AU's Speaking Shakespeare concludes reading of 'The Tempest' in the Maxwell Theatre tonight

Students, faculty and alumni gathered in a socially distanced setting to read Shakespeare's "The Tempest" on Tuesday, Feb. 8. (photo by CM Wahl)

By CM Wahl | Contributor

Augusta University’s Speaking Shakespeare will conclude the reading of “The Tempest” on March 8 at 6 p.m. - 8 p.m. this evening.

Last month, a group of students, alumni and faculty met in the lobby of the Maxwell Theater to read William Shakespeare's "The Tempest" for the first Speaking Shakespeare event of the semester on Feb. 8.

Kelly Thomas, director of the Maxwell Theatre, and Blaire Zeiders, assistant professor in the Department of English and World Languages, guided the participants who picked roles and took turns reading lines from copies of the play.

"Anyone can come and read," said Zeiders. "There is no preparation. There are no prerequisites."

Thomas and Zeiders first discussed getting a group together to read Shakespeare aloud around 2018, just after a touring Shakespeare company visited the university. The specialized troupe held an acting workshop which prompted the idea in Thomas.

"It was something that I personally was interested in,” said Thomas.

Zeiders liked the concept but did not see it come to fruition until after the pandemic started. At that time, Thomas suggested to her they put together an outdoor meeting where students could attend and reconnect with each other over Shakespeare.

"We were looking for, what can you do when you can't that closely interact with people?" said Thomas.

Zeiders, who teaches Shakespeare in her classes, was immediately on board.

"It seemed strangely even more of a good idea when we were all starved for some human interaction,” she said.

The outside events moved indoors after several successful meetings sparked growing student interest. Social distancing continues to be practiced through the use of masks and spaced seating. The group focuses on the writings of Shakespeare due to its classical allure.

"It's around enough that people know what it is," said Thomas. "They've heard of most of the plays."

Thomas said that the works of Shakespeare are common enough that people know them, but not common enough for people to be reading them on their own. Zeiders suggested the reason for that could be that Shakespeare's writings can be intimidating and are often presented in a formality, which can create a barrier to picking them up.

"Sometimes I think it can seem inaccessible," said Zeiders. "So we just wanted to do something fun with it that anyone could just drop by and do."

The Tempest meeting itself lasted approximately two hours and had a short break midway, when light refreshments were served. Later, after coming to an agreed stopping point, attendees discussed their thoughts on the scenes and the characters, as well as proper pronunciations and reader interpretations.

Some students discussed the possibility of one day creating a student-led organization that would make these readings officially part of a Shakespeare club. Until then, the group, which is open to all students, faculty, staff and the public, will continue to meet several times each semester as shown on Augusta University’s event calendar.

Contact CM Wahl at cwahl@augusta.edu.