Shakespeare Visits Thailand - The Thai Youth Theater Fest

When I was younger, I took acting classes, determined to be a first class actor! Needless to say, this never happened, but it did give me something else. Spending hours around equally strange and outgoing folks such as myself depleted any shyness I may have had, and gave me a sort of unyielding confidence and creativity that only trying to truly encompass the essence of an melancholy orange or foolishly attempting to speak in a pure Russian accent can give.
So, last year, when I attended the Thai Youth Theater Festival In Khon Kaen, I was transported back into my days of acting school. The festival offered Thai children, who usually are not given the opportunity to express themselves and just go crazy, an outlet for sparking creativity and discovering their inner Shakespeare. Volunteers taught them how to stage fight, put on makeup and create costumes, use props and make stage sets, pronunciation, and stage direction. The schools that attended the festival were preparing plays for several months before, and the following day, they performed them in front of hundreds of people. All the plays were amazing and individual, and i was in awe to see these Thai students really get into it. There was even a school that did the ENTIRE Shakepearean play, and I knew from that moment, that I MUST get my kids involved in this, and to have them interact with these older students that are so strong and outgoing.

A few months ago I brought this idea up to my coteacher and my students, and immediately they jumped on it. We started out with doing Peter Pan, then moved onto the Lion King, then finally landed on doing a short play from Harry Potter: The Tale of the Three Brothers from the Tales of Beedle the Bard. We had 14 students interested and we rehearsed every day! With the help of amazing people from the states, we raised the money to take the kids to the festival. Finally, we were ready to go.

The festival was from Feb 25-27 in Phitsanulok, with about 10 schools from all over participating, as well as several volunteers and Thai teachers. The school that did Shakespeare last year came again, performing The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and it was amazing to see them interact with my students. Even the shyest of shy students explored what it was like to be a little outgoing and crazy. The other plays were Peter Pan, The Boy who cried wolf, Mamma Mia, as well as some traditional Thai plays, and they were all simply amazing. Everything was amazing, from the daily activities, to the big group games, to the plays. And with that, the rest I will share with you in through the pictures that were taken. ENJOY!