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SATURDAY March 27 , 2004 - Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels March 3, 2004 Students belly up to the Bard By Bill Choy Ashland Daily Tidings Denise Sicairos didn't expect William Shakespeare's "The Comedy of Errors" to be like this. Students from the Natomas Charter School in Sacramento crowd through the ticket door at Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Bowmer Theatre. Denise Baratta | Ashland Daily Tidings A senior at Francis Polytechnic High School in Sun Valley, Calif., located near Burbank, Sicairos, 17, was amazed to discover the Oregon Shakespeare Festival production was set in a 1950s Las Vegas casino complete with nightclub singers, mobsters, and characters with a Southern drawl. "I thought it was going to be a traditional [Elizabethan] setting," she said. "I was surprised. But it was wonderful to see how they applied the text with casinos and Texas accents. It really brought it to life." Each year, countless students like Sicairos gain a new perspective on the plays they read at school at OSF. Many enhance their stay by delving into a Southern Oregon University program on Shakespeare, the theater and the productions. Approximately 150 school groups from 5th grade through college stay at SOU each year as part of the university's conference programs and take part in their Center for Shakespeare Studies. The groups stay in school dorms, watch festival plays, learn about the context of the play from either their teachers or SOU faculty, and take theater classes such as makeup performance and combat from OSF staff. The groups come from all over Oregon and the West Coast and as far away as Hawaii, said Jeanne Stallman, director of conferences and senior programs at SOU. With the festival opening for the season last week, students are just starting to arrive. The group of 12 students from Sun Valley arrived on Saturday and left today. Students and teachers said they have enjoyed seeing the plays, and experiencing another part of the country. English teacher Brian Block has enjoyed Ashland and the plays so much he plans to bring his wife to see more plays and experience the town this summer. Shaji Haq, 17, said seeing such a different Shakespeare production like the OSF production of "The Comedy of Errors" broadened his appreciation for the Bard. "I thought Shakespeare was boring," he said. "But seeing them acting it out, I saw what it's all about. Having a modern twist helps us understand it better." English teacher Larry Carstens concurred. "I can tell a lot of our students are bored with Shakespeare," he said. "And it's valuable for them to see a production like this and see that Shakespeare can be fun." The group's last evening in town was spent seeing "The Royal Family." On Tuesday, 51 middle school students from Natomas Charter School in Sacramento, Calif., arrived to see two OSF plays and partake in theater classes. All the students are involved in some capacity in the school's dinner theater production of "Romeo and Juliet," set for the end of the month. Raisa Soriano, 14, who is an understudy in the play, was looking forward to the acting classes. "It's a great opportunity to enhance students' acting skills," she said. "I'm hoping to develop my skills and learn things like how to show more emotion when you're acting." Brent Houser, 14, said he has read "The Comedy of Errors" and is looking forward to seeing the production. To him, it's vital for students his age to read the works of Shakespeare. "He one of the best playwrights ever," Houser said. "So, you should learn about him and his plays." Besides enjoying the plays and the community, having so many students at SOU is a great recruiting tool, Stallman said. "We have gotten a steady stream of students who came here with their school groups," she said. "And it made quite a memorable impression on them. It lets them experience life on a college campus and in the dorms." DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Site Search: The new search is here! Click here for more information. .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - ODOT Road Cams