September 10 & 12, 2024 SIP Blog

September 10, 2024

We arrived at the facility around 5:15 pm, set up our table, and began check-in. Ensemble members trickled in with stories to share: one participant was excited about her reduced sentence after a successful appeal, and another announced her upcoming wedding. There was excitement about our approval to start Much Ado About Nothing in two weeks, and the group hoped for "good vibes" as we started our session.

The group chose to read monologues from Romeo and Juliet. We started with Romeo’s monologue (But soft what light through yonder window breaks…) , with two participants sharing the reading. The romantic energy of the piece had everyone reacting with “Dreamy!” and “I love it.”

We then moved on to Juliet’s monologue (Gallop apace you fiery footed steeds…), which had mixed reactions—some found it "slow," while others connected emotionally, relating it to their own experiences of waiting for love. One participant even mentioned wanting a quote from the play in her wedding vows.

Next, we tackled Benvolio’s monologue, with participants trying out different roles. One participant asked, "What’s a monologue?" sparking a discussion on the difference between monologues and dialogue. Several participants embraced the exercise, expressing how they enjoyed feeling the energy of the scene.

Toward the end, we returned to Romeo’s monologue and incorporated some staging, which brought more enthusiasm. The ensemble shared how it felt "liberating" and "fun" to act out the scenes, with one member exclaiming, “I love love!” before we wrapped up for the evening.

September 12, 2024

We reunited with the ensemble around 6 pm. Check-in was heartfelt, with one member sharing some of the difficulties they were having that day.We offered support through "whooshes"—a gesture of collective encouragement.

The ensemble continued working on monologues and scenes from Shakespeare, starting with the Iago/Othello scene. We read through it in a round-robin style, freezing after each line to pass the reading to the next person. The group delved into discussions about jealousy, ownership, and the manipulation in Iago and Othello’s relationship. One participant passionately related the dynamics to her own past experiences, sparking reflections on themes of power and violence.

Next, we shifted to a Macbeth monologue. One member took on the challenge of performing the "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" speech. She initially read without context, expressing how she enjoyed interpreting the words without prior knowledge. After gaining more understanding of the scene, she performed it again with Macbeth’s emotional depth, incorporating sobbing. The group encouraged her performance, with one ensemble member affirming her talent and urging her to continue acting beyond WHV.

Discussion followed, focusing on Macbeth’s emotional state and Lady Macbeth’s reasons for taking her own life. The participants offered differing interpretations—some saw Macbeth as detached from his wife’s death, while others pointed to lines like “out, out brief candle” as signs of his mourning. The group also debated Lady Macbeth’s motivations, with some arguing she acted out of fear for her life, adding layers of complexity to her character.

As the energy started to wane, we ended the session with a final Macbeth monologue, performed by an ensemble member who reflected on her past experiences in the role. We wrapped up, eager to dive into Much Ado next session.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Season Wrap Up

We are about a month out from the end of the season. It has been a wonderful whirlwind so this update is overdue and I want to send a special shout out and apology to all those with a loved one in the ensemble who have been looking out for the update. We’re so sorry for the wait!

We are excited to finally share all the news! First - the show was a huge success! We performed A Midsummer Night’s Dream three different times at Huron Valley and it was greeted with standing ovations at the end of each performance (One of the DPT Producing Artistic Directors would also gleefully share that some of the performances even included spontaneous MID-SHOW standing ovations!). It has been 5 long years since our last fully realized performance and this experience did not disappoint. It also required a lot of ramping up and re-learning to get ready for a show. We had to re-discover how to get the lights working, find the flats made in years past, re-establish how we accounted for all the costumes and props each night (the list goes on…). All in all, the ensemble was thrilled with the show that we worked so hard to create together. Everyone was quite sad that we had to take a break, but “parting is such sweet sorrow” because we know we get to start up again with a new play very soon. Here are some quotes from the ensemble about what the show meant to them:

• “It took me out of prison each and every time”

• “I feel like I’ve made memories forever. I was so welcomed back into the group.”

• “I came in because of a friend and then they didn’t stick with it. It feels so good to see it through. Everyone who knows me thought I looked like a different person. I used to have my own band, and it connected me to a lof of joyful memories. It was the kick in the ass to jumpstart getting out of my shell … it’s healing and helped heal old wounds''

• “Thanks to Aupperlee– it was great to have you and he hit the ground running!”

