William Shakespeare (1564-1616), shown at right, remains the world's most popularly produced and published playwright. Somewhere in the world at this moment someone is either reading, rehearsing or performing a work of his. His work has been translated in countless languages, not to mention has been adapted in various ways. At the same time, Shakespeare remains an intimidating task to tackle, be it to produce, direct or act.
HOLA spoke with three directors– Alberto Bonilla, José A. Esquea and Enmanuel García Villavicencio regarding their relationship with the playwright, poet, actor, director and producer often called the Bard of Avon.
What attracted you to the work of William Shakespeare?
Alberto Bonilla. |
José A. Esquea. |
Enmanuel García Villavicencio. |
What are some of the challenges as a director when tackling Shakespeare as opposed to a play from the 20th (or 21st) century?
A scene from Richard III, directed by Alberto Bonilla. |
A scene from The Tempest, directed by José A. Esquea. |
Esquea: Other than production expenses at this point it is actually liberating. The playwright is dead and the property is public domain so there are no limits!
Bonilla: Another
challenge is casting. Shakespeare demands command of voice,
body and language. It also calls for plain and simple good acting--
someone who can live out the circumstances in a vivid way and not lose
the text. Add to that the fact that you want them to also melt into your
ideas and the rest of the cast so that everyone is in the same world. It is so important to
have the right team on stage; it does half the job for you.
A scene from Macbeth, directed by Enmanuel García Villavicencio. |
How do you tackle the text with your actors?
Rehearsal for Romeo and Juliet, directed by José A. Esquea. |
Bonilla: It is my belief that working on text with an actor is a two-way street. As a director, I try to respect all methods and ways of working. Off-Off Broadway presents a unique challenge when you're doing an AEA showcase contract in which you can only rehearse for five weeks and then you open. If you're in a show with a huge budget and your actors are not waiting tables and you can have them for eight hours a day and they are getting health insurance with six weeks of rehearsals and a week of previews then you approach it differently. You can sit at a table and take more time with table work. Those who are in the indie-theater world don't have that luxury. So I cast actors who can do all the other homework. Actors who can go off and look up words, figure out the scansion, memorize the lines quickly, etc.-- more technical responsibilities. My first priority is to get my cast all in the same world and to truly help them personalize the text so that when they speak they are speaking from their hearts, so the text has real meaning and not is not simply heightened and clever, yet empty. My biggest pet peeve is hearing Shakespeare that is
Rehearsal for Macbeth, directed by Alberto Bonilla. |
Rehearsal for Los amantes del Alto Manhattan, based on Romeo and Juliet, adapted and directed by Enmanuel García Villavicencio. |
In what ways have you tried to make your production(s) seem new and fresh for a contemporary audience?
A scene from Macbeth, directed by Enmanuel García Villavicencio. |
A scene from Macbeth, directed by Alberto Bonilla. |
A scene from Macbeth, directed by José A. Esquea. |
Esquea: Initially I found it necessary to justify why we as people of color could exist in this universe. Now I have come to accept that we have always existed and I do not need to justify why we are there I just need to tell a good story.
About The Directors
Alberto Bonilla is a director, actor, writer, fight choreographer and teacher. His NYC directing credits include Boy Steals Train (78th Street Theatre Lab, Edinburgh Fringe Festival); Walking To America (also playwright, 78th Street Theatre Lab); Look Back in Anger, Three Points Over the Vig, Leaving Lilly, Servant of Two Masters, Raft of the Medusa, and Macbeth (all at the Secret Theatre). He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in theatre from ASU and a Master of Fine Arts in acting from Rutgers University/Mason Gross School of the Arts. He also studied at the British Academy of Dramatic Art (BADA) in Oxford, England. He is Associate Artistic Director of The Queens Players at The Secret Theatre and the Head of Film and Television at Maggie Flanigan Studio. His play, Walking To America, was published in Plays and Playwrights 2005, an anthology of off- and off-off-Broadway plays (NY Theatre). Other written works include: Nonnie, Big Black Mexican Woman, #69, El Conejo and PS 357. Member of AEA, SAG-AFTRA, HOLA, NALAC and NALIP. His next directing project is Bruce Graham's Coyote on a Fence at Urban Stages. The production of William Shakespeare's Richard III (which he directed) is currently running at the Secret Theatre. For more information, click here.
José A. Esquea has directed and produced the Shakespeare plays Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet (for which he won an HOLA Award) and The Tempest with TTO Entertainment/Soñadores Classical Theater Company, where he is the co-founder and Executive Artistic Director. With the same company he produced a production of Shakespeare's King Lear. He was artistic director of Teatro LATEA from 2006-2013. During his tenure there, he was responsible with resurrecting the much beloved brand of Teatro LATEA to its audience base and expanding it to a much broader audience. Other directing credits include the plays Is There Room in Your Heart?, La Llorona, Angels Without Wings/Ángeles sin alas, Jeannie Sol's Holiday Cabaret, Growing Up Gonzales and Tango Fever. He is a graduate of Skidmore College with a double major in Business and Theatre. Essays on his approach to directing Shakespeare with multicultural casts have been published in the textbooks Weyward Macbeth: Intersections of Race and Culture (Palgrave MacMillan) and Shakespeare in America (Oxford Shakespeare Topics). In 2013, he was selected to be part of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation Broadway Observership program for emerging directors. He will direct a Shakespeare production in the fall of 2014. His proudest achievement to date is being a father to a son and daughter. For more information on TTO Entertainment, click here.
Enmanuel García Villavicencio is a communicator, writer, director, actor and producer. He is the founder of E3OUTLAWS PRODUCTIONS Co., Inc. and of the eARTh and Lorca Al Desnudo Theatre Festivals. A theater and communications graduate from LaGuardia Community College, he later studied at the Raúl Juliá Training Unit of the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre and is constantly in search of learning new techniques and methods. His most recent directing credits include Federico García Lorca's La casa de Bernarda Alba and Bodas de sangre”; Abniel Marat's Binomio de violencia: El olor de los machos/El olor de las hembras and Tabú; Shakespeare's Macbeth and an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, titled Los amantes del Alto Manhattan; Dario Fo's No hay ladron que por bien no venga and The Virtuous Burglar; Deidania Peña's Between Hallways; Marilyn Cruz's Remembering Williamsbridge; Lee Partson's Waiting For You; Ariana Matos' My Mother's Brain; Michelle Rivera's Fall; and the solo shows La consulta, El regalo and You Are Confused!, among others. As an actor, he has worked in television, film and theater. He has written several plays and a feature film. He has received ATI Awards in 2010 and 2011 for direction and an ATI in 2014 for production; he has also received ACE Awards in 2010 and 2013 for direction. Reyes y Reyes, his musical adaptation of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, or What You Will, will premiere April 23, 2014 at the Red Carpet Theater. For more information, click here or here.
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