‘As You Like It’ Performers
Earn Awards at Folger Festival
(March 8,
2007)
The cast of the spring
play “As You Like It” performed
a 30-minute version of the comedy at the Folger Shakespeare
Festival on Tuesday in front of seven other schools and a
panel of commentators. An annual event celebrating young
people in the metropolitan area’s interest in theater, Tuesday’s
adaptations included “Twelfth Night,” “King Lear,” and a “Midsummer
Night’s Dream” in four different languages.
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The day began at 7:00
AM in the drama room for the Mason Theater group,
getting costumes and props in order. The Shakespearean/futuristic
styles of costume mistress Ruth Burkey included
snake-skin boots, floor-length dresses, and metallic hair-spray.
About 30 people, (with chaperones), loaded onto the West
Falls Church metro and rode into D.C., arriving just
in time for the first production of “Taming of the Shrew.”
The styles presented by the different
schools varied from classic Elizabethan interpretation to poodle
skirts. Mason was scheduled to perform second to last, and had
their own version: a cross between traditional and science-fiction,
sticking to Director Pamela Spicer’s vision of a post-nuclear holocaustic “As
You Like It.”
After an hour lunch break in which stage make-up
and wigs were applied, the last four plays were performed. Mason’s
production garnered generous laughs from the audience, boasting
the only full costume changes of the afternoon. |
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Senior Juliana Hardesty,
freshman Miles Butler and
junior Anna Lathrop in a scene from “As You Like It” which
they performed at the Folger Shaekspeare Festival Tuesday. (Photo by Ruth Burkey
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After
every school had executed their play, the commentators left to decide
on whom to bestow various awards for acting prowess. To fill the time,
a classical fight choreographer came into the theater to speak, amusing
and instructing the audience with a mix of history and references to
pop culture. His repertoire included a range of weapons, from the double-handed
broad sword to rapiers.
To conclude the long day of Shakespeare,
Mason was presented with several awards. K-K Bracken and Juliana Hardesty
were each recognized for excellence in acting. Martha Grace Burkey and
Tim Koning won a dual award for their onstage chemistry. The
entire cast was recognized as an exemplary ensemble, for clarity in
story-telling and onstage support of one another. The gifts that were
awarded ranged from “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare” to “Shakespeare
101,” a book of general facts on the bard.
“As You Like It” will
be performed in its entirety March 22, 23, and 24 at 7:30 in
the George Mason Auditorium.
Tell us
what you think.
E-mail lassogmhs@hotmail.com
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