it all came together."