Students arrive at Wharton Center at 12:30 p.m. and stay until 6 p.m. They are taught the basics of reading and acting out Shakespeare. The week will culminate with a shortened version of “The Comedy of Errors” at 7 p.m. Friday at Pasant Theatre at Wharton.

At the end of last school year, VanWormer was approached by one of her teachers who encouraged her to fill out the festival application. She had to answer questions regarding her acting goals and experience and she also had to write an essay about why she thought this experience would be beneficial to her.

Daranyi said this is the second year the festival held the program at MSU.

“There was a huge amount of interest (last year),” he said. “Hopefully what it becomes is that it’s something students around in this area will look forward to.”

The Stratford Shakespeare Festival hosts 12 to 16 plays each season and consists of about 140 actors, Daranyi said.

David Leyshon, an actor who has been with the festival for one season, never had the opportunity to experience an event like the Immersion Project. He said the experience is much more hands-on than most high school classes.

“I think that it’s not often that in a high school environment you get to work directly with people who deal with language and plays and stage combat and all the things professional actors deal with on a daily basis,” he said. “To be exposed to that is exciting and if you already have a curiosity or if you’ve already been kind of suckered in by the theater it’s an even greater immersion into this world.”

MSU students will have the opportunity to work with the festival next week when the company visits some MSU theater classes.
The high school students will learn to give life to classical literature, and bring it into modern day context and their “actor’s toolkit” will be built upon, Daranyi said.

Mason High School senior Michael Hyatt said he hopes to major in acting as well as filming and directing. He said he will look back on this week as a possible stepping stone toward a career.

“I can say I’ve been involved in this program, so hopefully that will look more appealing to colleges and it’s just one step to getting to better and better programs and different activities to help progress me as an actor,” Hyatt.