BREMERTON — Debbie Rice has devoted 68 years to the theater. This may not quite match Shakespeare’s 440, but she isn’t finished yet! Debbie directed two generations of students during her 41 years at Central Kitsap High and has reached a third generation in the 27 years since she ‘retired.’
Many Kitsapians of all ages have benefited from Debbie’s deep knowledge of the theater and literature. Debbie is currently directing a ‘Shakespeare Festival’ that runs at the Enoch City Arts playhouse opening March 14. The ‘festival’ pairs two one-act plays. One is an abbreviated version of Twelfth Night, a star-crossed comedy. The second is the satirical “How to Survive Being in a Shakespeare Play,” where the actors figure out how to avoid the tragic fates that the bard constantly inflicted on his characters. Both are lighthearted silliness. But they open the door to Shakespeare’s works which Debbie has decades of experience in making accessible to those who’ve never experienced them. In this interview, Debbie provides illumination and advice for those who might be intimidated by Shakespeare…
How do you make Shakespeare engaging and relevant to this time? DEBBIE RICE: “Well, it’s up to the actors. If they’ve done their research, they believe the words and they act the words… Hamlet, for example; maybe you cannot understand all the words, but the story moves so logically that you know exactly what’s going on. Even if you didn’t get someone’s line, it doesn’t matter because you know what is happening afterwards from the acting.” Debbie continues, “But the comedies are more difficult, because you have nuances in words that didn’t mean the same thing then as they do now. Shakespeare — and he probably didn’t do this on purpose — can be interpreted in so many different ways. When I directed Shakespeare at CK high school, we did Midsummer Night’s Dream with the players as hippies, because you can take any period of time and put Shakespeare in it. So, we had hippies out in a forest with a bunch of fairies running around.”
What advice do you have for Shakespearian actors? “I try to get the actors to not take it as intellectual seriousness. Play with it.” She flips open the Twelfth Night script to choose a phrase and goes on, “When someone is saying ‘this is uncivil as strange’, well, we don’t talk that way anymore. But you know what is going on and you can laugh with it. You must know your lines as your language.”
What advice would you have for someone who has never directed a Shakespeare play before? “Don’t!” Debbie says immediately, chuckling. Then adds more seriously, “Jump in! You’ll have to eventually, if you’re a director. I don’t know any director who doesn’t have an extensive background in Shakespeare. A lot of directors act too… I know most directors in the county and they’re all people who have been doing theatre for many, many years. You can’t have done theatre for years You’re going to do Shakespeare.”
What have you learned from your years teaching drama to high schoolers? She smiles, “I taught high school theatre for 41 years and I loved it because we could do so many things. I find teenagers are willing to try different aspects of theatre. And people who get involved in theatre are not just the people who are on the stage! I would have students who were crew members, doing lighting and sound. They didn’t want to be actors, but they wanted to be involved. There are so many parts of doing a show that you don’t have to be acting to still be a part of the theatre family.” // SASHA RICHARDSON
CHECK OUT Enoch City Arts’ Shakespeare Festival March 14 thru April 6. Tickets at enochcityarts.org/shows
