Pacific Humanities Scholars<\/a> program enables students to explore the humanities both in and outside the classroom. In October, they took this experience a bit further and travelled to the East Bay in northern California, to watch Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cWinter\u2019s Tale\u201d in the big outdoors.<\/p>\n\n\n\nCommonly known as Cal-Shakes, the Burns Amphitheater is nestled in Siesta Valley near Orinda and uses its natural surroundings as an integral part of the plays performed there. The trip was a substitute for the Scholars\u2019 annual excursion to the Oregon Shakespeare\u202fFestival in Ashland which was not possible because of the COVID\u202frestrictions.\u202f<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Humanities Scholars, Maddie Tawa \u201922 (English and Japanese double-major) and Jami McClenahan \u201923 (Media X major) shared their experience with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nJami:\u202f <\/strong>We loaded on the bus at Pacific\u2019s Burns Tower and drove to Orinda. We were a mix of 40 people from different Humanities Scholars cohorts and even some students who are not with the Scholars. It was\u202freally interesting\u202fto get to meet other people in my program that I haven’t gotten to talk to before,\u202for even just people at my college who aren’t necessarily in the program but enjoy the humanities as much as we do.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMaddie:\u202f<\/strong> Having the opportunity to go to these types of things\u202fwith a group is very comforting and allows you to feel a bit more grounded, I think.\u202fAlso,\u202fin terms of resources,\u202fit’s more difficult to get to\u202fplaces like\u202fCal-Shakes, especially\u202ffor the\u202ffirst- and second-year\u202fstudents. So, that was a great chance for students to get off campus and just enjoy more social\u202for enrichment type of\u202fevent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nJami:<\/strong>\u202f The entire venue is\u202foutside,\u202fso we had to hike up\u202fthere.\u202fThey had some seating areas,\u202fand\u202fwe went up to a little picnic area and we had pizza before the play\u202fstarted.\u202f<\/p>\n\n\n\nIt was amazing to be able to go\u202fin a large group to a\u202fvenue that was relatively safe, you know,\u202foutdoors\u202fwhere we\u2019re not all cramped\u202ftogether.\u202fI think, even if there wasn’t a pandemic,\u202fit’s\u202freally innovative. Most times you go to see a play\u202fit\u2019s a\u202ftight\u202fspace and\u202fyou get the backdrop on\u202fstage, but\u202fat Cal-Shakes the\u202foutdoors was the backdrop.\u202fI think that was\u202freally amazing\u202fand also\u202fhow it was\u202fintegrated into the play.\u202f<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maddie:\u202f<\/strong> Typically,\u202findoor\u202ftheaters tend to be the\u202fnorm,\u202fbut\u202fan outdoor theater is a lot of fun.\u202f I think it\u202fadded to\u202fthe entire ambiance\u202fof the play because, instead of having to constantly change set pieces like backdrops,\u202fthey really utilized lighting to highlight the trees\u202fthat were just naturally there.\u202fIt was very interesting to get to see how\u202fthe actors and\u202fthe stage directors took advantage of how the stage itself is placed\u202fin a\u202fcanyon. They\u202fwere\u202falso able to use sound, how it\u202freflected\u202foff of\u202fthe canyon and\u202fkind of projected\u202fa bit more than it normally would.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nMaddie:<\/strong> The play itself\u202fwas quite a bit of fun.\u202fThe first half was very somber,\u202fvery much in the tradition of\u202fa\u202fShakespearean tragedy. Then the second half of the play after the intermission\u202fwas\u202fvery goofy,\u202fjust kind of silly and comedic.\u202fIt was very interesting to see that\u202fjuxtaposition\u202fbecause you’re ready to go back into a very\u202fdark play\u202fand then\u202fall of a\u202fsudden,\u202fthey’re just messing around for the next hour.\u202fIt was so much fun to get to see\u202fit. After talking to some of the other people who attended,\u202fthey all\u202fthought that\u202fthe second part was really boosted by the fact that the first half was just extremely dark and kind of sad.<\/p>\n\n\n\nI\u2019ve\u202fnever seen\u202f\u201cA Winter\u2019s Tale,\u201d so I\u202fhave no context for\u202fit,\u202fbut\u202fit was very fun to get to see that.\u202f Afterwards, you get to talk with all the\u202fScholars\u202fabout what they thought about it because\u202fit was\u202fa very different interpretation of Shakespeare\u2019s\u202fplay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nJami:<\/strong> I think the part that really stuck with me\u202fwas\u202fthe speech the\u202fcreative\u202fdirector\u202fof the theatre\u202fgave before the play. He talked\u202fabout\u202fhow they’ve been really struggling throughout the pandemic.\u202fAnd the fact that we were all there and being\u202fable to participate\u202fnow\u202freally meant a lot to them.\u202fI think that stuck with me the most because\u202fit\u202fput\u202feverything\u202fin perspective.\u202fWe\u202fthink of theater like,\u202f\u2018oh well, that can wait\u202funtil the pandemic\u2019s over,\u2019\u202fbut\u202fit\u202fis\u202freally important\u202fto a lot of people.\u202fAnd the fact that we’re\u202fnow\u202fable to go and support them and enjoy ourselves for a few hours, I think it’s just\u202freally amazing.\u202f<\/p>\n\n\n\nWe can talk about humanities\u202fas much as we want, but until you\u202factually experience\u202fit,\u202fyou don’t get that actual impact. Just being able to witness\u202fpeople who care so much about their craft and care so much about putting on a good performance\u202fand\u202fproviding that experience\u202ffor us, there’s a lot of weight to\u202fthat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maddie:\u202f<\/strong> I think, being able to have that immersive theater experience allows students to become more aware of the creative content, as well as potentially draw connections between that and whatever text they’re reading in their classrooms.\u202fEspecially,\u202fit’s more about building a community because the Humanities Scholars program, while it does offer academic opportunities,\u202fis also\u202fabout providing grounded,\u202fhumanities-based\u202fsupport for students\u202fin\u202fthe program.\u202fAnd so,\u202fevents like this\u202fhelp us get more involved in the arts as well as build a community within said\u202farts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe can talk about humanities as much as we want, but until you actually experience it, you don’t get that actual impact.\u201d Pacific students travel to the East Bay in northern California to watch Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cWinter\u2019s Tale\u201d in the big outdoors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"[\"title\",\"meta\",\"content\",\"tags\",\"comments\",\"post-navigation\"]","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"_ti_tpc_template_sync":false,"_ti_tpc_template_id":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[414,141,144],"class_list":["post-459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-school","tag-college-of-the-pacific","tag-humanities","tag-theatre-arts"],"yoast_head":"\n
Pacific Humanities Scholars experience Shakespeare theater under the stars - People of Pacific<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n