Centenary Stage Company's Director Of Shakespearience, NJ To Return To Blairstown Residency This Week

Professor Stephen Davis, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts at Centenary University, will continue his annual "Shakespeare Residency" at Blairstown Elementary School this spring.

The program is in its 9th year, the first year took place in the spring after the Sandy Hook tragedy of 2013. Davis wanted to give back to his community and school aged children in honor of the attack at Sandy Hook, so he donated his time to the school children the first two years of the program, and will do so again this year in what he calls an "anti-covid residency."

The residency and subsequent performance of an abridged version of A Midsummer Night's Dream, were slated to take place in January, but were cancelled, as many things have been over the last year, due to COVID-19. Davis will now return to Blairstown from June 2nd - 14th to make sure that the 6th graders this year don't miss out on the popular annual tradition. Davis is also working with a new Superintendent, Dr. Patrick Ketch who was among one of the first graduating classes from Centenary University's Educational Doctorate program.

This connection to Centenary University has only strengthened Dr. Ketch's support in assuring the Shakespeare Residency would fit into the school's programming before the end of the year and Davis has also expressed a mutual excitement for working together going forward. Traditionally, students are first introduced to Shakespeare in ninth-grade through individual reading assignments, but Davis disagrees with that process.

"Performative learning is the way to learn Shakespeare; it's supposed to be heard and not read," he said. "By doing that here, they're not going to be afraid of Shakespeare when they get to ninth-grade." So why "A Midsummer Night's Dream?" Davis himself was introduced to what would eventually be his life's passion in a sixth-grade production of the comedy where he played Nick Bottom.

Centenary University graduate, Meghan Kolbusch will serve as assistant to Davis for the duration of the residency. This will be Kolbusch's 5th year assisting with the residency, as she participated while she was a student at the University and will now return post-graduation. Together they will work with 65 sixth graders, 15 of whom are all virtual students at the elementary school. They will take up the students' half day schedules and work with them to develop, rehearse and later perform a cutting of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. This year to accommodate social distancing and keeping gatherings smaller, the three homerooms that make up the sixth grade will each take on the roles of the Athenians, the Mechanicals, and the Fairies, with one class making up each group. Also new this year, the performance will take place outside, and will also be filmed and edited by Davis to accommodate those students who are using virtual learning this academic year.

Davis says that his mission with the residency is, "to demystify and make Shakespeare accessible to all." He continues, "Shakespeare wrote plays that were for all walks of life: for the groundlings, for people who were illiterate, for people in the court... I'm trying to give them things that make them excited about language, little fun nuances so that they can just play with words and play with language." And when asked about donating his time for this year's program, he said, "This is my way to give back. I started studying Shakespeare in sixth grade and it forever changed my life, so I feel that it is important to share what I have learned with these students. If even just one student discovers a passion for this work, it will mean that this project has been a great success. And after all that these students have gone through in the past year, I wanted to make sure no class got left out."

The residency will finish with an outdoor performance June 10th, with a rain date of June 11th, and will be recorded and edited to include the virtual learning students. Davis teaches courses in Stage Combat, Theatrical Makeup, Acting, Theatre History, Theatre Appreciation, and Drama as Literature at Centenary University. He has served as the Centenary Stage Company fight choreographer for Newsies, Peter Pan, Deathtrap, The Liar, Breakfast with Mugabe, Oliver!, and The Wizard of Oz. Davis has also directed numerous productions at CSC, most recently this season's NEXTstage Repertory Production of Sweat by Lynn Nottage and the Young Audience Series show titled: Shake it Up Shakespeare: Magic, Mystery and Mayhem, which he also authored and adapted for the stage. Davis has a BFA in acting from the Theatre School at DePaul University, as well as an MFA in directing from USC. As Associate Professor of Theatre Arts at Centenary University, Professor Davis was honored with both the 2014-15 Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award and the 2010 -11 United Methodist Exemplary Teaching Award. He teaches classes to all ages and is a member of AEA.

For more information on the residency or if you're interested in bringing any YAS productions to your school, visit centenarystageco.org or call the Centenary Stage Company box office at (908) 979 - 0900. The box office is open Monday through Friday from 1 - 5 PM and two hours prior to all performances. The Centenary Stage Company box office is located in the Lackland Performing Arts Center on the campus of Centenary University at 715 Grand Ave. Hackettstown, NJ.

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