Words are constantly reaching out to you, and trying to be active, said Kelly Hilliard Roush, executive director of The Classic Theater in San Antonio, April 6 at Texas A&M University-San Antonio.
Roush spoke at a roundtable discussion during the Latinx Shakespeare Symposium hosted by the university.
The symposium was held to bring together teachers, performers and Latinx artists to discuss how they can teach Shakespeare in innovative ways and showcase how Latinx artists engage with his work.
“Great poets give you words that can physically move you, encouraging freedom and excitement with the language,” Roush said.
Roush, who was animated during her panel “Physicalizing Shakespeare: Directing Shakespeare in San Antonio,” promoted movement and energy while performing Shakespeare’s work.
To encourage audience members to think more about movement when performing or teaching Shakespeare, Roush personified her own words to help bring them to life.
Demonstrating the power of being physically attached to the words she spoke, Roush chose the word “fire” as an example of how students could inject life into every letter, sounding out letter by letter in demonstrative fashion. She moved her body around as she pronounced each letter. Roush slowly waved her arms as she enunciated “Effffff,” the letter almost fizzing from her lips.
“Words can be experienced,” she said. “[Shakespeare] forces you to make the words come to life.”
Shakespeare’s plays and poems can evoke emotions and make people visually see what he’s trying to say. Words are not just letters on a page that can be read; they can be physical beings if you let them.
“There’s a joy of bringing yourself to it. In miming words to know what he’s saying, because there’s no one right way to say things,” Roush said.
Roush spoke to a 90-plus crowd of students, teachers and staff members, some who flew in from states such as Colorado to get a new perspective on how to teach Shakespeare to their students and Latin communities.
“A lot of this stuff is important to me. It’s actually something I’m really interested in myself and in teaching,” said David Carr, English junior at A&M-San Antonio. “It’s a big reason for why I even bought all these expensive books.”
He referred to some English textbooks and Shakespeare poems and sonnets in his backpack.
Roush’s discussion encouraged teachers to incorporate physicality into their lectures about Shakespeare, Carr said.
“Roush’s workshop spoke to something often misrepresented in how our body can interact with our instruction — furthermore, the importance of using our body as a communicative device,” Carr said. “Everybody learns differently, and we must cater to our growing classroom population.”
The way people experience things creatively can shape the way they learn, Roush said.
“You know him more than you think you know him,” Roush said of Shakespeare. “You can put his words in your own words. You experiencing him individually is how you learn creatively.”
