By Robert Richmond, Director of Hamlet, National Theatre Conservatory

Hamlet: Prince of Darkness (cast). Photo by Eric Laurits.

As the ensemble and I began to explore Hamlet for NTC 2^nd Year Shakespeare Project we asked a question: What was in Shakespeare’s mind when writing Hamlet in 1601?

He was 37. His father was dying. His own son, Hamnet, had died five years earlier at the age of 11. The Shakespeare family name would vanish having no heir and there was national anxiety about Queen Elizabeth’s successor.

What also seemed important to remember is that as Shakespeare put quill to parchment, over 400 years ago, he was trying to write a new play. A play that when performed had to survive in the biggest of commercial theatres of its time, the Globe. If the play was not favorably received it would pass for nothing and most likely never be performed again. So despite the fact that he had gained a well-earned reputation and great success, he was writing under considerable pressure – add to this a renewed appetite for Revenge Tragedies that had taken London theatre scene by storm.

Hamlet, above all of his plays, is a play in which we are constantly made aware that a stage is just a stage, upon which the artifice of acting, or playing a role, is frequently acknowledged. It is the meta-theatrical art that makes the central characters so completely audience aware. This allows us to feel complicit in the continuity of the drama, and responsible for the outcome of the tragedy as it unfolds. It is one of the finest testaments to what it feels like to be human.

Our aim was to produce this remarkable story in a way that you will find just as compelling as Shakespeare’s audiences did in 1601. So, we set about to find a concept that would serve the complexity of this great play, and yet make it come alive in a vibrant and relevant way for our audience.

Dawn Scott as Ophelia. Photo by Eric Laurits.

It was while I was walking through a Denver bookshop one evening that I stumbled upon the graphic novel section. There where several be-hooded young men perusing the new publication of Watchmen. Two questions came to mind: how could you ever get young people like this to come a see a Shakespeare tragedy, and could you stage Hamlet like a graphic novel? The next morning we discussed the nature and structure of the art form and what the resources were at our disposal. The result at the end of that rehearsal process was a fast moving nightmare of stimulating images within a very dark room. It provoked the audience’s imagination and forced them to engage in the images, and connect with those that the words conjured. It told a spooky ghost story of murder, revenge, and betrayal. The project was wryly renamed Hamlet: Prince of Darkness.

The graphic novel conceit allows great freedom in changing perspective. Often we would turn a scene completely on its head and view it from the point of view of looking at it from the ceiling. In this production there are times when the focus is not the actors face but something else: their hands, or perhaps an object that is in the room. The new design elements will help us upgrade and fully realize this production bringing clarity to location, period and status.

I believe that all of us that have taken this journey have learned a great deal and created a unique experience to view a classical play in a brand new way. Students, faculty, and designers have all shared a passion to tell the story of Hamlet in what has proved to be a truly collaborative experience.

Popularity: 5% [?]

By Suzanne Blandon, Publicist for the National Theatre Conservatory

Scott McLean as Tartuffe and Rebecca Martin as Elmire (Photo by Eric Laurits)

Generally, as a publicist, my job is to get other people in the spotlight. But sometimes they are just a little busy. Case in point — our National Theatre Conservatory Class of 2010. So, I thought I’d take a moment to share why they are so great as well as why you should see them on stage.

Our National Theatre Conservatory is a three-year graduate acting program here at The Denver Center. Each class performs alongside our professional Denver Center Theatre Company. You likely have seen some of this year’s graduating class in productions including The Voysey Inheritance, A Raisin in the Sun, Well, A Christmas Carol, Eventide and When Tang Met Laika.

Their “final exam,” if you will, is a public performance of not one but TWO plays performed in repertory. And, when rehearsals started up for these two plays, they were actually performing in two more plays — Eventide and When Tang Met Laika. And did I mention that they still have a class or two going on at the same time?

So, they basically knew four plays — that’s roughly 80,000 words of text — and rehearsed and/or performed a minimum of 10 hours a day six days a week. I’m tired just thinking about it!

But here’s the payoff. The first of their two public performances — Hamlet — is sold out. The second performance is Tartuffe. Sure there are still tickets available, but for how long? Hard to say.

They perform both plays back to back in the intimate Conservatory Theatre (just 185 seats) through April 24, which also is GRADUATION! So what’s next for these MFA students? Well, they rehearse a “Showcase” performance that they take to the Big Apple and perform in front of agents, directors, casting directors, alumni, etc. Then they are off — living large, enjoying life, landing that dream job.

My hint? Grab a ticket to Tartuffe so you can say “I knew them when…”

Popularity: 5% [?]