• “[At the start of the show] I was shaking but it felt good. I was dragging my feet [for a while during practice] when the performance came it was go time!”

• “I’ve been in a real slump the last month and a half and definitely worried I wouldn’t put forth the energy needed. As soon as I walked out [on stage] it was game over!”

• “The more we did, the more I opened up and just had fun with it!”

• “I am incredibly proud of all of the hard work, excitement, and joy everyone put into this show. Not only am I happy and excited to perform this show, but I am proud of the performances we all came up with.” 

Every show I have ever worked on, in any capacity, inevitably there comes the “crunch time” phase. This is the phase where it constantly feels as though there is more work to do than time will allow AND there is the crushing realization that not every great idea we have will make it into the final production. Part of the process is letting go of getting it all in, being proud of all the good ideas that we had, and knowing that anything that didn't make it in this time could be there for us next time. This can be HARD (more on this below here)...

The primary motor for the editing process is staring face-to-face with the clock and adjusting the show to meet our runtime. We have just 90 minutes to perform the play each night, and there is not a lot of room for error; Huron Valley is a very gracious host to the performances, they support SIP strongly and allow the program to to bring in costumes, props, and sound effects. Fidelity to the guidelines and structure of the facility is paramount to us and so we make sure we NEVER run over on performance time. Our motto for crunchtime this year was “A well executed good idea is better than a poorly executed great idea.” So we start looking at all the parts that are not working yet and we start removing anything that isn’t working. Lines we’ve struggled with, comedy bits that are confusing, and anything that we don’t absolutely need to tell our story. It can be difficult, especially when someone has worked hard on a passage to make it work only to let it go in the final weeks of production. In most productions, be it professional, student, or otherwise, this is stressful. It is when the most heartbreak and bickering happens, the most feelings get hurt, and the most toes get stepped on. The ensemble was remarkably cohesive during this phase and were really wonderful at navigating this period. SIP can be frustratingly collaborative, and this season was no different. We made decisions entirely as a group and tried to keep a sense of democracy and a sense of humor throughout. It pays off as everyone owns the full production and everyone experiences both give and take.

This season, as in season past, several participants had to leave the group before the production. So and we opened up the callout to the waitlist and welcomed a few new ensemble members who were able to fill some key roles. Welcoming new ensemble members can be challenging - learning to gel with the existing ensemble, especially when you are essentially thrown in the deep end of a Shakespearean production as a new ensemble member just a month or two before show time. But the new participants did great, and were enthusiastic from the second they arrived! Likewise, they were enthusiastically welcomed by the existing ensemble who got to mentor newbies! We had one member rejoin from the Hamlet season, and then three brand new ensemble members. This group took on roles immediately and at their first night dove right into the show. We were also excited to add several wonderful new facilitators to the mix right at the same time. It was an intense time to hop into the process, but our ensemble and facilitator team needed more help and these new facilitators are wonderful and are now right in the swing of things for next season. 

So those last few weeks before show time, there were a lot of moving parts and a lot to get used to– between the working costumes, props, sound, new ensemble members, new facilitators, and new edits to the script, there was a lot to keep track straight. AND WE DID IT! And we did it well! And we did it with care for each other and minimal conflict and evident JOY. I’m so proud of this season and could not be happier with what this ensemble built together and shared with the community!

Some of the SIP facilitators and the Producing Artistic Directors have written pieces about their experiences seeing the show and participating in those last couple of weeks:


Courtney Burkett, Producing Artistic Director of DPT

I had the pleasure of attending the first post covid SIP performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Huron Valley Correctional Facility. Before the performance started - during set up and load in, I had the privilege of witnessing the ensemble working beautifully together. I witnessed them getting into costume and transforming their physical appearance to inhabit the world of the play. Nerves were high - but the palpable excitement and support of the ensemble was strong. 

Then - the performance began and the production was beautiful - and FUNNY! So funny and joyful! The performances were strong and clear - and the rather complicated plot (and subplots) were easy to follow. It was a privilege to watch and it was thrilling to see the support that the performers received - not just from the SIP ensemble, but from the entire community and audience.

