Much Ado About Shakespeare

By DeLynn Fairless, Director of Community Engagement for Tulsa Theatre Works

“All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women are merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts.”

The first line from Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’ is familiar to many, but if one fails to read the whole passage through, it less than quantifies our true roles as humans in one another’s lives. I used to believe that it meant we have permission to simply “act” accordingly to suit the mood of others in our shared environment, but I’ve come to understand that it’s actually a quite beautiful notion.

Performance art has a limited run-time: we meet, in fellowship, with cast and crew, audience and enthusiasts, for a brief amount of storytelling, entertainment, and escape. We are bonded through what is, hopefully, a meaningful shared experience, (dare I say, life altering, at times!) and we part – having breathed the same air glittered with thousands of individual emotions. On the grand stage of life, are we not doing the same thing? Only if we are doing it RIGHT.

God wants us to be present, intentional, and attentive. There are times when God enters us into new relationships and opportunities, and times when it’s clear we should exit certain circumstances. And yes, there are times when we are required to “play a part” – we must do something that is often a small sacrifice on our behalf, but could enrich the life of another beyond our understanding.

Tulsa Theatre Works’ Fall Lab students, Teaching Artists, and Staff have spent the last ten weeks exploring their creativity and testing their courage – all in a space where they can be present with each other, intentional in their words and actions without judgment, and learn to be attentive to their peers and their own emotional resilience.

Please consider attending ‘Much Ado About Shakespeare’, where students will act scenes from the beloved comedy as a rotating cast, and perform a live improv demonstration.

Shows are Friday, November 10 at 7:00 p.m., Saturday, November 11 at 7:00 p.m., and Sunday, November 12 at 2:00 p.m.

For more information, please visit www.tulsatheatreworks.org.