tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19261547.post3556058049523920738..comments2008-06-29T08:32:58.369-07:00Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14312649753514924823noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19261547.post-41866072551851836852008-06-29T08:32:00.000-07:002008-06-29T08:32:00.000-07:00I agree, acting is a great introduction to good literature, especially for my reluctant reader. The theater company is called the Young Shakespeare Players and they perform full length, uncut Shakespeare and G.B. Shaw plays all year long. The kids memorize hundreds of lines with complete understanding. Right now my son is performing as Brittanus, in Shaw's play Caesar and Cleopatra. Richard II is in rehearsal, and Henry IV Part I starts next week. In September they'll start The Tempest. It's wonderful.Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14312649753514924823noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19261547.post-56811649577192013742008-06-28T14:30:00.000-07:002008-06-28T14:30:00.000-07:00Sounds great to me. My 14-year-old son has really gotten into acting this last year and I've been very impressed with the energy so many adults put into these student productions. A lot of love goes into these plays, and a lot of work. And it's great camaraderie for the kids, too. I never saw my son work so hard as when (at age 13) he had to memorize hundreds of lines as Atticus Finch in "To Kill a Mockingbird." But he did it, and he was cool as a cuke in front of a packed middle-school theatre.<BR/><BR/>I also like the fact that most plays (if not musicals) are decent literature. A new dimension is added when someone who loves words can also embody them. I am forever fascinated by actors' abilities to do this -- to bring their interpretations to someone else's words without changing those words. <BR/><BR/>Is your son at a theatre connected to U.Wisc/Madison? I know from the bio of Marjorie K. Rawlings that her buddy Freddy Bickel got his start there. Later he changed his name to Fredric March.Susan B.noreply@blogger.com