Where There’s a Will There’s a Way for Actor Who Introduces Shakespeare to Kids

Contrary to some thinking and thanks to Marc Weishaus of Laguna Beach, who gives heady one-man performances to students, William Shakespeare is alive and doing pretty well in Orange County.

“If kids find Shakespeare boring or difficult,” said Weishaus, who presented his fast-paced, high-energy, sometimes bizarre and outrageous presentation 100 times last year and will do the same this year, “it’s usually because of the way they meet Shakespeare in the first place.”

His latest performance was at Cerro Villa Junior High School in Villa Park.

With Weishaus, the first introduction is the best, since his whole Shakespearean presentation cleverly deals with “Villains, Fools and Clowns” from such classics as “Twelfth Night,” “Henry IV,” “Two Gentlemen of Verona,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “The Merchant of Venice.”

He has costumes that include a cloak, metal vest and a monkey skin headdress from Ethiopia.

“When the kids find out about Shakespeare this way,” said Weishaus, who spent three years in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia and toured for two years with the National Shakespeare Co. of New York, “they can be comfortable with him. I also sit down and talk to them, answering their questions after the show.”

As an actor, Weishaus spends most of his time looking for work and waiting “for the big break,” as he puts it. “You get a part-time job to support yourself and, fortunately for me, my part-time job is my one-man shows,” he said. “This way, I support myself and get to act at the same time. That’s my life.”

And though he’s booked for a number of his one-man shows, “there are times during the year when it’s hard to survive. Right now I’m getting by and paying the rent.” He is now teaching in a fine arts summer camp in Idylwild. Still, he wants to make a living as an actor on the stage. “I want to sustain my career, not to change fields,” he said. “I just have to get better known. I want to act.”

Weishaus thinks his years of performing Shakespeare may put him in good stead.

“I’m banking that Shakespeare is on the rebound and will become popular again,” he said, noting an increase in the number of Shakespearean festivals and stage productions being presented nationwide and in California.

“All it takes is one good production to get people interested in it again,” Weishaus said. “That would make me happy.”

It’s not a new promotion, but the Men’s Legs contest of the Cypress Women’s Club on July 25 has some new restrictions. For instance, no body makeup or panty hose will be allowed.

“Oh, it’s just a fun contest to raise some money,” contends chairwoman Marcia Chotkevys. She still doesn’t know why she was picked to run the event. “Maybe it’s my outgoing personality,” she said.

Anyway, Chotkevys ((714) 527-1479) is accepting $5 entry fees in four categories: hairiest, most bowlegged, most muscular and most beautiful legs. “Guys should know it’s not just for young men,” she said. “Two years ago a 50-year-old man won the most beautiful leg category.” Four women judges will pick the winners.

The entry fee money will be spent on a Cypress beautification program.

And wouldn’t you know: The contest will be staged at 10:30 a.m. in the Cypress Cultural Arts Center.

Debi Schwartz, 32, of Santa Ana teaches camouflage in “Successorizing,” a class that teaches women how to dress to their best advantage while hiding body flaws, such as heavy hips.

And that’s what the class is all about, said Schwartz, who has been drawing good crowds for the past four years, although she admits the numbers are dwindling.

“But I still get an artistic kick out of showing women how they can look better with a little ingenuity,” she said. And sometimes, she gets a man in the class. “They need the same kind of help as a woman.”

Her July 18 class in the El Modena Library in Orange will concentrate on sports, casual, romantic and active styles.

She describes herself as an “Image Consultant.”

Acknowledgments--The Bowl of Hygeia, an internationally recognized symbol of pharmacy, was awarded to Placentia resident Pamela Salas as the top honoree of the UC San Francisco School of Pharmacy graduating class. Runners-up were Brad Colwell of Santa Ana and Jo Wallin of Los Alamitos.