Sleepy high school students board a bus at 5:15 a.m. A seven hour bus ride lulls them in and out of dreamland. The “Welcome to Oregon” sign whirls by in an instant. Off the bus. Eyelids are drooping in the trek to the theater — it’s all a delirious blur. Until suddenly, a bright spotlight flashes, and a figure steadily emerges. Its voice thunders: “Macbeth!”, and eyes fly open. 

The annual Oregon Shakespeare Festival featured a three-day trip for students to experience English plays with an interpretive twist from Sept. 27 to 29. This opportunity marks the first year since the pandemic that students attended the festival.

“It’s really cool because we study so much Shakespeare in class,” attendee Eric Zhang (12) said. “The beauty of seeing Shakespeare actually being performed is you really see that wide range of emotions, even if you don’t completely understand every word that they’re saying.”

English teachers Pauline Paskali and Elizabeth Wahl and theater teacher Brandi Griffith chaperoned the trip, which was open to all students. The festival offered eight plays, and Harker booked tickets for four: “Macbeth,” “Jane Eyre,” “Coriolanus” and “Much Ado About Nothing.”

Students arrived at the preface to “Macbeth” in Ashland, Oregon, where they learned the historical inspiration from the Scottish monarchy before experiencing the first play of the trip. Shakespeare utilized themes of fate and free will to justify the throne of the contemporary king of Scotland.

That night, students watched a performance of “Jane Eyre,” adapted by Elizabeth Williamson from Charlotte Brontë’s novel, in the open-air Allen Elizabethan theater. The play follows the story of an orphaned young woman who becomes the governess at a large mansion. 

“‘Jane Eyre’ is definitely a feminist piece,” attendee Isabella Pop (9) said. “It discusses the independence of women and how they are capable of the same things as men. That’s really powerful, especially because it was written in the 19th century.”

Actor Armando McClain, who played Banquo in “Macbeth” and Mr. Rochester in “Jane Eyre,” shared his stories and insight into the details of play production in a discussion with students. At first, he never expected to perform plays professionally, but a single theater class late in high school transformed his motivations entirely. He advised students interested in theater to continue pursuing what they love, a mindset that led to his life now as an actor for the festival.

At “Coriolanus,” a tragedy following a Roman general who struggles between loyalty to his country or to his pride, students got a closer view of the actors with the smaller, arena-style Thomas Theatre. Instead of using the original Shakespeare version, the cast of eight female and nonbinary individuals performed an adapted modern translation to ensure the audience could more easily comprehend the plot.

“Coriolanus and Aufidius were killing it,” attendee and Shakespeare enthusiast Lana Tariq (10) said. “They were so emotional and had such good chemistry with each other. In every single scene with them, we were squealing in the Harker section. I feel like the actors knew — they looked at us at one point with cheeky little smiles because we were very excited.”

The students’ festival experience ended with the comedic romance “Much Ado About Nothing” in the Allen Elizabethan Theatre. In addition to the reused facade from “Jane Eyre”, the set also included a balcony and round stained-glass window, with the lighting fading from a bright pink into a royal blue as the night progressed.

“The actors handled the language in the best possible way, finding all of the moments that were exactly what the audience wanted,” Griffith said. “The costumes were perfect — the whole masquerade scene was so ornate and gorgeous. There were hiding sequences and scheming to get two characters together, and the audience interaction really enhances the comedy.”

Griffith believed reintroducing the festival to the Harker community was integral to spreading an appreciation for the performing arts, especially when the focus is currently shifting away from live theater.

“Theater is alive and well, and it is so important to diversify your entertainment preferences,” Griffith said. “If you don’t get out and see live performances, the energy is just the best being in an audience where everyone is just experiencing this really special one night experience all together. There’s nothing like it, nothing short of being magic.”