Latest / Inside the OSD / S3 E4 - Macbeth: Behind the Scenes Ft. Mike Ducett, Gage Klarich, Syd Shaw, and Willem Dutcher

Transcript

S3 E4 - Macbeth: Behind the Scenes Ft. Mike Ducett, Gage Klarich, Syd Shaw, and Willem Dutcher · Inside the OSD

• 0:00
  SPEAKER1: Today we are at the Oregon High School Performing Arts Center to get a behind the scenes look at the upcoming production of Macbeth.
• 0:08
  We're talking with the director, Mike Ducett, along with a few cast members.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER2: Welcome to this episode of Inside the OSD podcast, where it's all about the kids.
• 0:20
  Here is your host, lifelong educator, and our superintendent, Doctor Leslie Bergstrom.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER1: Thanks for having us today.
• 0:30
  I know that rehearsals are in full swing, and we're excited to hear how it's been going.
• 0:34
  Could you start by introducing yourself and refreshing the audience a little bit about your role at OHS and this production?
• 0:42
  Yeah.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER3: Hi, I'm Mike Ducett.
• 0:44
  I am an English teacher here at OHS.
• 0:46
  Been here for about 20 years, and I have been directing plays and musicals since, I think the 2010 school year here at Oregon High School.
• 0:54
  So been around the block, so to say, quite a few times here in the theater, at the high school.
• 0:59
  And I'm really excited to be directing Shakespeare's tragedy of Macbeth, and it's the first time I have brought a Shakespeare play to the stage that I've
• 1:09
  directed. And so this has been a tremendous challenge in working with this classic material and finding meaning in it for our students.
• 1:17
  And I think it's been a pretty fruitful, um, experience so far.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER1: Well, thank you. So without giving anything away, could you give our listeners a little preview of the storyline and what they can expect?
• 1:29
  SPEAKER3: Sure. It's a tale that dabbles a little bit with the supernatural, as Macbeth encounters a couple of witches who give him some predictions that he will
• 1:38
  someday become the king of Scotland, and it kind of gets his wheels turning in his brain, along with the help of his wife, Lady Macbeth, who is also
• 1:48
  kind of equally manipulative.
• 1:49
  And they begin to scheme together ways to become king and queen.
• 1:53
  One would be to get rid of the current king, who is King Duncan, and from that point on, their lives never really returned to normal, as they deal with the
• 2:02
  consequences of their unchecked ambition and power, and eventually the guilt of their own actions undermines them both, in a--in a sense.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER1: I think that sounds like a timeless storyline.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER3: It is a very much timeless, timeless tale and a warning about kind of that sense of unchecked ambition and power and the drive and how that can be sometimes
• 2:23
  deadly and dangerous.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER1: So one thing I've always admired about our productions is the involvement of students in every aspect of it.
• 2:31
  So can you talk about some of the roles in addition to the performers on stage?
• 2:36
  SPEAKER3: Yeah, so we have a very vibrant tech club here at the high school that allows students to take on roles that may be performed by adults
• 2:46
  in other school districts.
• 2:47
  So we have a lighting designer and our assistant technical director named Gage Klerich.
• 2:53
  And Gage is kind of a veteran of the program, and he's designing the light and helping kind of coordinate all of the production aspects in terms of tech.
• 3:02
  We have students running the sound boards.
• 3:03
  We have students putting microphones on students.
• 3:06
  We have students backstage playing stage manager roles in which they're coordinating all the set changes.
• 3:13
  We have students that are working behind the scenes with hair and makeup, helping other students understand what styles they should be using in their hair
• 3:20
  and how they should look as they come onto stage.
• 3:22
  So it's a--it's a way for kids to really get involved in all aspects of theater in a way that may eventually lead to some kind of career work in the arts as
• 3:31
  well.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER1: And it certainly could. And if it doesn't, it leads to a really rich experience here at school, right?
• 3:36
  They can transfer to a lot of things.
• 3:38
  So that's kind of exciting.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER3: A very collaborative work environment.
• 3:40
  It's a--it's a good training ground for whatever career they may focus on in life.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER1: So let's talk logistics.
• 3:47
  When are the performances and how can families and community members get tickets?
