Young Doral thespians take on Macbeth

BY RODOLFO ROMAN
SPECIAL TO THE HERALD
For the past two months, instead of socializing with friends at Ronald Reagan High’s cafeteria during lunch,senior Juan Gamero, enjoyed his meal by himself inside the auditorium.
The reason: Juan needed silence to focus reciting lines for the lead role in Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
Born in Argentina, the role of Macbeth was a challenge for Juan - whose first language is Spanish.
“Since English is not our first language that means I had to do a little extra research and had to try harder to learn the language,” said Juan, 17.
His hard work paid off as Juan and 20 of his cast members of Macbeth received a standing ovation from the crowd after performing a 50-minute production of Shakespeare’s play at the high school’s auditorium, 8600 NW 107th Ave., on Nov. 24. The $5 entrance fee will help pay for the production.
To practice, Juan also walked around school carrying his script, reading it constantly in hopes of transforming into character.
“I found it very challenging, but I saw it as a goal I wanted to reach, because once you learn Shakespeare, everything else seems a bit easier,” he said.
Drama teacher Alexandro Madruga researched the play over the summer before presenting the idea to students. He is proud of the cast’s efforts.
“They stepped up to the plate, and they delivered,” he said.
The Tragedy of Macbeth, written in Elizabethan England during the early 1600’s about the killing of a Scottish king, takes place a world away from the world Agatha Cravero is familiar with.
A native of Peru, she moved to the U.S. as a 1-year-old.
“It is kind of difficult to remember certain lines because it is in a different kind of language since it is old English,” said Cravero, who played Lady Macbeth.”You have to seem like you are not Hispanic, and it is difficult since we live in Doral.”
Madruga said learning Shakespeare can be difficult.
“It is written in a language in rhyme and in a way we are not used to speaking,” he said. “We live in a day where we want information immediately. Shakespeare takes his time delivering the message.”
To help his students, Madruga spends 15 minutes in class leading vocal exercises.
“It is a matter of developing your ability to inflict to find out what word to accent,” he said. “I told them to say the word out loud if not I would tell them to look up the word.”
Wednesday’s performance was just the beginning for the cast. The real challenge comes when students perform in front of judges at the One Final Act district competition taking place at Hialeah High School on Friday. Schools that are successful at districts go on to compete at the state level.
More than 500 students, family members and Doral government officials packed the auditorium last week.
Edna Viteri came out to support her daughter, Ana Maria Gomez, and the rest of the cast.
“I see them [act] so fluently. It is so great,” she said.
Students had to learn stage techniques such as sword fighting.
In one scene, Juan as Macbeth battled Kristofer Mueller’s Macduff..
“It is inspiring to see someone giving it their all to learn something that they don’t know too much about,” said Kristofer.
As for Agatha, playing Lady Macbeth made her nearly forget who she was.
“It was like, I am Lady Macbeth.”