Samuel Aupperlee, one of our new facilitators:

 As a brand new SIP hire, I have done theatre workshops within correctional facilities before, but I have never had the chance to put on a full-length production with the talented folks inside. I was incredibly excited to see how a longer-form project with a more distinct goal could encourage growth and community in a different way. 

I attended my first rehearsal in early May which happened to be a pretty demanding time for the ensemble; the performance was only a little over a month away and serious script cuts had yet to be made in order to keep the performance within the allotted time. These first few rehearsals in May were spent pretty intensely analyzing and rehearsing our existing script in order to find portions we could do without. But despite the first few weeks being busy, I felt eagerly welcomed with open arms by this wonderful group of women. Immediately, I was intentionally included as a part of the ensemble and struck by the way the members worked so well together despite the emerging challenges. 

But this is not to say our period of script restructuring went completely without conflict. While some members willingly offered up cuts within their own lines, more than one debate was still had with members who were hesitant to give up any more of their lines. Further stress also followed when putting these new text changes up on their feet. After a tougher week of rehearsals, Kyle reminded the group that this level of conflict was normal for any sort of production - that it was a sign of passion and care. 

By the beginning of June, we added our set, props, and costumes to prepare for our production, now only a couple of weeks away. After being given permission to bring in the beautifully designed costumes tailored to fit the women, we were able to do our first run through in full dress! This process proved to be incredibly joyous for some and challenging for others. More than one member remarked at how the costume seemed perfect for the role they were taking on, one member calling her costume “the exact image I had in my head!” For others, there was a bit of discomfort with the fit of certain costume pieces, or parts that had already broken after the first run. 

Despite this, I was in awe of the ensemble's ingenuity and drive in the process of making these costumes their own. More than one ensemble member painted additional decor, sewed entirely new costume parts, or fixed torn parts of their outfit. Members also traded interchangeable costume pieces with each other until each person had found a piece that fit them well. To me, this was once again a testament to the women’s sense of community and care for each other. It was clear that the ensemble does what they can to have each other’s backs. 

The addition of the set also proved to be a big change for the group. 

More than one ensemble member mentioned how the entire space felt different or more professional with this new look. 

These last minute changes, along with the realization that our performance is getting closer every day, seems to be shaking the nerves of quite a few ensemble members. Most recently, each of our rehearsals has been dedicated to running the performance from start to finish while implementing our new props and costumes. We still struggle with keeping our production within the allotted time, so of course we still experience minor conflicts, but I am continually impressed by this group’s sense of professionalism and pride in their work. The unifying power of group performance is incredibly evident in the way this ensemble truly roots for each others’ successes; each rehearsal the ensemble seems to trust each other more and more. 

Further, it is a blessing to see this passion for theatre bleed into the work itself. As the stakes are raised, actors are rising to the occasion and coming out of their shells more and more. Members who have had a tough time speaking out have been thriving with the newfound performance mindset. Still other members still are finding real connection with their characters and the text, one person even mentioning to me that she had now journaled over 70 pages about her character alone! And of course, we continue to find lots of good laughter every single rehearsal. 

This passion for the show continues to band this ensemble together as we head into our upcoming week of three performances. Almost every member has admitted to being quite nervous, but likewise almost everyone has spoken to how important this rehearsal space had become in their life. As one member put it; “Shakespeare is the only thing keeping me calm right now!” I can’t wait to see what this week of performances holds for our ensemble as they continue to encourage and hold each other up, and I can’t wait to continue learning about community, hard work, and theatre from this incredibly talented group.

Lulu Fall, a new SIP Facilitator:

I had a stellar experience as a facilitator at Detroit Public Theatre’s Shakespeare in Prison. Although I have always been intrigued by the program, my imagination would always get the best of me, discouraging me from pursuing volunteering. Thankfully, my time as a facilitator was not only fruitful, but truly exceeded my expectations. I began my volunteering experience fairly late in the SIP process. Having started within the final 6 weeks of the program, the ensemble members were already on their feet, with some blocking and memorization under their belt. My job as facilitator at this point was to fill in the blanks and go where I was needed: filling in small parts here and there, cuing up background music, helping to distribute and collect costumes and set pieces. Even though I arrived during the tail end of the overall process, it was wonderful to see the clear bonds that were forming between both ensemble members and SIP facilitators. Smiles, jokes and side conversations filled the room. I watched in awe!