By Joseph Yeargain, 3rd year National Theatre Conservatory student

Tartuffe (cast)

Well, it’s my birthday and I’m heading into Showcase class at 10am; heading to the gym from 10:30-Noon; from Noon to 4pm, I’m in dress rehearsal for Tartuffe; from 4pm to about 5pm, we’re changing sets from Tartuffe to Hamlet; and from 6:30pm to 10:30pm we’ll be rehearsing Hamlet.

Not that I’m complaining. I most certainly am not. I recall the first time I came to Denver for callback weekend, watching the first off-book rehearsal of Elephant Man and saying to myself I want to be doing this in three years. (Luckily, I was accepted to this top-five program, and my dream is now a reality.) 

This has been a great, fulfilling rehearsal process for me, being able to work with such visionary directors and being able to work with the extraordinary ensemble that is the NTC Class of 2010 one final time. With each pass, a new layer is added to each of the shows, and the news that they are close to being sold-out (i.e. get your tickets NOW, if you haven’t purchased them already) is a testament to the thorough direction we’re receiving and the thorough teaching that the NTC has given us over the past three years. And I cannot wait to share our work with all of you!

It’s been rough-going since we received notice that the NTC will close its doors after the Class of 2012 completes its training. After much deliberation, I still cannot see the logic in closing a top-five graduate acting program. To be honest, I think that with the team that’s assembled here, in short time, we would be at least in the top three.

I was watching Etoiles, a documentary on the Parisian Ballet Company, and one of the dancers was asked why hisw company was the most renowned in the world. He responded that it was because of the school attached to the company. Without it, the standard of work would not be as high, and the unique challenges that each choreographer brought about would not be achieved with such ease.

By closing the NTC, the DCTC will lose a vital organ. And we alums will lose an ever-expanding family with a common language and experience that strengthens American theatre and film.

I understand that board members look at the bottom line. But at 2 percent of their budget, closure of the NTC seems like an extremely ineffectual move. There is a desire to get the next generation of theatre-goers into the theatre. By severing the very body that develops the next generation of theatre artists, how do they expect to achieve this goal?

With Hamlet we are appealing to the very generation that they desire to woo. Done as a living graphic novel, I need only describe a few events of the play to peak a potential audience member’s interest. And if they love Hamlet, they will want to go to the theatre the next time they have the option: play or movie (especially if they can say to their friends that they know that actor, a highly doubtful scenario with film).

With Tartuffe, I think it sad that a play written in the 1600s is still so timely with the recent revelations of problem priests and preachers and false gurus, using their influence for personal gain. Nonetheless, it is a great play, and with nontraditional casting, we are pushing boundaries that need to toppled, while expanding our abilities as actors.

In short, if you’ve already purchased your tickets for these two shows, you’re in for a treat. If not, get them today as we are close to sold out. And after you see the shows write to the Denver Center or your local paper and spread the word. The NTC should not be closed. It is a vital organ, not only to the DCTC, but to the American theatre in general.

But now for sleep, I have a big day tomorrow!

Popularity: 4% [?]

By Jenna Panther, 3rd Year Student, National Theatre Conservatory

Jenna Panther

When people ask me what part I am playing in the National Theatre Conservatory’s production of Hamlet, I am always pleased watch their reaction as I tell them that I am playing one of the Hamlets. They look at me like I am crazy, until I tell them that for the purposes of this production, the role of Hamlet is being split up among four actors: two men and two women.  Each actor plays a section of the role and then the next actor comes in and takes over—sort of tag team style.  The original reason for casting four actors as Hamlet was merely to even out the work.  But in our time working on the piece, we have come to discover how splitting up the role might help tell the story in a new way.  By having four actors, two of whom are women, play this one role, we are able to highlight certain aspects of the character, like Hamlet’s masculine and feminine traits.  Over the course of the play Hamlet has quite an evolution.  Each of the four actors marks a huge stage in his development.  We start with Sean playing the pouty juvenile delinquent, who is suddenly charged with purpose when he meets his father’s ghost.  Next Rebecca enters, searching for answers and full of intellectual curiosity.  Then Scott takes over, as the angry young man who takes action, but fails in his attempts.  Then, I come in, a new man, resolved to my fate and coming to terms with my own death.

This approach obviously has many challenges.  One of them being that each of us is only playing a piece of a role.  So we must all agree on the choices that are made.  Any choice that one actor makes reverberates in the others’ performances.  For instance, Hamlet says that he will put on an “antic disposition” and so all four actors must agree on what that looks like and sounds like when Hamlet is “acting crazy.”  Since I am playing the fourth Hamlet and don’t enter until the end of the play, I must understand and agree with the choices that have been made by the other actors.  What’s more, I must play my section of the part as if I had actually played the others.  I must fully engage my imagination and enter with the full weight of what has happened before my entrance.  Of course, this is important in all acting, but it just seems more extreme in this case.  Another challenge is figuring out how, if at all, being a woman might have an impact on playing Hamlet.  In the beginning we talked about whether or not we should lower our voices and move more like men. We have discovered that Hamlet does have many masculine and feminine qualities, so we can in fact use our femininity in the playing of the role as opposed to trying to conceal it.  As difficult and exciting as it is to play even a quarter of Hamlet, it makes me wonder how daunting and incredible it would be to get to play the entire role someday.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Shauna Miles, “Actor B” in Well and Third-Year Student of the National Theatre Conservatory

