The play's the thing for these interns

Veronica Longo, an intern at the Tennessee Shakespeare Festival on the Webb campus in Bell Buckle, checks some measurements during the set-building process. The massive tent that will house the set went up earlier this week. (T-G Photo by Mary Reeves) [Order this photo]

It's a dream job for a young actor -- a Midsummer Night's Dream job, that is.

On Sunday, two dormitories at Webb School opened their doors, and the actors, technicians, gophers, carpenters and general flunkies for the Tennessee Shakespeare Festival started moving in, ready to begin work on both "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Romeo and Juliet."

Collectively, this motley crew has one name.

Director Lane Davies coordinates everything from room assignments to the search for socket wrenches as the second Tennessee Shakespeare Festival plans get under way in Bell Buckle. (T-G Photo by Mary Reeves) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

The interns.

Ranging from middle-schoolers such as Sam Fuller, who played Henry V in the recent Webb production, to college students, such as Diego Gomez, who is headed for Columbia College in Chicago this fall, the interns spend their summers exchanging a little hard labor for the love of the stage. The pay isn't great if you're looking at bank accounts -- room and board for most of them -- but the experience is priceless.

"My friend Kahle Reardon is playing Juliet and Hermia and I came last year to see her," said Veronica Longo of Nashville. "When this opportunity came along, I grabbed it."

She, along with interns Gomez and Ricardo Beaird, have all done Shakespeare before with the Nashville Shakespeare Festival's apprentice company. They have experience with Nashville Repertory Theater, as well as the usual gamut of school and community productions. But for some of the Metro performers, the idea of doing Shakespeare in Bell Buckle was a little daunting.

"I was a little scared," said Beaird. "I'm a city boy. "

"The first thing I thought was 'Is there a Walmart?'" said Longo, laughing. "And there isn't."

Gomez wasn't worried.

"I was pumped!"

Of course, for Fuller, who lives at Webb during the school year, and local intern Ben Reeves, from Tullahoma, small town life isn't going to take as much adjustment. Living, learning, eating and breathing Shakespeare 12 to 14 hours a day might, though, as well as learning the difference between a standard and a Phillips head screwdriver.

Settling in

In the short time the interns have been at Webb school and getting to know the grounds and the town, they've all settled right in. When they've had time to settle, that is.

Lane Davies, the director, producer and mastermind behind the Tennessee Shakespeare Festival, spares no one when it comes to getting things up and running. On Sunday, as the interns drifted in, the star of Nashville's 2008 sold-out production of "Sweeney Todd" showed them to their dorm rooms himself, stopping occasionally to answer his phone -- and give directions.

"Another lost actor," he said with a grin.

The plays

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" will be presented June 26-28 and July 3-5, and "Romeo and Juliet" take over the stage July 10-12 and 16-19. As with last year's production of "Dream," the play is set in Athens, Ga. instead of Athens, Greece, and the "fairies" of Oberon's and Titania's courts are the ghosts of Southern Belles and Confederate soldiers. Those belles and soldiers will be played by the interns and students at the Webb School Shakespeare Camp, coordinated by Webb's theater director, Ruth Cordell. Cordell is Titania to Davies' Oberon and the two have shared Shakespeare credits in dozens of other productions, from the South to the West Coast.

"Romeo and Juliet" will be set in colonial America, just after the French and Indian War.

"Patrick Waller will be Mercutio," said Davies. "He fights with a tomahawk and a Bowie knife."

More organized

Davies said this year's double-production -- largely made possible by a generous theater "angel" in Nashville, is going well.

"We're more organized," he said. "There's more money involved. So many of the unknowns from last year, we now know."

One of those "unknowns" was the big clincher -- who would come to Bell Buckle to hear the Bard?

"We didn't know if anybody would come," said Davies. "Lo and behold -- it was just like 'Field of Dreams' -- build it and they will come."

Despite a torrential downpour that canceled one performance, an estimated 1,200 people did make the trip, averaging 250 a night.

Davies said he thought once word gets out, attendance could be a lot higher.

" And even if you don't like Shakespeare, what a pleasant way to spend the night," he said.

Outdoor event

Interns, from left, Ricardo Beaird, Veronica Longo, Diego Gomez and Ben Reeves enjoy a rare moment of relaxation before the hard work of putting a play together begins. (T-G Photo by Mary Reeves) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

The event is held outdoors on the Webb campus. The main stage is under a massive tent and the tent seating is only $15 at the door (cheaper in advance). Festival seating on the lawn surrounding the tent is only $5 a ticket, and visitors are encouraged to bring their own lawn chairs or blankets. There will be food vendors, including barbecue and ice cream.

Davies hopes to have a permanent stage there someday -- possibly making Bell Buckle the only town of 400+ to have three permanent outdoor stages.

"Rodney (Simmons) suggested the Moon Pie stage," said Davies, but the scope wasn't big enough for the nearly full-scale Southern plantation facade necessary for the set.

The new stage at the Bell Buckle park was also a little small, but the close proximity to the trains was another problem.

Cast and crew return

One factor making this year's event a little easier to organize is that most of last year's cast and crew have returned, including Jerry Winsett, who had audiences rolling with his rendition of Bottom, and Zack McCann, the wild and wicked Puck. A few faces have changed, and more might have to swap roles during the shows because of family issues or other commitments, but Davies isn't worried.

"That's the nice thing about having a company of actors," he said. "Especially when most have done the play before."

Shuffling from role to role is one of the aspects of theater the interns will learn as they shuffle from job to job over the next few weeks, getting ready for show time. Besides their parts on stage (and many of the interns are understudies for the larger roles) they will be traveling through the crowds and performing small scenes in the audience.

Of course, they'll also be setting up chairs, sewing on last-minute buttons, hunting down props -- and learning.

On the web

tennesseeshakespearefestival.com