I was surprised to see how enthusiastic the ensemble members at Women’s Huron Valley Facility were. Tackling the complex Shakespearean text was no feat for them - they took the material, internalized it and truly made it their own! While some ensemble members were quiet and soft-spoken, most were boisterous, bold and full of lively energy! As an experienced actor, I was pleasantly surprised by the consistent commitment displayed by the ensemble members. Their willingness to dive deep, remain in the moment and be unafraid to look silly are aspects that even professional actors struggle with! My biggest takeaways: enjoy the ultimate freedom of being onstage, and do not take yourself too seriously!

December 2023 SIP Blog

Written by KFG

This December has been a really productive and cohesive phase for our ensemble. The group made great strides to come together as an ensemble, and we finished reading Midsummerin its entirety. Finishing the play and early analysis of the script always feels like a big exhale and there is a shift in the group to start thinking in terms of production. We now start dreaming about and talking about the parts we want to play, and we start thinking about exactly how we are going to start telling this story to our audience. 

Just like in years past, not everyone who joined in November was able to stay with the group. Some ensemble members are going home and they have required classes to take as they prepare for release, others  join and really enjoy the sense of community and safety we cultivate, but don’t always stick around when they realize how much time and work this next phase of rehearsal and performance might be. This year was a typical year in terms of attrition and also in terms of the  its two major effects, 1) the group members who remain become very tight-knit, and 2) participation goes way up, in part because the group gets really comfortable with each other, but mainly because there are lots of parts and fewer ensemble members to fill them for any given scene. This is especially true for A Midsummer Night's Dream (MND) with its large cast of characters! Right now, most of the ensemble are playing a part in just about every scene we get up on its feet! 

One important step that that ensemble took together this month was starting to work in the proscenium (what most people think of when they think of doing a play– think the set up of a high school auditorium!). Typically to get going with scene work, we start by working in the round with everyone on the stage. We, more or less, ignore the seats in the house and put the scene on its feet in a big circle on the stage. We do this for a couple of reasons, 1) the proscenium can be intimidating, 2) there are a lot of rules and/or technique to working in proscenium that are difficult to teach while everyone is getting used to getting connected to each other and to the language (some of those rules include cheating out, getting used large distances between actors in private scenes, etc.), and 3) it can make us think about staging before we are ready. We first need to get used to playing with and performing Shakespeare instead of simply reading Shakespeare aloud for a class, which is, most people’s experience with Shakespeare whether in prison or not. Performance is a full-body experience and it can be difficult for many people to get used to fully engaging their whole selves in a character; combine that with the fact that Shakespeare is a such a heavy emotional and linguistic lift, it can be a stretch to inhabit your whole body, voice, and brain on the first go. So we try to cut back and make it a bit easier by performing in the round first. Then, when the time is right, we up the ante and switch to working in the proscenium. The time was right this past December, and after a few sessions that it seemed almost, dare I say, boring, to the ensemble to still be in the round; one of the emerging leaders in the group suggested we make the switch almost immediately after I thought it. It was exciting to know we were on the exact same page! Leaving behind this work in the round had an immediate effect on the group. Suddenly they were taking their roles a bit more seriously and taking their roles as constructive audience members much more seriously as well. It may seem so small to someone looking in, but it marks a huge leap and dividing line in the course of a season.

The ensemble, as a whole, has now fully turned their attention to performance. There are constant ideas for staging and how they envision the final piece. The biggest jumpstart to this headspace is the distribution of the rehearsal scripts. With the heavy edits needed for a ninety-minute run time, it quickly becomes  cumbersome to use the published script in rehearsals; so every year we make a rehearsal script with some initial slam-dunk edits and cuts we know the group will approve.  Then the ensemble begins working together to cut the piece and edit it down as we go. The ensemble was absolutely thrilled to get their own copies of the rehearsal script and asked about them several weeks in a row before distribution.  The ensemble has also been greatly inspired to think about performance after seeing the U of M Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP) performance. They speak about it regularly and start frequent sentences with “Ya know what PCAP did was…” or “We should do what they did in PCAP…” It’s great to hear– unsolicited– the profound impact and influence of our long-time partners at PCAP!  The PCAP and SIP participants are lucky to have this program in our lives!

