Wednesday, June 15, 2011

In the Spotlight: Gregory Kleciak

Name: Gregory Kleciak


Character: Page, servant

Greg as Mordred
in "Camelot"
Why Acting? Why Shakespeare?
I enjoy acting because you can fire out a lot of emotions you can’t in everyday life. Shakespeare I find enjoyable because the language is stellar: an actor can look at lines in Shakespeare and see them the same way a musician might see their sheet music; there are crescendos, tempo switches, and volume changes. In some ways the text does a little bit of the work for us.

How and why did you get involved with Hampshire Shakespeare & this production?
I first got involved with Hampshire Shakespeare years ago when I was in Henry IV Part I, and when the call came, I was more than happy to get involved with this show.

What is your Favorite Word? Grundge.


What is your Least Favorite Word? Porkbarrel.

What sound or noise do you love? Rain.

What sound or noise do you hate?
Telephones ringing (cellular or household.)

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
Theoretical physicist.

What profession would you not like to do? Nurse or C.P.A.

What is your earliest memory of theater?
Being in the chorus of singing mice in our elementary school production, Of Mice and Mozart, is my earliest theatrical memory.

Greg, in the title role
in "Malcolm X"
Why is Theatre Necessary?
I couldn’t say it’s necessary, just as I couldn’t say movies, TV, or videogames are necessary in a world where people are starving, but I think theater is unique because it gives the audience a chance to connect emotionally with the work first hand. Which is more engaging to watch: a videotape of a couple having an argument, or them hashing it out right in front of you? Theater can have the same effect as the latter.

Has performing Shakespeare given you any interesting insights into Shakespeare?
It has shown me that lowest common denominator humor has managed to go unevolved for hundreds of years.


Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

In the Spotlight: Anna Fox

Name: Anna Fox

Character: Biondello

Why Acting? 
There’s a lot left unsaid or unexpressed in “real life” and I feel like I am more myself when onstage or doing something creative.

Why Shakespeare? 
Anna in
"As You Like It"
I saw Othello when I was 7 and hated it because it was long and boring and everyone died, and I didn’t like Shakespeare much until senior year of high school when two things happened: 1. Funnily enough I played The Widow in my high school’s production of “Taming of the Shrew” and got over my fear of the language because once I read it closely and had the opportunity to perform the words I realized how fun it was and how the language isn’t that hard to understand after all. 2. I took a class on Shakespeare’s Tragedies and read Richard III. He is by far my favorite Shakespeare character and my dream role. I will not stop acting Shakespeare until I get to play Richard III… even if I’m 105 years old.

How and why did you get involved with Hampshire Shakespeare & this production? 
I needed something to do the summer after I graduated high school in 2008, so I decided to audition and ended up playing Audrey in the young company’s production of “As You Like It”. Then, after spending half of this past school year abroad in London studying Shakespeare and the other half being in my school’s production of “Romeo and Juliet”, I did not want to stop doing Shakespeare. So, I was home for spring break and decided to audition again on a whim… and here I am.

What is your Favorite Word? 
Mawkish. I learned it doing SAT prep (at least I learned something useful).

What is your Least Favorite Word? 
Pregnant. It’s rather upsetting, but a hard word to avoid…

What sound or noise do you love? 
Faint/distant noises, like distant birds at dusk, distant phones ringing, distant voices, distant cars, distant train whistles. It’s pleasant background noise.

What sound or noise do you hate? 
CHEWING! And the gross clicking sound macaroni and cheese makes when you stir it.

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? 
I really want to be German, so it would be cool if I was German and lived in Berlin, and was also a painter. Hopefully they’ll figure out how to genetically change someone’s nationality soon…

What profession would you not like to do? Truck driver

What is your earliest memory of theater? 
When I had to play the “quince tree” in my first grade play. I was pissed off because I really wanted to be “the queen” instead. I always got angry when I had to play the outlandish/eccentric characters instead of what I deemed as the “normal” ones, but have now realized the eccentric/outlandish ones are always more fun to play anyways. How many times does someone get to play a quince tree?

