Fayette Campus professor brings the Bard to life
For more than three decades, Dr. Dennis Brestensky has worked diligently to present the Shakespeare Festival at Penn State Fayette Campus for a simple reason – to bring the Bard to life. “Shakespeare wrote plays to be performed, not read. I start with that premise,’ said Brestensky, associate professor of English and creator and chairman of the festival. “People would not go out to the local bookstore and buy his play. They would go out to see it. That’s why this festival is performance based, even the workshops.’
An avid fan of the bard, Brestensky began reading Shakespeare in high school in the 1950s and has been teaching “Introduction to Shakespeare’ at Fayette Campus for 37 years.
Brestensky created the festival, which is part of the Penn State Fayette Campus Cultural Events Series, in 1972 as a one-day supplement to his class. The idea was to make Shakespeare come alive for those who had only read his work.
The festival has continued almost annually since then. The exception is the two to three years that Brestensky spent working on his doctorate. During the years, the festival has grown to a full week of workshops, performances and exhibits.
“I keep getting encouraged to do this because the students will tell me once they see a good performance, they have a better understanding of Shakespeare,” Brestensky said. “They don’t become fanatics. Some do. But many say they have a greater appreciation.’
This year’s festival will be held Monday through Friday, Feb. 3-7, and will feature a full-length performance of “As You Like It’ from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 4, by the National Players from the University of Maryland. A 55-minute adaptation of “The Comedy of Errors’ will be presented at 12:15 p.m. Friday by Shakespeare-in-the-Schools, an educational outreach program and professional touring company of the University of Pittsburgh.
Both plays are comedies. “As You Like It,’ which features the characters Rosalind and Orlando, draws a contrast between the strict code of manners at court and the relative freedom of the countryside.
“It’s a play of polarities and contradictions, romance and reality, optimism and pessimism, love and hate,” Brestensky said. “Each plot has contributions to different themes, like the battle of the sexes with Orlando and Rosalind.’
Despite mishaps, Brestensky noted that all plots are resolved happily in the end.
“The Comedy of Errors’ follows the escapades of two long-lost twin brothers accidentally thrown together in the same town. A synopsis from Shakespeare-in-the-Schools noted the play “invites us to laugh at our preconceptions about personal identity and fate as it leads us through a merry maze of misunderstandings, mistaken identities and last-minute surprises.’
In addition, each company will offer a workshop. National Players will do an actor preparation workshop with improvisation games from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. Monday, Feb. 3, while Shakespeare-in-the-Schools will do a workshop on how to put Shakespeare’s text into production. This will include appearances by “Comedy of Errors’ director Robert Steele and actress Bryn Jameson, who will perform some speeches.
All of the workshops and plays will take place in Swimmer Hall, Williams Building. Tickets are required for admission to the plays, but there is no charge for the tickets.
To reserve tickets, call the Fayette Information Desk in the Williams Building at 724-430-4121. Tickets are not required for the workshops.
Brestensky has high praise for both these companies. In fact, he pushed the festival – usually held in January – into February this year in order to acquire the National Players, which have performed at Fayette Campus for the past seven years. The National Players is America’s longest-running classical touring company, having performed in 35 states and 10 foreign countries.
Shakespeare-in-the-Schools, which works throughout the tri-state region, grew out of the Three Rivers Shakespeare Festival. It began in 1984 with students able to purchase discount tickets for special showings of selected productions.
In 1989, Shakespeare-in-the-Schools began working as a touring company and has continued its work even after the Three Rivers Shakespeare Festival closed in 1995.
“The mission for both groups is to connect with young audiences or audiences coming to Shakespeare for the first time. They’re very enthusiastic,’ Brestensky said. “They also connect to people who know and enjoy Shakespeare. They’re so vibrant.
“They’re very patient with the audience and take questions and answers afterwards,” he added. “Some cultural groups are in and out. They do a show and that’s it. They are very flexible. They adapt very well.’
The performances and workshops also benefit The Lion Players, a Fayette Campus acting club that produces a full-length Shakespearean play each spring. This year’s production is “MacBeth,’ which will be shown April 10-12. Past performances have included “Romeo and Juliet,’ “As You Like It,’ “A Midsummer’s Night Dream,’ “Twelfth Night’ and “Much Ado About Nothing.’
The company developed six years ago at the insistence of the students. No one is a theater major. The campus has no professional theater courses. Brestensky, who has never acted nor directed, advises but does dictate the outcome of the play.
“It’s student directed. I have to sit there and let it be,’ he said. “I facilitate. I don’t direct, don’t teach, don’t use my authority.’
Brestensky noted proudly that The Lion Players have produced some great successes.
Those coming to this year’s Shakespeare workshops can expect to see members of The Lion Players participating as they receive advice from professional actors on how to put on their play. Brestensky said the National Players, in particular, will help the actors with their presentation of “MacBeth.’ He remarked that the professional actors appear to enjoy working with the amateurs.
“Sometimes the workshops are as stimulating as the plays,’ Brestensky said. “You see the actor in a difference way, as ordinary human beings who have worked awfully hard to get where they are.’
In addition, the Shakespeare Festival includes a weeklong showcase of exhibits at the campus library that are produced by students, who have studied Shakespeare under Brestensky for 37 years. He requires each class to produce a project relating to Shakespeare, his plays, his characters, his times or something taught by Brestensky in class.
With their imaginations free to soar, the students have created sculptures, ceramics, paintings and costumes. For this article, Brestensky showed off a two-sided face that illustrates “Shakespeare’s Balanced Vision of Life.’ One side showcases comedy while the other illustrates tragedy. This is a theme that Brestensky shares in his class.
Other projects include a watercolor painting that celebrates Shakespeare’s use of flowers as images. They include tulips, pansies, sweetbrier and primroses. Another student created a ceramic of the three witches in “MacBeth.’ Other students have written creative journals where they can draw. They do sketches, collages, even performances.
One student project became the logo for the festival. Monty Maldovan, who created the logo, now works as an animator in Orlando, Fla., for Walt Disney, Brestensky said.
The projects on display will also include a model of The Globe Theater, also done by a student, where Shakespeare’s plays were first performed.
There will also be an exhibit of photographs taken by Brestensky on his 1993 visit to England for a conference on teaching Shakespeare.
“Finally, after just reading about all the Shakespeare plays and places and seeing the photographs and the books, it was exciting to see,’ said Brestensky of his trip.
He also believes the trip helped boost his enthusiasm while teaching this component of his class, and remarked, “I would think the students would be more excited when the teacher is.’
Brestensky also gives credit to the campus library and the Office of Student Affairs for helping with the festival. Library staff provides space and sets up the exhibits while Student Affairs provides funding and assists with mailings, tickets and schedules.
Although the Shakespeare Festival is now in its 31st year, Brestensky is always excited about it just as he remains enthusiastic about Shakespeare.
“I love the universality of Shakespeare – that he continues to appeal to us. I think his work is intellectually challenging,’ Brestensky said. “You can’t exhaust Shakespeare – even one play. There’s not one play I’ve mastered. I understand them. But every time I teach, I gain new insights.’