Doors opened for the Shakespeare-inspired performance done by the Choir and the Productions class, at 6:30 on Friday, September 24th. Tickets were free with general admission. 

The show opened with a performance from the Park City Madrigals Choir that “went really well,” said Krischell Hansen, the theater department director. Then, the Shakespear monologues and duo/trio scenes were done by the theater productions class. Closing the show was a 10 minute Shakespeare scene also done by the productions class. The scene was Hamlet performed by 26 students ranging from sophomores to seniors. 

“We had a lot of people turn up, more people than what I was expecting. It makes me very happy to have so much support from the community for the theater program, and I hope that it only grows from here,” said Hansen. A special shoutout to “Kendall Cannon who is playing Hamlet. She is doing a fantastic job, there is a level of insanity that she portrays so very naturally, it terrifies me, and I say that with all the love in my heart. 

The productions class will be performing their 10 minute Hamlet scene at the Shakespeare competition in Cedar Valley on October 1st, competing against schools from all over the country. 

“Every year I learn more and more going to Shakespeare after we get done performing our Shakespeare scene,” said Hansen. “What will happen is the judges will actually come over and sit with us, and they will give us their notes, and those notes often times are for actors, but a lot of them are for me. So when I go I’m actually learning how to better direct each year.”

People may think that Shakespeare is dreadfully monotonous and boring but, according to Hansen, “Shakespeare is more fun than you think it is. People think it’s boring soliloquies, poetry, the iambic pentameter, but Shakespeare was also written for the lower class during its time. It is full of hysterical, perhaps lude humor at times. Shakespeare was the creator of your momma jokes and if you’re really looking for humor in Shakespeare you’re going to find it even in the darkest shows,” said Hansen.