• 3:51
  SPEAKER3: Yeah. So we are performing this play this weekend.
• 3:54
  So we'll be opening on Friday night at 7:30.
• 3:57
  Uh, we have shows at 2:00 and on Saturday and Sunday, and another performance on Saturday evening at 7:30 as well.
• 4:05
  Uh, tickets are available if you visit WWW.OregonPerformingArtsCenter.com.
• 4:11
  Or you can come to the door and buy them there as well.
• 4:14
  Uh, we do prefer, um, cards over cash, but we can take cash at the door as well.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER1: Well, thanks for saying that because that's something important for people to know before they get here that night.
• 4:24
  Right? So appreciate that.
• 4:26
  And now we're going to turn to some of our, um, some of our students who are a part of this.
• 4:31
  Um, we have Gage, who is the student lighting designer, Syd is Lady Macbeth and Willem as Macbeth.
• 4:38
  So thanks for taking a few minutes out of rehearsal to talk with us today.
• 4:43
  Um, can you please start by introducing yourself, the character you play or the role you play and your history with theater performance?
• 4:50
  SPEAKER4: Uh, I am Gage Klerich, and I am the assistant technical director and lighting designer.
• 4:56
  Uh, I've been involved with the high school theater program for four years.
• 5:02
  I kind of started off working on, like operating the board during a show and have worked my way into designing and then eventually
• 5:12
  kind of assisting and guiding others in how to design and prepare for running tech for a show.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER1: That's quite an evolution over four years to have learned all of that.
• 5:24
  That's great.
• 5:25
  Willem?
• 5:26
  SPEAKER5: Hello, I'm Willem Dutcher and I am the role of Macbeth in this performance.
• 5:32
  I have basically done theater for all four years of my college--or my high school experience, and have
• 5:41
  basically been acting since I can remember.
• 5:44
  So like probably, like more realistically, probably around 10 to 11 years I've been acting in just community and outside theaters.
• 5:53
  And then so this was just a no brainer to join in this production.
• 5:57
  Wow.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER1: All right. Thank you.
• 5:59
  Syd, how about you?
• 6:00
  SPEAKER6: Hi, I'm Syd Shaw.
• 6:02
  I am Lady Macbeth.
• 6:04
  Um, I've done basically every single show we've had here at OHS in my four years being here.
• 6:12
  Um, it was really excited to do Macbeth because we read it in my sophomore English class.
• 6:16
  Right. Um, honestly, probably my favorite unit the whole year.
• 6:20
  Um, it was a really, really interesting story.
• 6:22
  And there's just so much about, like, all of Shakespeare's work and so many different things you can interpret and analyze in it.
• 6:28
  And it's really fascinating to me.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER1: That it's wonderful to hear you talk about it that way.
• 6:34
  Right. Um, the first performance is right around the corner.
• 6:37
  So how are rehearsals going and how were you feeling about the show at this point?
• 6:43
  SPEAKER4: Um, I think they're going quite well.
• 6:46
  Uh, as part of tech, we don't really get involved until about 2 to 3 weeks before.
• 6:51
  Oh, okay. Opening night.
• 6:53
  And so to see, just in this very short time how they've progressed from just kind of running through parts of acts to being able to go through a full show.
• 7:02
  Um, is quite, quite impressive to watch.
• 7:05
  Uh, I feel that towards this, this last week as we come towards opening night, they, they've really brought the show together and start to
• 7:14
  make the vision of what this show should be happen.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER1: Thank you. How about you two?
• 7:20
  What do you have to say?
• 7:22
  SPEAKER5: Uh, yeah. So obviously every, um, every production has its bumps and mistakes in the road, I think.
• 7:30
  Of course, I speak for everyone when I say that.
• 7:32
  That's a little bit of an understatement.
• 7:34
  Uh, but, uh, I, I can also say that when it comes to tech week, a lot of people start coming into their characters and coming
• 7:44
  into their, like, feel for the performance.
• 7:46
  Once they add the lights, the sound, the costumes, it
• 7:49
  SPEAKER1: Makes a difference for the actors.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER5: It makes such a big difference.
• 7:52
  It's it's basically the difference between like having an item in your hand and interacting with it, or walking around with levels on the stage versus
• 8:01
  miming an object that is not there, or walking around on a stage that is not there.