 The ensemble members have really started to come into themselves in the group and come out of their shells. We have had so many quotes from them saying how much they love SIP; that it is the “highlight of their week,” and that “SIP gives you dignity– it makes you feel respected, like you’re a normal person for those two hours.” Another said that she doesn’t have to be “tough” here, she can just “be myself here.” And for these couple hours I “feel like I’m not in prison.” They are sentiments we have heard for years from many different participants, but they always stop me cold when I hear another ensemble member reiterating the same sentiment even though they have never heard it before. There is so much silliness in our work– it's the theatre, it has to be silly– but underneath is a gravity and importance that never fades too far to the background.

As we approached the holiday break we talked about the roles the ensemble wanted to play and recognized that we did not have enough members to cover all the roles. While the group has bonded so strongly, we all agree that we will have to open the waitlist after the holidays in order to do a full length version of the play. So the current members have picked out parts (with lots of happy surprises for me in their choices!), and we will open up the waitlist to let new ensemble members in early January. Everyone, facilitators included, are eager to get working on the play in earnest. It is a very exciting time for the group and we are all looking forward to January!

Summertime Wrap Up

Written by Kyle Fisher-Grant

It’s been a little while since we have posted… A lot has happened! The end of the summer and the early autumn were filled with exciting news, difficult decisions, big changes, and new beginnings. 

You may remember we got word we could re-enter Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility last winter, and in February 2023, we were thrilled to head into the facility for our first season back in person since the pandemic. SIP normally begins our seasons in September and we traditionally spend nine full months working together towards a capstone performance, so we knew from the start (in February - not September) that this year was going to be different in every way. AND since we knew that so much was unknown in our first season back, we decided that it would be wise to avoid putting pressure on the ensemble after such a traumatic few years—so we decided that we would not schedule a final performance in advance. We devoted the early months to finding a new normal and creating a new rhythm within a greatly shortened timeline, and we did so with an almost entirely new ensemble! Great challenges and great opportunities came from discovering new ways of working. Some of what we learned the ensemble would like to keep in place as we get back to a longer timeline (deep text analysis and more time for character exploration and PLAY) and some things we will all gladly say goodbye to (not having a capstone performance—we ALL missed that!). Here I share with you the good and the difficult and the learning and growth that came along the way!  

Last season the ensemble worked our way through Hamlet and explored the play in depth in a luxurious way we haven’t been able to before. In seasons past, getting the show up on its feet and getting to the final performance has been a thrilling way to establish momentum and focus for the ensemble, and at the same time the looming deadline and benchmarks have, in some ways, confined and limited playful deep exploration. In this first year back at Women’s Huron Valley, as we reestablished the ensemble, we experienced great freedom without the pressure of performance. But we also experienced great disappointment of missing out on that excitement and closure.  At first we thought we would perform scenes for a small group but towards the end of the summer, the ensemble began to shrink; several members needed to leave for reasons both positive and challenging—several members were released between mid-August and mid-September, and there were members who faced disciplinary issues. By the end of September we determined that with so much change in the ensemble, even our small  performance would not be possible. So we made the tough decision to switch gears and  continue our work on the material, but let go of the dream of a performance. We still took pride in reestablishing the in-person program, and we have set our sights on a performance next season building on the progress and learning we have achieved together since February.  

Here is what we have landed on and how…  

Sometime during early September, one of the ensemble members began reading from the complete works. One of the plays she read, among many, was A Midsummer Night’s Dream and she was hooked! She brought it to the group and we were even able to begin work on some of the old monologues that had been approved by the facility years prior. We talked at length about the setup and plot of the play and, although I didn’t know it, had laid the groundwork for the next season. There was a buzz to the ensemble and, as much as we loved its infinite layers, we quietly realized that we were getting ready to let go of Hamlet. This was not an easy decision, nor was it our ideal. The SIP facilitators, the ensemble, facility staff– just about everyone it feels like– weighed in at one time or another that they wished there was a way we could perform. There had just been so many gains and achievements since February it was disappointing to think we couldn’t show them off somehow. However, we had to decide between starting Hamlet again– from the beginning– with a new ensemble, or starting a new season fresh. It was not easy for anyone to say farewell to Hamlet (for now), but the choice was clear. The ensemble voted unanimously to move on and, while this decision was not without some heavy-heartedness, it was definitely the right decision. Hamlet holds a special place for the ensemble; it is complex, philosophical, layered, and deliberative, and was the source of hours of debate and conversation within the group. If ever there was a play that we, as an ensemble, would choose to mull over and explore with no agenda Hamlet would be it! It was perfect for us at that place and time, and I can’t help but think this first season back on the inside played out exactly as it should have. 

