Montana Actors' Theatre bringing Shakespeare to Havre

Montana Actors' Theatre isn't going to let the COVID-19 pandemic stop local youth from having a creative outlet.

Beginning in May, MAT will begin a new workshop, "Intro to Classical Theatre, Shakespeare, and Stage Fighting," as part of a variety of youth programs. While not specific to the May workshop, auditions for an outdoor performance of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" are open to all. So, students are being prepared. 

MAT Artistic Director Grant Olson said an exact date and venue for the June performance hasn't been announced. Olson added that, typically, the auditions see a turnout of 15 to 20 youth actors. He said the play could be adapted to a world still dealing with the pandemic. 

"We keep people at the six feet distance and keep people far away from each other while we can. When we do some scenes we will initially work in our masks, but at certain points, we take our masks off, but then we put them back on when we're observing and that sort of thing. So we try to use hand sanitizer. All the CDC guidelines we're following," Olson said

For the young actors, Olson said, he felt the easier language and other aspects of "Midsummer" made the play a great entry point to dive into the world of Shakespeare.

"It's kind of a complicated story, but the physical theater and the comedy that happens there was definitely in vogue in the time of Shakespeare and still works today. It has roles for young actors, kind of across the board, young actors, to mature actors. It's a lot of fun," Olson said

"We're kind of working on speaking the language of Shakespeare because people get intimidated when they hear Shakespeare. I think what people forget is that it's the same language that we do today, though Shakespeare was writing poetry and so he used more metaphors and specific word choices. ... Part of it is just getting people used to hearing the words and finding the rhythm of the language. Being able to use the metaphors and idioms to create imagery," Olson continued.

He said that while he has enjoyed what MAT has been able to do during the pandemic, the biggest thing that has been missing, of course, has been an audience.

"Theater happens when an audience is there live and the actors are there live in front of them, So it's been almost impossible to really produce theater. One of the things that we took into consideration when doing 'Midsummer,' we thought that the play itself works as an outdoor show really well. You know, Shakespeare produced outside with very few sets. And so we thought this would work outside so people could safely socially distance," Olson said.

"The other thing with 'Midsummer' is the play is kind of compartmentalized in little groups. There's rustics, the bumpkin actors that kind of stick together and only interact with each other. And then there's four young lovers, and they kind of just stay together and, they, as a group kind of stick together. Bottom kind of interacts with all three groups. But other than him, you know, we've got these small groups so I can rehearse with a certain group of people. So we don't have a whole bunch of people in the rehearsal room all together; they can be kind of compartmentalized and safe," Olson added.

The May workshop will also provide students the chance to learn Greek mask making from Angela Pratt. These modern masks will be made out of materials similar to paper-mâché. Pratt said that, during Shakespeare's time, the advent of masks allowed casts as small as three people to play 40 characters with no costume changes, simply a change of masks.

"The unique challenge is going to be just working with students who have never worked with it before. They're going to have to understand the proportions of the face and how to kind of manipulate those to create different expressions, because I'm going to have them work on a happy one and a sad or an angry one. So they're gonna have two, two different masks that they work on," Pratt said.

Pratt, MAT's youth director, box office manager and head of costumes, praised the young actors she works with for their diligence in following COVID-19 guidelines to work safely. Pratt said the pandemic has brought with it a silver lining of being able to get back to teaching fundamentals MAT wouldn't otherwise have time for during a traditional season.

"So far, the workshops have been a very big success. The things we've been able to accomplish have been wonderful. I feel like the students' activity in them has been good for them, as well as for me being able to get out and do some creative things, especially in the theater area has been really good for the soul, I guess you could say," Pratt said.

After May, the tentative youth workshop schedule is

• September - One Acts: Writing, Development, and Performance

• October - Light and Sound

• November - Intro to Puppetry

• January - Prosthetics and Makeup.  

For more information, including information about the performance of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in June, Olson asked people who are interested to visit https://mtactors.com and to keep up with MAT on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MATHavre .