• 8:06
  So having all those elements together really helps you get into character.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER6: Yeah, I mean, I think considering like where we were like a week ago, I mean, we haven't had our set up consistently because there's just been so many different
• 8:20
  events in the PAC and like actually just getting to have it there consistently has been like just like tremendous for how the show has progressed.
• 8:29
  And honestly, considering that it's tech week, I feel like we're doing pretty good so far.
• 8:34
  Things are things are like growing exponentially.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER1: That's exciting.
• 8:40
  All right.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER3: So I think both of them would also probably they're underplaying how much work they've had to put in with the lines and the text itself as they have the lion's
• 8:49
  SPEAKER1: share
• 8:50
  SPEAKER3: of the text. And while it's not, um, the every word that's in the original Shakespeare play, it's a cutting that encompasses many of the major scenes
• 9:00
  with the soliloquies intact.
• 9:03
  And so they've had a lot of memorization to do.
• 9:05
  And it's been working since day one on really understanding the text and being able to emote through the text and further to remember the text.
• 9:13
  It's just it's a challenging, challenging aspect of the show.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER1: Well, how have you two approached that?
• 9:20
  SPEAKER6: I mean, I have a gap in between dance like an hour long gap between two dance classes on Tuesday nights.
• 9:26
  So I've been rehearsing in an empty studio, just like at my dance studio, and I'm practicing my lines and my blocking, and I've gone over it with my grandpa,
• 9:35
  who used to be an English teacher.
• 9:37
  So that's been really useful.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER5: Yeah, I have.
• 9:42
  I downloaded an app right before the, um, well, I guess just at the beginning of the experience and just sort of recorded all the scenes so that like, I had
• 9:52
  all the lines and everything, so and then I close a lot at my job at Culvers here in Oregon.
• 9:59
  So while closing, I just had my headphones on and I was listening basically to the whole show on repeat while I was doing that.
• 10:06
  So I got a idea not only of my own lines, but of the entire text as well.
• 10:13
  So that was a major help.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER1: Wow. And you two are illustrating the fact that you are involved in many other things in addition to this, and trying to layer all that on one thing
• 10:24
  on another. It's impressive.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER3: Gage, too, has a lot of challenges this last week, so he'll plan cues.
• 10:30
  Do you want to speak to how you finesse and refine as you go along this week as well?
• 10:34
  SPEAKER4: Um, so I'll kind of start with just a basic outline of just a general kind of color wash on the stage.
• 10:42
  And then as we move through Pre-tech and then tech Week, um, it's a lot of changing and adding in effects or spotlights on certain people.
• 10:51
  Um, just really changing it so that the people stand out from the scene while still incorporating everybody and everything in that scene that still needs to
• 10:59
  be incorporated.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER1: That sounds very complex also.
• 11:05
  So but you have this is one production after another where you continue to learn and grow how to do that.
• 11:11
  Okay. That's--that's awesome.
• 11:13
  So, Syd, you mentioned earlier about why you got involved in Macbeth or your the way that the story appealed to you previously, right.
• 11:21
  Is there anything else about this particular production that just really pulled you in and made you want to be a part of it?
• 11:27
  SPEAKER6: I mean, I love the community we have here.
• 11:31
  Um, we've got a lot of really great people who all work really hard on, I mean, everything involved.
• 11:39
  Um, it's--it's just like a fun thing to do.
• 11:43
  It's not just like, "oh, this is a really neat show." It's like, "I love being here.
• 11:46
  This is this is my favorite thing."
• 11:48
  SPEAKER1: Which is sort of evident in the fact that you have all been doing this from the very beginning of freshman year, right?
• 11:54
  It's really cool. Anything else to add to that?
• 11:57
  SPEAKER5: Um, yeah, sort of I, I would agree with Syd a lot.
• 12:02
  Um, I have been fascinated by a lot of Shakespeare texts for a long time.
• 12:08
  There's--I have wanted to do a Shakespeare show for a while, and Macbeth was kind of the main one up there.
• 12:16
  And Macbeth, the character was sort of a dream role for me, just sort of as a whole in my, like, like at some point in my life, I would like to play Macbeth
• 12:24
  in Macbeth, because that would be such an interesting experience.
