This is the Seventy-Eighth article in a semi-permanent column for Stroud Arts that appears in the Stroud American. The mission of these articles is to inform, educate and inspire you, the reader, to Make Art Happen in your life and the life of our community.
Over the next few weeks, this column will focus on preparing local volunteers for the 2nd Annual Stroud Arts Medieval Faire. The first step a volunteer must take to create a character that fits into the setting of 1000 A.D. is; learning about the physical environment, customs, politics, economy and folklore being reenacted.
The next CAST MEETING for the SAF will be on Saturday, July 31, from 1pm to 3pm at The Stroud Arts Building, 214 West Main Street.
The Stroud Arts: Arts & Sciences Medieval Faire
The SAF was introduced in 2019 at Foster Park in the City of Stroud. Its debut showcased 9 Games, 8 Street Characters, 4 Activities, 2 Performance Groups and 2 Merchants, with over 100 Guests Attending. With the 2020 event being cancelled due to Covid-19, the 2021 Faire looks forward to increasing our Street Performer Cast and Activities for the public to participate with.
Performance Dates for the 2021 event are: September 4, from 10am to 2pm.
As a cast member of the SAF, you are a representative of Stroud Arts and we ask you to be polite, friendly and gracious in your interactions with your fellow cast members and our guests. Your actions will enhance the experience for everyone… including yourself, so make it a great, fun time for all!
After all, no single performer is more important than any other single performer.
Where do I Perform?
All the Faire is a Stage and you are an actor. You are the character you play, living its life, speaking its language and wearing its clothes. The Faire is a living theatre, with every path, shaded area and platform being utilized as a stage. Every participant is performing all of the time while in the public view and in costume, staying in character and projecting the thoughts, attitudes, concepts, and beliefs of people and characters of the Medieval period. This is our play – “A Medieval Faire”, our stage – “The Kingdom of Urbania”.
The Faire has been designed to create the illusion of as early European Medieval kingdom, with you, the people of the period, living inside the illusion. As participants, we have the opportunity to make the illusion real. Our Audience WILL be listening and watching, enjoying us while we, as Medieval characters, walk, talk, eat, rest, play, work, sleep, care for our children, pull our wagons, save the maiden or lad in distress, conjure up some magic, scold our spouse, mend our clothes, and meet and greet our guests.
The illusion and the experience will be lessened for both participants and the audience when any of us breaks character, forgets to hide our modern-day possessions, use 21st century colloquialism, or acts “out of period”. Maintain the illusion…you will be glad you did.
There is no script. There is no “official stage”. The audience is anyone within visual or audible range. Welcome to Environmental Theatre.
As a performer you will be competing with: the weather, cars driving by, children laughing (we hope), audience members talking, nearby music and dogs barking in the distance. We are not in an Auditorium we are outside and the show revolves around us!
To be successful in reaching our audience, we must combine the skills of a Commedia dell’arte performer, a Vaudevillian actor and a modern stage actor.
If you would like to be involved then follow Stroud Arts on Facebook and look for more information in next week’s column!
Make Art Happen!