Anna Fox
Why is Theatre Necessary? 
Similar to what I said above in the “Why acting?” answer, except I’d add that the more honest level of expression found through acting and doing theater needs to be shared with an audience. People need to exist in a time scale other than the “real world” one they’re used to every once in awhile.

Has performing Shakespeare given you any interesting insights into Shakespeare? 
That he’s a really good playwright. That’s pretty obvious seeing as we continue to perform his plays 400 years later, but I’ve gotten into playwrighting recently myself and I’ve realized that in order to be a successful playwright you have to have an innate deep understanding of human psychology. Human psychology is timeless and that’s really at the basis of why we still perform his plays. His characters are representations of diverse psychological “types”, yet at the same time are by no means vapid or shallow, so that leaves a great amount of flexibility and interpretation to directors, designers, actors etc. These days a lot of plays are very specific, taking place in a specific time and place with very specific characters, and I wonder if they will last much beyond this era or generation, but Shakespeare knew how to make his plays/characters relate to practically any audience, even ones he could not foresee existing 400 years in the future. That’s pretty genius.

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Anna Fox (Biondello) just completed her junior year at Skidmore College. This past fall she studied Shakespeare at the British American Drama Academy in London, and recently appeared as The Apothecary in “Romeo and Juliet”, set in 1960s Buenos Aires. She would like to thank the three Ms (Mother, Mipsy, Misha).

Thursday, June 2, 2011

In the Spotlight: Jack Zaryckyj

Name: Jack Zaryckyj                      

Role/Title: Director

Why Acting/Directing? I love it so damn much!!!

Why Shakespeare? 
Shakespeare’s plays have been consistently popular for the four hundred years since they were written. This demonstrates the universality of the characters and circumstances that he wrote about. There is a complexity, especially in the later plays. This is due to the fact that Shakespeare left many of his characters’ motivations ambiguous, which allows for interpretation. These different possible interpretations explain why a person can go see the same Shakespeare show many times, because there is always a new angle to look at it from, or new things to learn about the characters and their situations.

How and why did you get involved with Hampshire Shakespeare & this production? 
It’s been four years now, so I don’t remember the exact circumstances, but I know that I auditioned for Romeo and Juliet and got a couple of great little roles—my favorite of which was the Apothecary. I’ve been involved with Hampshire Shakespeare as an actor, director, set carpenter, and props master over the last four years.

A scene from "Hamlet," directed by Jack for HSC, 2010
What is your Favorite Word?
‘Lackadaisical.’ I love the sound, but it definitely doesn’t describe me.

What is your Least Favorite Word? 
‘Utilize,’ because its definition is the opposite of its colloquial meaning—it actually means to use something for a purpose that it was not intended for. The same goes for ‘nonplussed.’

What sound or noise do you love? 
The dull popping sound when you break the seal on a new jar of pickles or applesauce.

What sound or noise do you hate? 
The sound of the filter in the aquarium in my bedroom—it keeps me awake!

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? 
Musician, though I’d have to have some musical inclination for that (I can play the recorder!).

What profession would you not like to do? 
Anything that keeps me behind a desk all day, I think anything to do with Wall Street or banking would not jive with me.

What is your earliest memory of theater? 
When I was seven I played the Angel Gabriel in the Nativity at church. I remember that I was so nervous about knowing my lines that I was already practicing them on the way home from church on the day I was cast.

Why is Theatre Necessary? 
Theater, in one form or another, has been around as long as people have. Performance—a person taking on a persona that is not inherently their own—was an important aspect of many ancient rituals, the first plays. Theater has been perceived as holy, as prostitution, and everything in between for centuries. Being so diverse, theater has deeply penetrated many aspects of culture. Theater is important because it is all around us everyday, whether at work, home, or school. We can’t escape it, because it is inherently human. To drop what a person is in his or her everyday life and became something else—a god, demon, king, or regular Joe—is a fantasy that is universal and that can become a reality on stage. Furthermore, such performance is a tool to clarify the human experience, what it is to feel intensely, to despair or love or to hate, and how that affects a person to their core and informs their actions. To watch such clarity is cathartic to an audience. Why else would people choose to sit done on a hot night covered in bug spray to see a performance?

