This March, my friend Jenn Roca called on her contacts in the Massachusetts theatre community (specifically the Worcester Shakespeare Company) to put together a master class on staging Shakespeare through A Work In Progress. If you are local to South Eastern Massachusetts, check them out!
I knew we were in good hands when they passed out the handouts, just by which scene they had chosen to work with – the scene in Romeo and Juliet when the hotheads die; occasionally the three actors shouted “Fight Scene!” and pounded each other. Ben and M were interested anyhow, but way to make Shakespeare attractive to boys! (The girls were also engaged, sorry to sound sexist here. K was at home with Daddy that day. I’m sure my sentiments will morph as she gets more and more into school things.)
It was a hands on class, volunteers got to act in the scene (after auditioning) others did makeup and costuming. M stuck his hand up to direct.
And left his hand up to direct.
So they made him a stage manager. Perhaps they didn’t know that young kids take you literally if you offer them a job? But they did include him, and he did get to make suggestions about staging.