This is the festival’s third year, and Tri-State schools have to apply to participate. Upon acceptance (which is practically universal), CSC will usually assign a play and then send company members to help the students and teachers realize their productions, which take on a variety of forms, not just traditional theatrical productions but also videos, radio plays, puppet shows and visual art and dance pieces.
“For some schools, it’s their fall play, so they’re doing a full production anyway,” Race said. “Sometimes there’s a club or it’s just the play they’re studying in class. A lot of it is student-led. They’re the ones making the decisions.”
Indeed, Anderson High School is moving their “Hamlet” forward in time to the JFK assassination, while Blanchester High School’s “Hamlet” takes place on a zombie-infested planet.
Steven Richardson, English teacher and Shakespeare Society Adviser at Lebanon High School, said when his students were assigned the more obscure ‘King John,’ they decided to tailor it to the hit TV show “The Office.”
“(The Steve Carell character) is kind of a bumbling idiot, like King John,” he said. “Most of Shakespeare’s histories are pretty dry, but ‘King John’ has a surprising amount of comedy. Both ‘The Office’ and ‘King John’ feature a dozen or so personalities who have strengths and weaknesses that both interfere with and support day-to-day business of the office (or the kingdom). I thought it was perfect that my students made that connection. They rewrote it in modern language.”
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How to go
What: Project38 Festival
Where: Memorial Hall, 1225 Elm St., Cincinnati
When: April 20-23
Cost: Free
More info: (513) 381-BARD (2273) or www.cincyshakes.com/project38
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