For a number of reasons, the celebration on
Tuesday (5 June) was for me the best Annual New Salem Educational Initiative
Banquet that we have had for lo these thirteen years of such events.
For the second year in a row attendees were
mainly the solid core of very supportive families whose students had parts in
our play or were doing other performances.
This sort of audience is super-attentive and fully engaged in both the
performance and the certificate-bestowal segments.
Among the many subtexts of the banquet were those involving familial struggles that at one point threatened my ability to oversee this
year’s celebration in the usual style. Three
and a half weeks ago, two families whose young people are participants in the New
Salem Educational Initiative encountered heavy crises, making difficult the participation
of several members scheduled to perform
in our staging of Shakespeare’s Merchant
of Venice at the banquet. While I worked
in various ways to help these families resolve their difficulties, I ran our
first full rehearsal performing five characters myself. I originally planned to perform only the
Shylock role, but it became apparent that I would need to step in also as the
important character of Bassanio; and that I might have to give careful thought as to how to present three other roles should pertinent familial crises continue.
That first rehearsal went remarkably
well. In separate sessions I was also
running mini-rehearsals, doing individual stage blocking and rendering cue
lines for each actor; I was also working
with Heidy Remedios Sanchez on her “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech, and with Cherish
Dixon on her “I Have a Dream” speech.
The mini-rehearsals provided the context
for a super-efficient second rehearsal, by which time I had performed a counselor’s
sleight of hand to get three of the strugglers back on board. That rehearsal went splendidly; by that time, evidence was mounting that
Janet Inamagua as Portia (whose hand in marriage is being sought by Bassanio
and two other suitors) was poised to knock the lights out of that demanding performance; that Michael Smith, Jessica Inamagua, Lisset
Inamagua, and I were on track to perform well in our demanding roles; and that Miguel Amigon Sanchez and brother
Pedro Amigon Sanchez were up to speed, as well.
Thus it was that on the night of the
banquet the following cast took the stage:
Janet Inamagua--- Portia, rich and beautiful heiresss of
Belmont
Jessica Inamagua--- Jessica, daughter of Shylock
Lisset Inamagua--- Nerissa, lady-in-waiting and best friend of
Portia
Devone Griffin--- Lorenzo, Christian who elopes with the Jewish
Jessica
Michael Smith--- Gratiano (best friend to Bassanio), who makes
a romantic connection with Nerissa
Mayra Ortiz--- Antonia (Antonio in the original text), the
merchant who takes a huge financial and physical
risk to make a momentous loan to Bassanio
Miguel Amigon Sanchez--- Prince of Morocco, a suitor
Pedro Amigon Sanchez--- Prince of Aragon, a suitor; also played a jailer who takes the
loan-defaulting Antonia away
Angel Sanchez (just a second
grader)--- Solanio, who bears the
fateful note concerning Antonia’s
failed merchant ships
Jayvius Goodman (third grader)--- Launcelot, who bears a note from Jessica to
Lorenzo containing instructions for their elopement
Stacey Travis--- Duke of Venice
Gary Marvin Davison--- Bassanio;
and Shylock
For the Shylock role, I donned a cap
vaguely suggestive of a yarmulke (kippah), then took the cap off as
Bassanio; at times, most notably when
Bassanio and Antonia are striking the loan deal with Shylock, my two characters
were talking to each other, so that the cap became an important tool of role
clarification for the audience.
In and between the lines written above, you
can discern a lot of real-life drama behind that of the stage. I had no very definite indication that all
would most likely go well until three days (Saturday, 2 June) before the
banquet; and given some of the familial
struggles, just had to keep the faith and await the actual unfolding of events
at the 13th Annual New Salem Educational Initiative Banquet on
Tuesday, 5 June 2018, to know for sure if favorable indications would be
fulfilled.
Favorable indications were indeed
fulfilled:
Janet was magnificent as Portia, delivering
her lines with emotion, audibility, and precision; she and Lisset did a clever wardrobe
transformation to disguise themselves as the young judge Balthazar and judge’s
clerk respectively. Jessica and Devone
presented well as Jessica and Lorenzo.
Michael was enthusiastic and good as Gratiano. Miguel and Pedro did well and spoke up as
Morocco and Aragon. Little Angel
positioned himself well and delivered the note smoothly as Solanio; Jayvius interacted well with both Jessica and
Lorenzo as Launcelot. Mayra was very
splendid as Antonia. I relished my two
roles and was glad to occupy central position in the final scene, surrounded by
all of these wonderful young people, who came forward to put hands on Shylock’s
shoulder in the “Does a Jew not bleed?” scene that I moved to play’s end.
All parents were aglow.
Janet was so deservedly proud.
Heidy and Cherish did their performances
well for grade six and grade four students respectively, possibly as
preparation for reprising and polishing these performances next year.
……………………………………………………………………………………………
The certificate phase of the banquet was
another warm and effective segment. I
had as usual carefully thought out each certificate and was particularly
pleased to honor Mayra as Student of the
Year; Janet for Magnificent Talent, Great Versatility; Rodrigo Inamagua & Maria Robles (parents
of Janet, Jessica, and Lisset), Vera Sanchez (mother of Miguel, Pedro, Heidy,
and Angel) and Stacey Travis each as Parent of the Year (I
explained that despite having imbibed the ability to make a decision from my
dad, these were each so deserving that I could not this year limit the Parent of the Year award to just one
parent; and for that matter I also gave
a much-deserved New Salem Tuesday
Tutoring Parent of the Year award to Nita Smith, mother to Michael Smith,
who for the second year won the Tops on
Tuesday award [effectively the Student of
the Year award for a student in the Tuesday evening program]).
Folks were once again generous in their
comments regarding my down-home southern soul fare (with the addition of my
very well-reviewed lasagna).
This was quite an evening.
In part two of this account of the banquet, I will detail how the event further solidified
my relationships with students and their families--- and portends particularly bright futures for
two of the participants.
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