ImprovEd Shakespeare’s
JULIUS CAESAR
Fall, 2016

After a summer where we brought Witchcraft in Their Lips to the Texas Nonprofit Theatres Youth Conference, and our first Shake Up Shakespeare camp at Austin Scottish Rite Theater, the school year began again. With the political climate, I (Andee Kinzy) felt it was the perfect time for Julius Caesar. The high enrollment from the spring grew even more, so we were able to divide into two casts, each performing their own version. This cast was a mix of twenty-one 7-13 year old youth. Higher numbers meant we had a slightly higher budget and we were able to bring Caroline Reck of Glass Half Full in for a couple of puppetry workshops. She helped the students devise the ‘tempest dropping fire’ scene with birds of prey, fireballs, masked evil and more. We managed to score a couple of performances at Austin Scottish Rite Theatre again and the historical backdrops were perfect for the setting. To round out this amazing production, one of our mothers is a musician and she helped a couple of players develop eerie background music on the violin, as well as an original song for the closing of the play.