Colorado River Indian Tribes Education Department and Parker Unified School District
August 18, 2006

Parker Native Students Get Shakespeare Opportunity

The Arizona Theatre Company (ATC), with the Education Department of the Colorado River Indian Tribes and the Parker Unified School District, have partnered to offer Shakespeare to our Native Americans students. Through a National Endowment for the Arts Grant, ATC will bring its actors here to do a series of workshops on The Twelfth Night. Included will be acting lessons from selected scenes along with discussion of the use of soliloquy—when a character makes a speech as if thinking out loud. Then, in October, the students will board buses for a trip to Phoenix to see a production of the play at the Herberger Theatre. ATC members will subsequently return to Parker and do a follow-up workshop.

This will provide a unique opportunity for those interested in theatre. Ms. Merie Candelario, the new drama teacher at the high school, will be including her 23 students involved in the staging of another Shakespeare production, The Taming of the Shrew. That leaves 67 slots open, as we have been given 90 student seats and 10 for chaperones. Though the grant emphasizes Native American participation, all interested students of Jr. High or high school age are encouraged to contact the sponsors of the project, as availability allows. Contact Ms. Candelario or Dr. Cravath for further information.