Hi! I’m Kristen, and I’m playing Florizel/Archidamus/Gaoler/servant in The Winter’s Tale. This blog has been sitting in my head for a while, especially after I cleaned my room and found my old journals. I wrote this sitting on a plane, on my way to
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The first time I ever saw Shakespeare was when I was in 8th grade. My drama department took a field trip to a nearby secondary school to see Shenandoah Shakespeare’s production of 12th Night. We had studied it in class, and I didn’t feel too strongly either way about Shakespeare or the play, but after seeing the show, I fell in love.
The following year we went again (this time, to see As You Like It), and I remember so vividly giggling in my seat, and being so excited to see some familiar faces on the stage from the year before. I had also played Celia in a scene for my drama class, so actually seeing the whole play was pretty awesome. Shenandoah Shakespeare delivered again, and I wrote in my journal that day (which I loyally wrote in everyday)
“Today I saw As You Like It. I LOVED it! It was SO funny! My favorites were Celia and Phoebe. Phoebe’s part was small, but she was SO funny … I went on their website and saw they have a summer camp. I wish I could go, but I asked my parents and they said it was too expensive, and maybe if I saved up enough money I could go. What if I had a class taught by Phoebe? Or I was in a scene directed by Celia? That would be so awesome. I hope I get to go…”
I did start a “Shakespeare Summer fund”, but only saved about a hundred bucks, and ended up going to another theatre camp instead. I didn’t do much Shakespeare after that, and instead split my time between the drama and chorus departments, and focused on starting a career in musical theatre.
I was lucky enough to get into to my dream school, the Boston Conservatory, where I lived and breathed musical theatre 24-7, which is exactly what I wanted. And what was even better, I learned about all sorts of theatre, and my sponge of a mind was sucking up everything I could. Slowly but surely, my opinions about theatre started to change. Theatre should be for everyone, right? Its part of our culture, why are tickets on Broadway so expensive? Why does it have to be like that? It definitely doesn’t have to be. What’s the deal?
I realized that I put myself in a little bubble; There is more theatre other than what’s on the
I recently graduated, and immediately started auditioning in
Until I stumbled upon Wandering Souls.
I poured over their website, and was so happy/excited/overwhelmed that I found a company that had the same ideas I did. I thought, with this economy, that new companies wouldn’t exist, but since I’ve been in DC, I have been pleasantly surprised, and totally wrong. Especially now, the arts are so important, and I’m a firm believer that art should be a right, and not a privilege.
I auditioned, and was happy/excited/overwhelmed all over again when I was offered a role in The Winter’s Tale, and even more surprised when I met one of the artistic directors of this awesome company.
Ms. Becky Peters was Viola in Shenandoah Shakespeare’s 12th Night, and Phoebe in their As You Like It.
If someone told me my senior year of high school that my first job out of college would be playing 4 male roles in a Shakespeare comedy, I would have laughed and said no way jose.
But now that I think about it, it all makes sense. I’ve come full circle. This is just the beginning of a crazy adventure. And I’m so grateful that it’s starting with Wandering Souls.