• 12:26
  And I was so excited when it when it was announced last year because I was just like, yes, finally I got a
• 12:32
  SPEAKER1: dream role and you get it senior year.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER5: Yeah, it was very meaningful.
• 12:36
  I was very excited for this whole show, so I've just sort of had this giddy excitement throughout the whole process of just everything tumbling together and
• 12:42
  looking so awesome.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER1: Oh, I love hearing that.
• 12:45
  So, um, what would you say to other students who see this show and are really kind of interested in getting involved, but aren't sure where to start?
• 12:53
  I'm going to start with you, Gage.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER4: Um, certainly asking people who are currently involved or even just if it's too late to join whatever current production, um, going to see the
• 13:04
  show and then afterwards talking to cast and crew members and finding out how they got involved.
• 13:10
  A lot of times it's not by accident, but just complete circumstance of, uh, somebody knowing somebody else who's in the production and being like,
• 13:20
  "oh, I'll, I'll join that.
• 13:21
  It sounds fun." It's a, it's a community.
• 13:23
  And bringing others in that people know is really how a lot of students will join into a production.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER1: Either of you?
• 13:35
  SPEAKER5: I would also like to mention that, um, it's never too late to join.
• 13:40
  We have, uh, two upperclassmen, two new upperclassmen this year.
• 13:44
  Uh, Gus, who plays Macduff, is a junior and has never done a production like this before and jumped in.
• 13:52
  And he's doing a phenomenal job.
• 13:54
  And, uh, the Ben Josh who plays Banquo is also he's a senior and has expressed always wanting to do it but never
• 14:04
  having the chance to. So he decided to jump in and is also doing a musical later this year.
• 14:10
  Um, and both of them are doing a great job.
• 14:12
  So if you're a senior or a junior or even a like, like, like any anyone can join no matter what grade you're in and can find a great success.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER1: I appreciate you saying that.
• 14:22
  Thank you. Anybody else?
• 14:24
  SPEAKER6: Um, I mean, even if, like, you're not sure if you want to, like, jump into, like, a big production right away, you can always come to drama club or tech
• 14:31
  club. I'm an officer of drama club.
• 14:33
  We meet every Wednesday, 4:00 to 4:30 in the choir room.
• 14:37
  Tech club is on Tuesdays.
• 14:38
  Till what? 5:00? Till
• 14:39
  SPEAKER4: 5:00, yes.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER6: Yeah. Like, just.
• 14:42
  Just like, dip your toe in the water.
• 14:44
  Come try stuff out.
• 14:45
  We do a lot of really fun things.
• 14:47
  Highly recommend.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER1: Thank you. Now, you're all seniors this year, right?
• 14:52
  Everybody's a senior.
• 14:53
  So what does it mean to you to be a part of this show senior year?
• 14:58
  And you started with that already.
• 14:59
  It was your dream role.
• 15:00
  So here you are.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER5: Uh, yeah. I mean, it's it's definitely something that I'm very excited about.
• 15:09
  It's it means a lot to have this, like, this be the final play of my high school years
• 15:18
  is a dream role that I've wanted to do for years.
• 15:22
  And, um, just like, uh, a lot of I feel like it's a--it was a similar feeling to a lot of kids who are in, uh,
• 15:32
  seniors last year during Big Fish or just having this super meaningful, super powerful, like, exciting and like deep show their senior
• 15:41
  year. And it's a lot of the same feelings with me.
• 15:44
  It's like this--It's not just like a little play that you're having fun with and it's like the last one.
• 15:49
  It's like Shakespeare.
• 15:51
  It's this Shakespeare play that has the ability to move a lot of people and have a message that is very impactful for a lot of people even now, like
• 16:00
  hundreds and hundreds of years afterwards, like it still has a lot of meaning.
• 16:04
  So being a senior and being able to like, have this message is very is very powerful.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER6: I could not ask for a better show for my senior year.
• 16:13
  This thing is it's incredible.
• 16:15
  When the cast list came out, I had to like screenshot it and then just like, narrow it down on my name to make sure I was reading the right line because I
• 16:22
  genuinely could not believe that I was going to be Lady Macbeth for my senior year.
