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Young actors learn the art of fighting Jim Craven photos OSF fight choreographer Jonathan Toppo shows students Nick Marshall, left, and B.J. Hamilton how to throw a stage punch during the conference. That, and more: Hundreds of students converge on Ashland for conference By Vicki Guarino ASHLAND -- Slap across the right cheek. Backhand slap across the left. Spin. Right cross to the jaw. A fist in the gut to finish. This was a fight in which winning didn't matter. What counted was the theatrical sleight of hand that could make the bout look real, sound real and inflict no harm. Learning how to fake a fight was one of many stage skills practiced this week in the Oregon State Thespian Conference. More than 700 students from 37 high schools as far away as Pendleton an as near as Phoenix are meeting in Ashland for a two-day series of workshops, competitions and performances. The program ends this afternoon with awards for stage technical work and play writing. The conference is held every year, under the sponsorship of a board of high school theater arts educators. This is the first time Ashland High School has hosted the event, said drama teacher and event coordinator Betsy Bishop. Joining the school in coordinating the event are the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Southern Oregon University. Dozens of Ashland High School students helped plan and run the program. Sophomore Carson Clover said he and classmates spent months on the project. "It's a big thing to have 700 students coming from all over the state while we have school going on," said Carson. He said he has been so busy he doubted he'd have much time to participate. "But I always have next year," he added. Visiting students spread out across the high school and the town to work with professionals on stage management, voice, movement, auditioning, music, play writing, costuming, props, lighting and directing. For the sessions on monologues, students bring their own work for coaching by Actors' Theater Artistic Director Peter Alzado. For the nervous, Ashland psychologist Karen McClintock has tips and techniques for overcoming pre-performance jitters. In the evenings, students have watched Ashland High School's performance of "Bye Bye Birdie," and OSF's "The Night of the Iguana." During the days, one-act shows were presented by students from 12 schools. Participants also made time to match skills in the State Acting Competition Finals and the Tech Olympics, a timed competition involving a course with various technical problems. In the stage combat workshop, OSF fight choreographer Jonathan Toppo and OSF actor Chris Duval -- Toppo's designated victim -- led students through the basics of making a punch connect with the audience and not another actor. "We show them how to look good and be safe telling a story through violence," said Toppo. Real blood and broken bones have a way of ruining a show, Toppo cautioned. He learned that from experience. "I thought I'd make it look really cool by moving closer," Toppo recalled. "Yeah, it looked really cool with my nose broken and blood running out. And I had to finish the last five minutes of the play." No ad-libbing when it comes to stage fighting. Toppo and Duval had students drill again and again on the fight, like the steps of a complicated dance. "Go slow," Toppo said. "I know it feels kind of remedial, but that's how we get things." The victim, as it turns out, calls the shots on stage. It's the sharp twist of the head, and the sudden doubling over, that convince the audience that the slap was solid and the punch hit the mark. "The victim has the job," said Toppo. "The victim has to sell it to the audience. The hitting part only works if you set up the nonhitting part." Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA