Working on a role for a theater show can take a lot of time and effort. Theater Major Studies’ class production of William Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” is currently taking up the actors’ and actresses’ time after school. Productions done this early in the year can be both stressful and fun. However, it’s all hard work, and it takes many hours of practice after school to prepare for opening night, which comes Sept. 24.

Since casting on Aug. 17, they’ve been working on the show almost 7 days a week. Many people would tell you that Shakespeare is difficult to tackle by simply reading it, and even more difficult to act out in theater. For some, this is true.

“It is very difficult for me to really emotionally connect with something whenever I don’t know what I’m saying,” TMS member senior Mac Welch said. “It’s taken a lot of work to really get to that point where I actually know what I’m saying at all times.”

Welch, who plays King Leontes, explained that it does get easier once you know what the character wants and that it can help sort out the difficulty in understanding the text.

“They always struggle at first to read it,” theater director Gavin Mundy said. “I always make sure they have some kind of [easy-to-read] version of the play, and we all sit down and spend a week at the table, with me explaining it to them, and reading it together. And of course now they all know their lines really well.”

The students also employ their own techniques for memorizing the poetic old-English featured in the play.

“How I’ve learned to memorize Shakespeare is, whenever I have a longer line, or a really hard line that I can’t just memorize the actual words, I have to just treat it like its own little play,” Welch said.

It also helps, according to Mundy, when the show is limited to just one specific theater class.

“You actually have a class where all the actors are in the same room, and you can use class time to deal with different aspects of the show, or even rehearse some scenes,” Mundy said.

Despite this, Welch wishes they had more time after school to work on the show.

“It’s not so much that we don’t get enough rehearsal time as much as just the show is coming so fast, and we only had four weeks to put it together,” Welch said.

The students do usually take the time to practice at home, by themselves or with someone else.

“Every single night possible I grab someone in my family, or I call a friend that’s in the play as well and I make them run lines with me,” Welch said.

According to Mac, working with people who are trying their hardest to give their best possible performance is definitely rewarding in its own way.

“The more you work with everyone that’s in that class, you start to really bond,” Welch said. “Even if I don’t connect with everyone on a personal level, they’ve seen me at my most vulnerable, as well as when I’m at my strongest. I call that family.”

Photo Credit: https://peshdrama.light.sportspilot.com/boxoffice.aspx?storepage=products&productid=6