• 16:26
  And oh my God, it's I love her so much and
• 16:33
  SPEAKER1: That's so joyful to
• 16:34
  SPEAKER6: hear.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER1: Yeah, I love it.
• 16:37
  And Gage, I'm sure for you, this sounds like it's going to be kind of a dark and moody show.
• 16:42
  A lot of fun for somebody who's in charge of all of the lighting for it.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER4: Yes, definitely. It's--it--it's challenging in a creative way.
• 16:51
  Um, because while still being able to design something that catches somebody's eye without being distracting from the main storyline, and
• 17:01
  being able to provide that in a way that I can have somebody else run and interpret, uh, my show, my show file, um, is certainly a
• 17:10
  challenge and one that I'm certainly up to programing for.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER1: So finally, why should our listeners and community members get tickets for Macbeth?
• 17:21
  SPEAKER6: If you put a lot of work into it, please.
• 17:23
  Please come.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER1: That's great. That's a very good reason, I think.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER5: Um, another another thing I spoke to a little bit before, but a lot of people would like when they, uh, think of Shakespeare, they think of just like
• 17:38
  it's super old and it's not something that's super exciting.
• 17:41
  But when, like, truly like, it's such a timeless, it's such a timeless play.
• 17:48
  And like, the whether or not Shakespeare intended it to be to take place in Scotland and England and like
• 17:58
  having kings fight against kings and murder of all sorts of royal ways.
• 18:04
  But there have -- this is not the first time Macbeth has been, uh, reset in a different time period.
• 18:13
  And it's definitely something that's worth seeing.
• 18:16
  If you have seen Macbeth or haven't seen Macbeth to just, like, come and see for yourself, because it's really a lot deeper than some people would think.
• 18:26
  Face value.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER1: So what period has it been reset into?
• 18:30
  SPEAKER5: Uh, 1930s in the Great Depression era.
• 18:34
  So a lot of, uh, like dust balls.
• 18:38
  Dust? Yeah, a lot of. I was honestly
• 18:40
  SPEAKER1: guessing that by your costumes and your hair, to be honest, I
• 18:43
  SPEAKER6: Yeah, me, Aniyah and Leah, we did the hair and makeup and all of that stuff, and we've been running around like chickens with our heads cut off, trying to get
• 18:51
  everybody in that.
• 18:52
  And it's it's actually been really fun just to like, I don't know a lot about the 30s.
• 18:57
  I prefer the Victorian era personally.
• 18:59
  Um, just like from an aesthetic standpoint.
• 19:02
  But the 30s have been really, really interesting just to like research, like what was going on economically and socially.
• 19:08
  And I mean, even like the clothes and the fashion and the hair is really interesting.
• 19:13
  And I could talk about that for like two hours if you let me.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER1: Maybe that's another podcast.
• 19:19
  That sounds pretty interesting.
• 19:20
  And I think
• 19:21
  SPEAKER3: these kids are doing a good job of breaking down the barriers and making Shakespeare accessible to everybody, and that should be a goal.
• 19:26
  And I think sometimes there's that fear that an audience member is not going to come in and understand what's happening.
• 19:32
  But I think if you come and you experience it, while you may not understand every word, uh, on stage, that's okay.
• 19:38
  You understand themes, you understand ideas.
• 19:40
  And that's really what Shakespeare is about.
• 19:42
  It's about emotions. It's about feelings, and it's about taking away a bigger meaning from what you've just seen.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER1: That's amazing.
• 19:49
  So we're so proud of all of your work and dedication and we're really looking forward to this.
• 19:54
  Thanks to our listeners for tuning in this week.
• 19:57
  Performances of Macbeth are this weekend, November 8th, 9th, and 10th at the Oregon High School Performing Arts Center.
• 20:05
  You can get your tickets online at OregonPerformingArtsCenter.com.
• 20:14
  Remember that you can find links to all episodes of Inside the OSD and submit topic ideas on our website at Oregon
• 20:22
  sd.org/podcast. You can find this podcast anywhere you can find podcasts.
• 20:29
  Make sure to subscribe if you're listening on one of these apps to get notifications on the most recent episodes.
• 20:35
  We'll see you next time on Inside the OSD, where it's all about the kids.