There was another layer to this transitory phase we entered. Letting go of Hamlet and moving on to a new season corresponded with saying farewell to Frannie Shepherd-Bates. Frannie is SIP’s founder and led the program for its entire existence until this Fall. As you can imagine, Frannie’s choice to move on was difficult for everyone and no part of the transition was taken lightly. As our first season back in person was coming to a close, all these different dynamics were converging; I found myself in a new role as SIP Director, with the ensemble at a turning point, and the program entering a new stage. A central theme of Hamlet is inaction and the paralysis of introspection and, after years of pandemic-necessitated waiting to return to work on the inside, we needed, as an ensemble and a program at large, to put away Hamlet’s brooding; we needed to be activated and energized, and dammit we needed to have some fun!

We are pleased– nay, ecstatic– to announce the start of a new season of SIP at Women’s Huron Valley! We will be working on A Midsummer’s Night Dream, and we are  working towards a performance in late June. We have opened up the callout so new ensemble members can sign up for the program, and currently have seventeen members, many of whom are brand new to the ensemble, to Shakespeare, and to theatre. They are thrilled to be in the ensemble and already are establishing a culture of safety and collaboration. 

A Midsummer's Night Dream couldn’t be further from Hamlet, and although letting Hamlet go has been bittersweet for all, this fresh start has served as a wonderful catalyst for a very active group. The  characters are so direct—they say what they mean with little ambiguity, so while we have less to analyze with Midsummer than we had with Hamlet, we get to spend a lot more time speaking the language, loving the poetry, on our feet playing with the scenes– and we get to spend a lot more time laughing.

Even with no culminating performance, this past summer was time well spent! Free from the pressure of a performance deadline, the ensemble was able to focus more on process—on artistry and analysis—and less on product, so quality of the acting was quite extraordinary and we had more time to let the text breathe and let moments land. We had time to explore the text and play without a time crunch. There were epiphanies and breakthroughs weekly, and the ensemble grew together as a group in equal measure. The operational and theatrical processes (see our case study and follow up report) were in full effect, and we didn’t lack for new discoveries with the characters. I’m glad it wasn’t A Midsummer’s Night Dream we poured over–there aren’t nearly as many layers to mine—and I am grateful for the lessons we learned from having the luxury of time!

Some of our best sessions were the physical work that we did using Micheal Chekhov’s technique. One ensemble member performed “Oh what a rogue and peasant slave…” while walking a tightrope, another performed it as if their feet were in concrete blocks, then another as if they had no spine, and again as a duo playing ‘tug-of-war'. It was an incredible night of rehearsal and theatre, and one that only could only have happened without being tied to a strict performance schedule. Another night we built and stepped into our characters using an exercise called the Imaginary Body exercise and the ensemble seemed to just love working through the creation of their characters.

We finished the season by watching a filmed version of Hamlet, something we have not  had the luxury of doing for many years, in part, because of the time constraints of production.  We were able to view the old Laurence Oliveir version of Hamlet from 1947.  It was a great way to finish the season—with an extraordinary performance. We all debated Olivier’s use of the soliloquy in voiceover, his cutting of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, all the Fruedian nonsense (we decided), and his staging of the play-with-in-a-play. We, as an ensemble, have loved Hamlet, and we have learned so much from it! And now we are ready for something new—a new play as we embark on a new season with a new ensemble and new leadership.

Look out for the next installment of the blog at the beginning of December and we will keep sharing insights and info on the new season!

Season Eleven: Weeks 22-24

WEEK TWENTY TWO

Tuesday / June 13 / 2023
Written by Kyle Fisher-Grant

Tonight was a great night. We are moving right along with the play and integrating the new members into the ensemble. We started out with one ensemble member performing “Oh what a rogue and peasant slave am I…” from Act Two. She has been working on it for a few weeks and slowly making her way through the monologue. We were able to give her some notes to work with and are now encouraging her to start memorizing more of the speech.

