Sean Fagan and the Bardavon returned to W.W. Smith Humanities Magnet School in Poughkeepsie this week, to begin an intensive 10-day regimen of tumbling, juggling and stilt-walking with the school’s fifth graders. The students are preparing for Friday, Feb. 8, when they will perform “Shakespeare’s Clowns” live on the Bardavon stage.
“Last year was amazing – to see fifth graders reciting Shakespeare from memory,” said Kay Churchill, the director of education at the Bardavon.
Churchill coordinates children’s performances at the Bardavon and at the Ulster Performing Arts Center, and facilitates workshops with the Poughkeepsie City School District. The upcoming Shakespeare’s Clowns performance is part of the school’s annual artist-in-residence program, and teaching artist Sean Fagan has been working closely with both the Smith School and the Bardavon for years.
“Part of what the program does is self-esteem building. Sean gives the kids an opportunity to hear their voice in another way,” said Churchill. “The kids respect him, and Sean has a mutual respect for the kids.”
Smith School’s principal, Salvatore Letterii agrees. “Sean is remarkable, he’s talented and very well-trained,” he said.
A unique balance
After graduating with a degree in theater from Emerson College in Boston, Fagan headed south to train at Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in Florida. Afterward, he traveled with the circus for two years, before eventually moving to New York.
Fagan’s success with students may be accredited to his unique combination of gym and circus.
“A lot of gym is still based in competitive sports, but there are so many different approaches to the health of your body,” he said. “Circus is non-competitive and everyone can do it at their own pace.”
So in addition to the physical – acrobatics, flips, tumbles, etc. – Fagan teaches clowning. Through skits, role-playing and costumes, students learn things like conflict resolution, plot, status and most importantly, how to laugh at themselves and each other. And last year, Fagan incorporated Shakespeare into the mix.
“Shakespeare is very much a formula author,” said Fagan. “I follow the plot, I use what I can, but I also take into account the individuality of the class and its students.”
Last year the students performed “Romeo and Juliet,” and the opening scene of “The Tempest.” For “The Tempest,” Fagan dressed the students in blues and greens, and they used their tumbling skills to represent the ocean and the storm. In “Romeo and Juliet,” the students incorporated acrobatic moves they had learned to create two houses, made entirely out of students.
“Each time I begin by saying, ‘How can we use our bodies?’ In Shakespeare’s time, there weren’t huge, elaborate sets,” said Fagan.
This year students will perform scenes from “A Comedy of Errors” – Shakespeare’s shortest play, and “As You Like It,” as well as Frank Stockton’s “The Lady or the Tiger,” and a Shakespearean variation of the modern game show “Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader?”
“Last year we were concerned. How do you present Shakespeare to people who may not have any interest in it?” said Churchill. “But it was great, because the kids understood what they were saying, and they passed it on to their parents.”
Each year more and more people attend the event, and this year will be no exception, said Churchill.
“It’s such a valuable program in this district because it not only brings the kids together as a team, but on the night of the performance their families come together too,” she said.