 Prince Hamlet,
with Rosencrantz & Guildenstern,
Directed by Jack
Has performing Shakespeare given you any interesting insights into Shakespeare? 
I remember in sophomore year of high school I read Julius Caesar, and I couldn’t stand it. It felt like every page was a struggle and I just could not understand it. This is the way that Shakespeare is often introduced to people, which is a real shame. What a turn-off, to be forced to fight with a text, instead of being allowed to experience the words in a more human way, to see it performed. It wasn’t until two years later, when I was lucky enough to land the role of Borachio in Much Ado About Nothing, that I was able to begin to grasp the meaning of Shakespeare’s words. I have been reading, performing, and directing Shakespeare ever since. One of the most exciting aspects of directing a Shakespeare play is that the actors teach you something new about the text every rehearsal. After a summer of directing Hamlet, and seeing three solid weeks of performance, I feel that I understand that play infinitely better than any Shakespeare text I have simply read.

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Jack W. Zaryckyj (Director) is excited to take on his second directing project with Hampshire Shakespeare Company. Last year, he directed "Hamlet" for the Hampshire Shakespeare stage. While attaining a B.A. in Theater from Mount Holyoke College, he was involved in acting and technical theater. Break a leg this year everyone!




Wednesday, June 1, 2011

TV Spot




Produced by our friends at WGBY

In the Spotlight: Tina Padgett

Name: tina padgett


Position: production manager, graphic design, props

Why acting? Why Shakespeare? 
performance is electric – that energy between audience/actors. you come to the show, dog tired from the day but once the exchange starts...it's exhilarating. tech – i joke that sm'ing is a more healthy outlet for my neurotic tendencies, but i love watching a production evolve over time form audition to strike.

How and why did you get involved with Hampshire Shakespeare & this production? 
i started out with hsc in '08 in AYLI as celia. after that i started sm'ing with pauline productions and other one-offs. i sm'd TN and H for hsc and though, this year, it would be a good challenge to PM (kinda of like sm'ing the season).

Tina Padgett, taking notes on a clipboard
(Photo by Bill Dwight)
What is your favorite word? vintage

What is your least favorite word? cuddle (really any words with "uddle")

What sound or noise do you love? coffee brewing

What sound or noise do you hate? static/feedback/whining

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? farmer!

What profession would you not like to do? 
corporate anything involving a suit or heels

What is your earliest memory of theater? 
first grade..ish? my family used to go on vacation every summer for a week with my cousins so there were 5 kids and 4 parents. so, i'm an aries and the oldest, so i would to "direct & choreograph" a "musical" (read: dancing/singing along into a carrot or hairbrush to footloose) that we made our 'rents watch at the end of the week. i wanted to rehearse every.day... of vacation.

Why is theatre necessary? 
i don’t think people innately tap into their own emotions and understanding of the world they live in, or see the big picture of emotions and connecting to others. i think theatre does that (or shows how it can be done). i also think aspects of theatre can be used in the most unexpected places of our lives.

Has performing Shakespeare given you any interesting insights into Shakespeare? 
mostly language related - the meter matters and cutting a script can be difficult to do with justice; and once you get used to the language, it starts to make immediate sense.

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Tina Padgett (Production Manager/Graphic Designer) now marks her 4th HSC season (H'10/TN'09/AYLI'08). Recent offstage highlights include "Scaramouche Jones", "Parallel Lives" (Pauline Productions) and "Hide & Seek" (Manhattan Rep). Previously she collaborated on multi-media performance activism in connection with Guerrilla Poets Insurgency and Poets Against The War in Philadelphia and Virginia.