Actors from the Texas Shakespeare Festival are hitting the boards this week at the Globe Theater at Odessa College performing for students and the public.
Odessa Arts hosts the event, where members of the troupe perform for students from throughout the Permian Basin from grade three through high school. Public performances are at 7 p.m. Nov. 17 and 18 at the Globe and tickets are available at odessashakespeare.org.
Ash Evans is one of the cast members. This is her first year with the group.
“This is my very first production with the festival. I have been auditioning since I was like 18, I believe, so you can imagine my excitement whenever they reached out to me with an offer,” Evans said.
Originally from San Angelo, Evans has been living in Corpus Christi the last few years, but she just recently moved to Fort Worth.
She began performing in Shakespeare plays in high school.
“We did the complete works of William Shakespeare abridged. It was a three-person cast, so it was a lot of fun and it was just like a spoof of a bunch of different Shakespeare plays put into one script,” Evans said.
This year the cast is doing Romeo and Juliet and Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits. Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits include the more important scenes from different shows they haven’t produced in a while and thread together with narration.
The William Shakespeare abridged production Evans was part of is very similar to that.
The cast plays multiple parts in the production. She’ll play two roles in Romeo and Juliet and in Shakespeare’s Greatest hits she plays “a bunch of different characters.” Evans said it’s refreshing to jump from show to show and play different characters.
Asked how she memorizes all those lines, Evans said the technique she uses to is go line by line.
“I find verse a lot easier to memorize because there’s a pattern and a rhythm to it. So I’ll just memorize the first line and then I’ll go and memorize the second line and put them together until I get the entire script,” Evans said.
She added that she will often run lines with another actor just so she has someone else to work with.
“But at the very beginning of the process, I prefer to do it alone because I just like to get it done as quickly as possible,” Evans said.
Performing in the replica of the Globe on the Odessa College campus is amazing, she said.
“This is probably my favorite space I’ve ever been in. I have always dreamed of being in the Globe, so even just being in a replica is enough for me. It’s so much fun, and there’s so much to do on the stage. It’s so much wider than I would have imagined,” Evans said.
She said she has wanted to be an actress since she was little. She would watch movies or TV and imagine what it would be like to be in a movie.
“I found myself a little girl playing pretend in the backyard … I grew up in the country, so I had land to roam and use my imagination. When I was 12 years old, I had a group of friends that were auditioning for a local community theater show, Hairspray, and I decided that I was going to audition. I did and it was really nerve wracking, but years later, and I’m still doing it,” Evans said.
She added that it’s very intimidating the first time and the nerves never really go away.
“There’s just a beauty in being anxious before the show. I think it means that I care enough to be here and I care enough about impacting the audience in a positive way. But once I step out on stage and I say my first few lines, I’m good to go and I’m fully immersed in what’s going on,” Evans said.
She added that she loves performing for kids.
“I think it’s wonderful that we get to perform for such young audiences, many of whom who have (never) seen a live theatrical production. I know the very first time I saw a play, I was in awe of what was going on around me and it really stuck with me years later, so that’s all I could hope to do is impact them or inspire them and maybe get them to do it,” Evans said.
Adam Koda plays Mercutio and Paris.
“My favorite parts of the show are fighting. I have two fights, and (in) both of them I die and I just get to take a quick little nap on stage. It’s pretty nice,” Koda said.
The cast for Romeo and Juliet includes:
- By William Shakespeare
- Adapted and Directed by Matthew Simpson
- Nicholas DiPuma: Romeo
- Ashlyn Evans: Lady Capulet/Tybalt
- Chesney Jones: Benvolio/Peter
- Adam Koda: Mercutio/Paris
- Eliza Pagelle: Juliet
- Alice Wilkinson: Nurse/Sister Lawrence/Prince
The cast for Shakespeare’s Greatest hits includes:
- Adapted by Matthew Simpson
- Directed by Jason Richards
- Nicholas DiPuma: Orlando/Baptista/Romeo/Lysander
- Ashlyn Evans: Le Beau/Katherine/Hermia
- Adam Koda: Charles/Petruchio/Demetrius
- Eliza Pagelle: Celia/Viola/Juliet
- Alice Wilkinson: Rosalind/Olivia/Helena
- Chesney Jones: Musician
