Shakespeare Comes to Rome
By Olivia Harper '19 - '19
I first heard about the Rome Shakespeare Festival at Rome Little Theatre’s rendition of “Spamalot.” The artistic director of the RSF, Gail Deschamps, was speaking to people about auditions for Rome Shakespeare. I spoke to her, and immediately realized that I wanted to be a part of it. The three days spent waiting for feedback on the auditions were some of the most tedious and drawn out in my life. No matter how hard I tried to focus on other things, my mind would always wander to Shakespeare, anxiously awaiting my fate.
At the first practice, I was excited but also apprehensive. I had never done community theatre or anything on this scale before, and I knew absolutely none of the other members of the cast. That day we practiced in the same space as Rome Little Theatre’s “Aladdin,” a fact that my mother had neglected to mention to me. Imagine my surprise when I walked in to see 20-plus kids singing and dancing along to “Prince Ali.” I was pretty sure there weren’t any genies in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” My confusion and fear were calmed when I saw a group of kids sitting to the side of the rehearsal area. I gingerly walked over to them. Eventually, the first practice started, and I got to work with some of the people who would become like a second family to me over the course of the next year.
One of the hardest things about being involved with RSF was balancing it with school. At first, I tried to separate the two. I made Darlington one aspect of my life and RSF another, but over time I found that the two were better together than they were apart. Being in the band at Darlington really helped me with the musical element of the show by making me comfortable with playing with other people. In the same way, RSF helped me at school by making me comfortable with trying new things.
Becoming a part of the Rome Shakespeare Festival has been one of the most influential occurrences in my life. Not only has the Festival introduced me to multitudes of new people that I would have never met otherwise, but it has also given me new experiences and an appreciation of Shakespeare that I didn’t have before. I had never toured with a theatre company before, so traveling around with Rome Shakespeare and performing “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” for different audiences on different stages across northern Georgia is something that I’ll never forget.
It was interesting to see how different audiences with different backgrounds reacted to the show. Some felt the plight of the helpless Lovers, caught between their own wishes and the wishes of others. Some preferred the mischievousness of the fairies, but all were able to take something from the show. Everyone was able to find a part of the show that they could call their own—everyone got something from it. It was this way that Shakespeare could give people a common ground of enjoyment that gave me a new appreciation of his writings.
The Rome Shakespeare Festival is more than a festival. It’s more than the costumes worn, or even the words spoken on stage. It is a vision. It’s the idea that the community can come together to build something bigger than all of us. It’s the idea that we can create something that people can enjoy decades after our names are just scribbled words on a stone.
This is my Rome Shakespeare story. Don’t take my word for it. Please come to the Town Green for an evening from May 31 through June 5 for your own interpretation—for your own enjoyment.
Editor's Note: Rising sophomore Olivia Harper plays Mustardseed in the inaugural Rome Shakespeare Festival's performance of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Performances are free and will be held in downtown Rome on the Town Green at The Forum nightly from May 31-June 5, 2016. Visit www.romeshakespearefestival.com for more information about the festival.