Shauna Miles, National Theatre Conservatory Student

My experience in WELL thus far has been fantastic! My initial two years of training at the NATIONAL THEATRE CONSERVATORY have been in preparation for an opportunity like this; every rehearsal has given me a chance to take all I’ve learned and put it to practical use. The role of “Actor B” has been challenging, but also incredibly exciting and satisfying. I’m tasked with creating 5 distinct characters. Everyday I call upon my first year training in Larry Hecht’s “Extended Character” class to guide and inspire me in my development of each of these very different and very specific people.

And of course, working along side a Denver Center Theatre Company veteran like Kathy Brady has been a wonderful bonus. I love watching the way she continually uncovers the depth and humanity of the character she’s crafting. Bearing witness to the nuances and choices of each of the actors in this production has been absolutely invaluable; it’s a wonderful culmination to my time here at the NTC and I feel so fortunate to have been afforded this experience as I prepare to re-enter the “real world” of acting.

Popularity: 15% [?]

By Sean Lyons, Third-Year Student, National Theatre Conservatory

Sean Lyons, Third-Year Student at the National Theatre Conservatory

If you were a Third-Year student at the NATIONAL THEATRE CONSERVATORY, you would most likely have the opportunity to understudy a part in a Denver Center Theatre Company production. Some of you would actually understudy several parts in one show. Others of you would be cast in one show while understudying a part in another show at the same time — it can get rather tricky; but the opportunity is valuable in its lessons of discipline and professionalism, not to mention simple line memorization, typically the least of your worries.

If you were a Third-Year, you might be only an understudy for a certain show, so attending rehearsals in that case is not required. You would merely attend of your own volition to learn the movement of your character(s) and perhaps get a better understanding of your lines. The only requirement is a scheduled “Understudy Rehearsal,” where the Stage Manager will basically lead all of the understudies through the show on the set with the props. Other than that, there is a lot of freedom, but you’d better be ready if called upon because you never know. Several years ago, a student understudied Hamlet. He did go on, and he did great.

If you were a Third-Year, you would still have classes most of the week at nine in the morning. Whether it is directing, voice, movement, or showcase, attendance is mandatory and sleeping is not. You would also be in the midst of planning fundraisers for your class to earn some desperately needed extra cash as you will most likely venture into the wonderful world of unemployment after graduation – but hopefully not for long.

If you were a Third-Year, some of your class might be lucky enough to receive larger roles than others — it is simply the nature of the business. But most importantly, what you’ll find is the chance to build relationships with an excellent group of actors who have been around the block a couple of times. Whether you are a lead, a servant, a spear carrier, or just a tree in the background, you will get to know what it’s like to work with a professional ensemble, the ins and outs of an Equity production, and the fact that everyone has to start somewhere.

National Theatre Conservatory instructor Robert Davidson (foreground) teaches a movement class. Photo by Eric Laurits.

If you were a Third-Year, you’d slowly be transitioning out of the scholastic environment into the professional world, even though the learning never stops. No matter how many classes you take, it’s not until you take that step onto the big stage that a new schooling begins.

And if you’re anything like me, that step will be a great feeling.

Popularity: 14% [?]

By Matt Zambrano, First Year Student, National Theatre Conservatory

Matt Zambrano

With one week of school under his belt, an incoming NATIONAL THEATRE CONSERVATORY student dishes on his new graduate school, acceptance into the three-year program, his hopes and his dreams.

From Matt Zambrano — As a native of Denver, I had the least distance to travel when starting the program almost 3 weeks ago. I was truly excited to begin my experience here, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit anxious as well.  Before coming to the NTC, I was working for a fantastic non-profit touring and writing shows for elementary schools, as well as writing and acting in an award-winning live sitcom called “tRUNks” at Buntport Theater.  These were wonderful places with wonderful people, and leaving them behind for an unknown venture into grad school was not an easy decision. But, knowing the faculty I would be working with and having befriended several of my classmates at the callback weekend, I met the challenge with open arms.

So far it has been a great experience, though exhausting on several levels.  There is so much information to try and process that at times it seems an almost insurmountable task to keep it all in my brain. But, without exception everyone involved in the program and at the Center is unyielding in their support and enthusiasm for myself and my 7 compatriots.  I look forward to what the rest of the 1st semester will bring, and right now I have to stop writing this so I can read a Chekov play.  ~ Z

Popularity: 10% [?]