We moved on to working with Act One, Scene Three, in which Ophelia is lectured by her older brother Laertes, who is lectured by their father Polonius, who then lectures Ophelia after Laertes’ exit. There is a lot of talking in this scene and not much listening, and it can be really interesting to dive into. Immediately after putting the scene on its feet, the ensemble discussed how sad it was now that they know the rest of the play. “Ophelia got the business in this scene!” said one member. We went on to discuss how Ophelia gets handed off by all the men in the play who need her to do their bidding. “There are no other females in the play other than Gertrude,” mused one woman. “[Ophelia] doesn’t have a mom. Maybe if Gertrude took her under her wing more, things would turn out better.”

We moved on to the next two scenes, which seem to run together in a way that it makes it feel like they are the same scene. We started out reading, but in just a few minutes the readers were up on their feet acting out the scene. The woman playing Claudius/the ghost wasn’t feeling well, so we tried to stage the scene with her offstage doing a “voice over.” We had a great time exploring the text and experimenting with different ways of telling the story.

Friday / June 16 / 2023
Written by Kyle Fisher-Grant

Another great night at the Valley with the Shakespeare group. We started the night with one ensemble member reading two essays that she wrote. The first was about the inconsistencies in the text with Hamlet’s age, and the second was about Ophelia. They were both really well put together and it was interesting to hear her take on Ophelia in this new way. She brought up the small number of female characters in the play and the inevitability of comparison between them. She contrasted Ophelia’s madness with Hamlet’s and questioned Hamlet’s faux-madness in comparison with Ophelia’s actual madness. It was a really smart essay and we were happy to hear it. When pressed about what class she wrote that for, she said she didn’t write it for a class or a grade. She’s getting really into the text and wanted to write the essays.

We went on to work through staging Act One, Scene Five, which is both challenging and really fun. It’s challenging because there is the ghost, a location change as Hamlet pursues the ghost, and the ghost interacting with the character from on and off stage– it is fun for all the same reasons!

The line that ghost speaks off stage is “Swear!” and he says it several times.  This time around, we wanted the “Swear” lines to ramp up each time he said them, so we involved the whole ensemble and they all shouted “Swear!” on the last line. It was a great way to incorporate all of the newer members and get them participating.

WEEK TWENTY THREE

Tuesday / June 20 / 2023
Written by Kyle Fisher-Grant

Today was largely about continuing on through the text for our newer members that have not yet finished the play. We read through and discussed most of the beginning of Act Two. Much of the discussion revolved around Polonius and his incessant spying. This starts in the beginning of the play, and there was a clear difference between those who had read the entire play and those who were reading it for the first time. For the first-timers, his behavior didn’t seem all that egregious in these early stages, but the rest of the ensemble saw a clear pattern of behavior that starts early and ends in his death. “This is what gets him killed,” said one member. “Let the spying begin,” said another. “Nothing in this play is taken at face value,” said another.

We moved on to the next scene, one of the longest in the play, and one that needs to be broken up over a couple of sessions. In this scene, Hamlet runs intellectual circles around Rosencrantz and Guildenstern –who have also been sent to spy– and debates the nature of reality. One of my favorite lines in the whole Shakespearean canon is said in this exchange: “There is nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so.” This line prompted a really profound conversation. One member said, kind of out of the blue, “I wake up on an island every day.” I asked what she meant, and she said, “Fantasy Island!” She said that we all have choices about how we are going to live and approach the world. “I’ve been here for twenty years, but my family call me to cheer them up—they’re the ones in prison.” Another member responded, “We connected just now. I needed to hear that.”

Friday / June 23 / 2023
Written by Kyle Fisher-Grant

Tonight was a really great night; one of those special nights when the session picks up momentum and careens towards eight o’clock before anyone knows it. Check-in began with one ensemble member saying how much she loves SIP, and that she feels like we are a “family” and isn’t used to having people care about her like she feels it in the group. Several more agreed, saying things like, “SIP was one of the only places that I feel joy.” We’ve heard those things in previous seasons, but it never gets old, and we encourage that kind of vulnerability as much as we can. 

I challenged the group at the end of the check-in to start working on their scenes. They have gotten in a mindset that work happens in the unit and they present that work to the group as a finished product, but they are working towards bringing whatever they have and working it while in session. It’s a different mindset, but one that gives us a lot more to do while the group is meeting.

