Festival Preview: Hamlet

Troupe 2846’s production

Barbara Hilt believes everyone should have the opportunity to experience William Shakespeare, and she’s been building toward a production of Hamlet since she came to Garden City High School seven years ago. In spring 2017, Hilt directed Romeo and Juliet. While three of her Hamlet cast members also appeared in that show, the rest are undertaking their first Shakespeare play.

Hilt’s Hamlet, a version edited by her sister and fellow teacher Robyn Hilt, is staged in an ambiguous time that could be the past, present, or future. Hamlet, like Thespian junior Nathan Ayala who plays the role, is an artist. Ayala drew the images of the Herculean labors used on vinyl panels for the set, and he paints a canvas onstage throughout his “To be or not to be” speech. The play-within-a-play uses influences from pop art for its costumes and makeup. Original music composed by Garden City graduate and former technical theatre student Antonio Vargas also plays an integral role in illuminating Hamlet’s state of mind throughout the production.

Hilt’s students embraced the show’s challenges with enthusiasm. “Our students really dived into the plot and themes of Hamlet from the start,” Hilt said. “We did quite a bit of character analysis with each actor and worked through the text by analyzing every part of the script. There is a lot of stopping, defining, and analyzing of text as you develop a show like this, especially when working with students who are largely second-generation immigrants to the United States. Vocabulary becomes incredibly important in developing these roles. It helps that members of the directing staff all have English for Speakers of Other Languages certifications. Many members of our audience struggle with language barriers as well, since English language learners make up a large percentage of our school population.”

While students might struggle with the text, they easily relate to the universality of Hamlet’s themes. “I have students facing real-world issues — big issues — and they need to be heard,” Hilt said. “Prior to this production, one of our students was forced to return to El Salvador because of immigration issues. There are students who are struggling just to get to school every day for various reasons. No one expects a school in the middle of Kansas, where the closest town is three hours away, to have stories like our students have, to face the things their families have faced, and then take their free time to be in a Shakespeare production.

“The themes in Hamlet correspond directly to some of the issues our country and community are facing right now,” Hilt continued. “Shakespeare tackles all the elements of human emotional experience in this play. We have the opportunity to build a diverse cast, portray universal themes, and bring our students’ perspective to this work. It is incredibly exciting to see the world through their eyes and help them craft a show with substantial social and political themes from 400 years ago that are still current in our own political and social climate today.”

Ayala agrees. “The best part for me about playing Hamlet was getting to try new things I had never done in any other show,” he said. “There are so many big emotions I get to play around with, and it’s so much fun. That being said, it’s also the most challenging part of the show. Having to portray huge emotions is definitely draining.”

Ayala encourages students new to performing Shakespeare to approach the work with an open mind. “There’s so much there for you in the script,” he advised. “Most of the text has a double meaning, so really study it and make sure you know what it means.”

Hilt is thrilled her students will have the opportunity to revisit Hamlet in Lincoln at the International Thespian Festival. “One of the challenges we always face is that our students don’t get the biggest audiences in Garden City,” she said. “We have a group of patrons who always support us that we appreciate very much, but then there are individuals at the high school and in the community who have never seen live theatre. Our houses have grown in size, but we never have sold-out houses. I am so excited for them to have a full house!”