Young actors take on Shakespeare

The Bloomington Playwrights Project stage will be invaded by a group of young artists performing William Shakespeare's comedy "Twelfth Night," which begins tonight and runs through Sunday. The group has been working together for four weeks and promises to deliver a twisted comedic plot full of laughs, mistaken identities and crazy schemes.\nAs part of her concept for the show, director Breshaun Birene-Joyner incorporated international music from the Middle East, Asia and Africa, as well as string quartet tributes to such pop artists as No Doubt, Bjork, Tori Amos and Nirvana.\nShe said BPP also added pantomime sections in order to give the audiences a better idea of the internal workings of the characters.\n"What is going on in a character's head is played out onstage," Joyner said. \nHowever, perhaps what is most unique about this production is its cast, which is composed of actors between the ages of nine and 15.\n"Twelfth Night" tells the story of a young girl named Viola who is shipwrecked on the mythical island of Illyria. In an effort to protect herself, she is disguised as a man and goes to work for Count Orsino. \nAlthough Shakespeare can be a tricky for even the most experienced of actors, Joyner said she has faith in her young cast. \n"I think Shakespeare can be used with any age," Joyner said. "Shakespeare is highly adaptable to just about anything." \nJoyner had the actors do exercises to help them learn the script. Annie Walters, who plays Maria, said rereading the play was important. \n"Rereading the play helped with finally getting the language down a little bit and finally developing your own sense of it," Walters said. \nMax Chaoulideer, who plays Sebastian, said the rehearsals helped a great deal.\n"We practiced everything so well that it all fell into place," Chaoulideer said. \nWalters, at 15 one of the oldest actors in the cast, said she was incredibly impressed by the younger actors. \n"I think people will be amazed by the maturity of the actors -- you have 10, 11, 12 year olds doing Shakespeare and doing well." Walters said.\nSeveral cast members said they have had a great time putting the show together and bonded over the rehearsal time. \n"This really does have a lot to do with teamwork and working with people, and it's been great," Martin said. \n-- Contact staff writer Kacie Leblong at kleblong@indiana.edu.