Next we decided to play some games. I love it when we start the evening with games, as the group really warms up and is more willing to jump in later—as was the case with tonight's session!

For the rest of the night, we worked on three different scenes and were able to really get into all of them in a really profound way. We started with Act Four, Scene Two, which features “the boys” as the ensemble have been calling Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Next, we moved on to Act Three, Scene Four, in which Hamlet confronts Gertrude and accidentally kills Polonius. We finished with a newer member of the group deciding she wanted to try the “To be or not to be…” speech. She tried it several times, working to take notes to get more comfortable with the text. We finished the night with one of our long-time members, who doesn’t always feel comfortable volunteering, signing up to do a scene next week. There was a real sense of momentum tonight, and we all left the session feeling great.

WEEK TWENTY FOUR

Tuesday / June 27 / 2023
Written by Kyle Fisher-Grant

Much of tonight’s session was a continuation of last Friday’s work, and the ensemble made progress identifying the scenes they want to perform when the time comes. 

The ensemble member who worked on “To be or not to be…” on Friday really wanted to return to it and had been working on it all weekend. We tried it a few different ways and challenged her to make some decisions about what she wanted to do with the audience. We talked about how in Shakespeare’s day there wasn’t much of a “fourth wall” or separation from the audience. The relationship with the audience would’ve felt more like stand-up comedy, vaudeville, or a talent show: there is an acknowledgement that the audience is there, and it is woven into the text. This is hard to do because all of those examples are comedic, so it can be tough to shift to something dramatic in nature. But we tried it several ways and really let our actor try it out for herself. It was great to hear the ensemble's reactions. “I could really feel it more,” said one, and the actor said she felt like “a weight had been lifted” after she finished performing.

Friday / June 30 / 2023
Written by Maria Tejada

It’s been a minute since we got back into reading the play, so we all agreed to jump back into Act Two, Scene Two, in which Hamlet starts messing with Polonius and his “buddies,” Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. A few ensemble members particularly enjoy those characters, so we were happy to have a chance to play with a fun scene. After briefly chatting about what it would be like to start incorporating backdrops, props, and costumes into a performance and summarizing the previous scenes, we started to read in the circle. When Polonius said, “Though this be madness, yet there is method in it,” the woman reading Rosencrantz said, “That’s my favorite line.” 

We quickly decided that we wanted to play with some characterization on our feet. I suggested to our Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to really go big with a “frat boy” character, as we had all decided that they were not actually close with Hamlet but were trying to get information for the king, while he was just trying to gauge what information they knew. “I feel like Rosencrantz is the smarter-ish,” said the woman playing him. “Does that make you want to be in front more?” another woman watching the scene asked. Rosencrantz agreed, and they adjusted the blocking to incorporate the change in attitude, strengthening the scene and relationships between characters. 

When we got to Hamlet’s “Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I” soliloquy, another woman volunteered to read the speech from her chair. When she finished, she said that she liked it and it didn’t seem to be as long as she thought (at first, she had refused to read the entire speech since it was so long) and that there were a few spots where she could change her attitude. We asked her to read it again to hear these attitude changes, and you could feel the difference as her energy built as she worked her way through the soliloquy. “When Shakespeare makes a list, you build madder and madder…and you did that,” one woman said, referring to something that was discussed on Tuesday.

A different woman, who is aways game to jump in and take on a challenge, volunteered to try the speech next. She raced through it like a horse out of the stable, building with unbridled energy and hardly taking a breath. “Slow down!” one woman enthusiastically implored. Hamlet looked at us, confused, and said, “I thought I was supposed to read fast,” which prompted a wonderful conversation about keeping energy through each thought but using pauses and breath for Hamlet to have realizations and work through his indecision. You could see a light switch on behind her eyes as everyone collaborated on how to make the speech better.   

We finished the evening with a short round of storytelling, a game called “Fortunately, Unfortunately” in which players go around the circle telling a story one sentence at a time, alternating between fortunately and unfortunately. It was quite a dramatic story, beginning with a man who had torn a hole in his pants, to calling the police and ending up in prison. Even though the story ended in tragedy, we were laughing and smiling as we put the ring up on another wonderful session.