Lady Olivia (Audrey Stevenson) presents her wedding ring to Orsino (Payton Gonzalez). Antonio (Aidan Bruton - red sash) and Malvolio (Jesse Wink - far right) are shocked and Cesario (Valentina Hoppe) nervously waits Orsino's response. This was the turning point in the play where the mistaken identities start to come to light.
'Cesario' (Valentina Hoppe), who is actually Viola disguised as a male page serving Duke Orsino, is sent to woo Lady Olivia (Audrey Stevenson) for Orsino. This completes the love triangle: Viola loves Orsino, Orsino loves Olivia and Olivia loves Viola disguised as Cesario.
Duke Orsino professing his love for Lady Olivia while Fabian (Gabriel Caballero) plays a lovely tune.
Malvolio (Jesse Wink - left) is mocked by Sir Toby Belch (Mannix Moree') Sir Andrew (Gabriel Caballero) and Feste (Conner Boltza).
SEELEY LAKE – The Seeley Lake Elementary second graders wowed audience members with their memorized lines and acting ability as they performed "Twelfth Night" by William Shakespeare Wednesday, March 20. Second grade teacher Erin Lynch said it allowed her students to overcome a fear of public speaking and learned how to work as a team.
"Twelfth Night" has been one of Lynch's favorite Shakespeare plays because of the cases of mistaken identity and humor.
"Once I got to know the kids in this class I knew it would be a good match," wrote Lynch in an email.
The students did their first read-through before Christmas break to get a feel for the characters. They did casting in January and started blocking out the play on the stage in February. In March they did several dress rehearsals before putting on the play for SLE students in the afternoon March 20 and in the evening for parents and the community.
Lynch said one of the biggest hurdles for her students to overcome was their fear of public speaking.
"All of the kids were nervous before the performance but were excited to know that this big scary thing isn't as scary as it seemed," wrote Lynch.
Additionally, Lynch said participation in the production dramatically improved the reading capabilities of every student.
"We worked a lot on reading with expression, not just reading with a flat tone of voice. I have noticed that the kids are translating this to their reading, they're thinking about what they are reading and using cues in the text to add expression which is a huge payoff and so fun to see," wrote Lynch.
The final accomplishment, and one of the biggest challenge to overcome, was the teamwork needed for the students to pull off the production.
"Once the kids were onboard with the idea that it was better to work together and help one another out that they would all be successful rather than get annoyed if someone was having a moment where they couldn't remember a line everything came together," wrote Lynch. "They are only seven and eight years old, but they encouraged each other on lines and helped in creating props and the set."
The academic benefits and overcoming the fears makes putting on a production like this valuable for Lynch.
"I hope the life-lessons of challenging fears (public speaking and Shakespeare) and teamwork stick with the students," wrote Lynch.
The students have already started asking when they start their next play. "I'm going to take that to mean they enjoyed themselves."
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