VIDEO PRESENTATION FOR ASP INTERNSHIP

Hello everybody.

My name is Travis Dowdy and I will be talking

today through this Prezi video format about my time with

actor Shakespeare project as an intern this whole semester.

So without further ado again I'm Travis and and we

can get started, so we're gonna start here with the

company introduction and so I can just give you a

little bit more info about a sp and what they

stand for.

Um so actor Shakespeare project as a boston based nonprofit

theater. The company was founded in 2000 and four and

consists of this electric resident acting company and that's the

only way that I know how to describe them.

I've been privileged enough to work with them on a

play called as you like it by Shakespeare and they

are unbelievable, their immaculate and as well as some powerful

education and youth groups and programs um and I've also

been able to partake in those through the internship this

semester and um it's been some of the most inspiring

work I've been lucky enough to do.

Um so the whole thing with a sp right is

that Shakespeare genuinely can be a language that is universal

for all, and that can be a platform for storytelling

for so many and yet for years and years and

years and years, this castle of of Eurocentric White Shakespeare

has existed, right?

Um and why if the language is so beautiful, if

the stories are so palpable, why is it been so

limited for so long?

And uh sp asks that question, but not only asks

that question, but dissects it and says, what can we

do um to change this and to maintain this beautiful

language, to maintain these stories um and this beautiful cannon,

uh but in a modern and authentic way that is

actually representative of our community.

And so with that I wanted to show you our

mission statement here.

Um I just wanted to show it up on the

screen so everybody could take a look at it because

I think it really encapsulates what a sp stands for.

Um Yeah, just really representing the neighborhoods and and the

audiences and the actors that we want to genuinely represent

as theatre makers.

So going forward from there, we have my experience with

a sp.

Uh so you might be wondering what my role at

A. S.

P. Was the semester.

Um My role allowed me to wear many, many, many

different hats which was stressful but amazing.

Um I'm considered to be both a production intern and

an artistic intern at the same time, so that encompasses

quite a bit.

Um I've worked on producing online works from the Shakespeare

Cannon performing in them as well.

I've led to school break camps.

Um I teach I co teach a course at boston

international newcomers academy twice a week and I'm in charge

of logging and keeping track of all the events and

all that good stuff.

Um That S.

P. Puts on through my own events, tracking procedure that

I sort of invented.

Um So yeah, without further do we can go to

producing the shows that I've been lucky enough to work

on. So the first we have play on a fellow,

which is a modern revamping of Shakespeare's Othello that aims

to expose more of what typically lies underneath the surface

of that text in that story, which is so often

done in the wrong way.

Uh This was a recorded production and we used sound

from a production company called Clean feed online to really

vamp it up and make it feel like you were

in a theater.

She's the king by willpower is our current production that

we're we are just putting up now and it is

a reinterpretation of Richard the third.

Again, that will be live streamed and be able to

be watched through recording for a few days afterwards.

And then our last production is The Winter's Tale, which

is upcoming and I'm helping to cast that and uh

shadow chris as sort of the producer and executive producer

on that.

Uh this is a retelling of Shakespeare's classic, the Winter's

Tale associated with front porch collective and uh it's really

just we want to tell an authentic, this beautiful story

and authentic and representative way.

Um so if you're interested in that, please reach out

to me or get online at actors Shakespeare project dot

com and check it out.

So those are the productions that I've been working on,

I was also in a production of as you like

it and we did a production of taming of the

shrew with an all female and non binary cast teaching

at boston income, er newcomers, boston international newcomers academy, also

known as Bianca.

Um and so it is a boston public school that

embraces new immigrant adolescent english language learners and their families

and I have had the distinct and pleasure blessing um

of co teaching with, this is a lovely woman named

Poornima Kirby and we're in the process of writing and

developing our own new play and examining how theater shows

up in all of our lives through all of our

different backgrounds and experiences.

And that has just been amazing to to and so

inspiring um to here how theater is now being embraced

in these kids lives.

Uh studies have shown, I just wanted to throw this

in there, that an access to theater at a young

age helps to really cultivate a sense of achievement, motivation,

self worth purpose, all of the above.

And I have seen that firsthand, I have been blessed

enough to watch that happen in the room.

Um, and then sadly, to go along with that 2,012

study of arts education in public elementary and secondary schools

found that 55 of high schools and a staggering 96

of elementary schools in the us, we're not offering theater.

So the work that a sp doing is doing with

our outreach programs to schools is rare and I didn't

know is as rare as it was, and it's gradually

been growing over the last few years since 2012, but

we're still in a place of, we need it and

we need it more and we need it abundantly because

I've gotten to see firsthand what it does for these

Children and what it can do and the doors it

can open.

Um and it's amazing, it's, it's, it's just incredible.

So with that, the last thing I'll just touch upon

is our february and april break camps, february camp was

a greek mythology camp that me, myself and a team

of interns ran and it was for 20 Children ages

8 to 12, And we helped them re create their

own versions of these classic miss, we created stories, made

art pieces, and then had a final big presentation for

like 70 people at the end of the week.

Um And it was amazing and then our April camp,

we did a shortened version, that was about 45 minutes

of comedy of errors by Shakespeare and everybody had their

own roll their own lines, and we built costumes and

we made props together and we made sound cues that

the kids got to put into play during the performance

at the end of the week.

Um so to have 28-12 year old kids in one

zoom room and to be able to ignite a passion.

And them all to the point where they'll pay attention

to you and be involved is quite uh baffling to

say the least.

Um And I learned a lot from it.

So yeah, so that is my role at A.

S. P.

And then just quickly before I finish up, I just

wanted to show you a little bit of our finished

works. Just some photos of what of my time here.

So that's me in porn.

Um A about two co teach at the beginning of

the semester.

Um Some more photos, we have the taming of the

Shrew which had an all female and non binary cast.

We had this graphic designer come in in our february

camp for greek mythology who was amazing, inspired this down

below from one of our students which I love so

much and uh yeah and then we have this non

binary page which basically has these articles, books, resources, movies

where people can explore more of the nine non binary

community and L.

G. B.

T. Q.

Plus um uh community.

And then here I just wanted to throw in my

little events tracker so I can tick away and and

really keep track of everything that's going on with the

company at all times.

Uh and then just to conclude, I just wanted to

say thank you for this opportunity and actor Shakespeare project

is a special place.

It's an incredible company and uh all of their honest

work comes from a place of honesty and authenticity.

And if I've learned anything, I took away that authenticity

in your work and authenticity in, in, in your passions

Is contagious and you can get 20 kids in a

zoom room and uh, get them to listen to everywhere.

You say, if you are coming from a place of

love and care, and I'm so grateful for my time

with them and thank you for listening to me.

I know I went about a minute over, but um,

yeah, thank you, Bye now.

VIDEO PRESENTATION FOR ASP INTERNSHIP

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