THE BARD IS BIG : Education Programs Help Youths Appreciate Classic Works

Katja Werlich was stepping down from the stage after working on her portrayal of Lady Macbeth at a recent class. Werlich, 18, said she first heard of William H. Fisher’s California Shakespeare Company when his brochures were passed out at La Reina High School in Thousand Oaks last year. “I couldn’t pass it up,” she said, adding that the classes “are pretty much what I expected, maybe even better.”

Why was she giving up several hours a week learning lines and doing independent study, in addition to the classes?

Werlich, who’ll be studying drama and linguistics at Stanford University this fall, had a ready answer. “If you can do Shakespeare, you can do anything,” she said. “If you can get to where you comprehend his language and can put emotion into that, it’s much easier to do more contemporary material.”

Also, she said: “What he wrote 400 years ago can be applied to situations today, and the way he expresses things is very powerful.”

Both the California Shakespeare Company and the Ojai Shakespeare Festival have similar educational workshop and outreach programs, aimed for the most part at teen-agers.

The California Shakespeare Company was opened last fall by Fisher, a former professional football player. Fisher said he has taught drama at the high school and college levels for 20 years.

Fisher’s group mounted its first production, the infrequently performed “Measure for Measure,” last year, and is casting September’s “Romeo and Juliet.” “Hamlet” is planned for early next year. Wednesday and Thursday night performances are scheduled for groups of students; Friday and Saturday shows are open to the public.

Fisher holds performance classes twice a week for five weeks, teaching language, monologues and selected scenes, culminating with a two-night public performance of the scenes studied.

Paul Backer’s Ojai Shakespeare Festival workshops are open to people “high school (age) and up,” Backer said. “Sometimes, way up.”

Each five-week class covers an element of performance, such as voice, scene study or movement. “Some cast members use the classes as an opportunity to hone their abilities for the show,” he said. “And others just think it sounds interesting.”

Fisher’s series of classes costs $150; Backer’s are $75.

Either, Fisher contends, is a bargain: “I have a friend who does Shakespeare in Los Angeles whose daughter goes to similar classes in Brentwood that cost $750.”

The Ojai group has a “Shakespeare for Kids” program for fifth-grade through junior high school students. It is taught by educator Marilyn Nikimaa, who has created curricula for nine of Shakespeare’s plays.

“She first introduces the kids to the language,” said Mary Wolk of the Ojai Shakespeare Festival. “She then gives a history lesson on what was going on in England at the time. They read the play with Marilyn, and she explains it as they go along. She’s shortened the scripts, but the language is all Shakespeare’s. After the fourth hour, each student gets to choose the part they’d like to play.”

Partly subsidized by a grant from the city of Ojai, the classes are $9 per child.

The Ojai group is applying for a grant to take the “Shakespeare for Kids” program to schools throughout the county.

The Ojai Shakespeare Festival also offers a free stagecraft internship program, where students work side by side with seasoned costumers, stage crew members and set designers.