By: Taylor Christensen | Royal Oak Review | Published July 18, 2024
ROYAL OAK — Shakespeare Royal Oak will be back at the end of July hosting its annual shows in Starr Jaycee Park for the 24th season.
Taking place July 25-Aug. 4, the nonprofit organization will be performing Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” directed by D. B. Schroeder.
Schroeder has been a professional director since 2004 and has directed shows all around Detroit, but this will be his first year with Shakespeare Royal Oak. He also teaches an introduction to acting class at the Recreation Authority of Roseville and Eastpointe for grades 7-12.
Schroeder said that his inspiration for choosing “Twelfth Night” comes from the current need for love and positivity during the election season.
“It is a very contentious year, and I think it is important to put love out into the community and remind us all of our shared humanity,” he said. “That is what appealed to me about doing ‘Twelfth Night’ at this moment in time.”
Working with the actors and staff at Shakespeare Royal Oak has been a great experience, according to Schroeder, who said the environment has been nothing but welcoming.
“Everyone is so enthusiastic, I don’t know that the general public appreciated how many people are part of the organization working behind the scenes,” he said. “You know we have a cast of 15 actors that are the people you see, but there is also a team working very tirelessly behind the scenes.”
Physically building the show takes weeks of work, according to Executive Director and Board Member for Shakespeare Royal Oak Edward Nahhat, and without the tech and building crew, none of it could be accomplished.
“When we build the theater, we build it from the ground up, so every time we build the stage, we build it unique to the show,” Nahhat said. “We build it custom designed so that when people come, it’s a unique experience each time.”
Typically, a Shakespearean play would take around three hours, but because of limited time, Schroeder must edit parts out to create the perfect time frame to keep the audience interested.
“You have to strike a balance. You have people who have grown up with Shakespeare, who have certain parts that they are going to remember that have been famous lines and everything that is going to be expected,” he said. “But you also have people approaching Shakespeare for the first time, and you want to make sure that it is accessible to them.”
Schroeder said he begins his edits at pieces of the play that might not be familiar with a modern audience.
Along with editing the length and understandability of the play, Schroeder took creative action to set the play in the time period 1719, where pirates were a prevalent part of society.
“I set it as a Caribbean island in the time of the Golden Age of Piracy; there are over 30 references to the ocean or sea in Shakespeare’s text,” he said. “So it felt like a fun choice in this sort of background, and you know, who doesn’t like a story of adventure and pirates?”
Both Nahhat and Schroeder said that the inclusivity of the cast is what makes this play so special, and the colorful nature of the characters themselves.
“Each one of the characters is incredibly enduring,” Schroeder said. “You can get behind their journey and empathize with them.”
Nahhat said that the goal of Shakespeare Royal Oak is to continue to push the boundaries of gender roles in plays, and to encourage young people to take an interest in Shakespearean acting.
“Over the last two decades we have had a whole generation of young people coming through our program and learning to have fun with Shakespeare,” Nahhat said. “Our show in ’21 and our show in ’23 were specifically targeted to make it more welcoming; we had racial cross casting, we had gender cross casting.”
To encourage youth to join in the fun, Nahhat created two kids programs to teach Shakespearean acting.
KidsAct! and the SRO Teen Ensemble focus on what makes Shakespeare fun for kids and gives them an opportunity to learn about what Shakespeare is from a trained professional in that field, according to Nahhat.
“I realized that children could really appreciate Shakespeare, frankly because it rhymed and it has rhythm to it,” he said. “It supplements public school, because you’re not just looking at ‘Romeo and Juliet’ on the page, you’re walking around acting it out under the guidance of someone who’s a professional who knows what they’re doing. So that brings it to life.”
Nahhat also said that encouraging children to perform on stage teaches them confidence, and the much-needed skills of public speaking.
“We have to be able to take the benefit of performing arts education into other fields,” he said.
KidsAct! is for students in grades 1-8 and SRO Teen Ensemble is for students in grades 9-12. The teen program will have begun by press time between July 15 and 26 and KidsAct! will take place between July 29 to Aug. 2.
Each program will be putting on shows, with the teen program performing on July 28, 29, 30, and the kids program performing on Aug. 3.
Eight performances of “Twelfth Night” will run between July 25 and Aug. 4 at 7:30 p.m Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and at 3 p.m. Sundays. Tickets will be available at the Starr Jaycee Park box office beginning 90 minutes prior to each performance for $35.
For more information, visit www.shakespeareroyaloak.com/our-shows.