Gender-Bender on Center Stage

In Shakespeare’s time, male actors played roles of men and women. In modern-day Ojai, women have turned the tables.

The Ojai Shakespeare Festival’s youth performance of “Much Ado About Nothing” calls for 17 male roles, but only four of the acting interns are boys. So the girls have stepped up to perform the remaining roles.

Many of the players, drawn from area middle and high schools, were not jumping at the chance to switch genders.

“They were a bit apprehensive at first,” director Rebecca Rasmussen said.

But after weeks of rehearsals, playing a man has become second nature.

Bridget Summers, 17, and her fellow “men” have worked since school let out to learn their lines. It’s all in the way you react to a line--or even how you walk, said the Ojai teen, who plays Friar Francis.

“You can just take the stereotypical guy swagger,” she said.

The Shakespeare festival, which began Friday, features weekend performances of “Much Ado” through Aug. 19.

The festival, in its 19th year, also includes sonnets and songs performed by high school students, an adult performance of the play “Falstaff: the Apprenticeship of Good Prince Hal,” as well as Renaissance-themed food and music.

For months, 31 students have worked more than five hours a day singing, acting and working on the technical aspects of their production. Part of the challenge is making the sometimes intimidating language of the Bard accessible to teenagers, said Elizabeth Rosengren, director of the sonnets and songs performance.

“The toughest part is bringing their own reality to it,” Rosengren said.

Many of the interns have read Shakespeare but not necessarily acted or spoken it, said Jaye Hersh, the musical and artistic director.

“You take these things that they heard about in English and apply them in an acting sense,” Hersh said.

With lots of practice, the students developed an ear for Shakespeare’s arcane vocabulary and wordplay, said Rosie Gordon, 16, one of the few girls who plays a female role.

“This year was really nice because we went through it word by word,” Rosie said.

Acting the lines also helped, said Mary Lukasiewicz, 13.

“Once you see everything so many times, it starts making some sense,” Mary said.

But just because the cast understands a Shakespearean pun doesn’t necessarily mean the audience will, Rosie said.

“The jokes that they’re supposed to laugh at they don’t laugh at, and it’s the worst feeling in the world,” she said.

The festival is one of the few local acting outlets for young people, said Heather Letvinchuck, 15.

“All the other productions in Ojai call for adult cast members,” Heather said. “This is our show.”

Some students say they eventually want to tackle heavier plays such as “Romeo and Juliet” or “Julius Caesar.” But a tragedy might not be the right choice for such a lighthearted festival, Rosie said.

“Nobody wants to pack a picnic to go see people die,” she said.

For more information on the festival, log onto https://www.ojaishakespeare.org or call (805) 646-WILL.