From last year’s "Twelfth Night": from left, Matthew Richman as Sir Toby Belch, Rachel-Mikel ArceJaeger as Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and Olivia Beckwith as Fabian ("Tweflth Night" photos by Kevin Mapp, Harvey Mudd College)
By Miriam Chernick
It’s no surprise that Matt Richman, a joint computer-science and math major at Harvey Mudd College, is enrolled in courses such as “Graph Theory” and “Real Analysis.” But a course that performs Shakespeare?
Yes. Richman is busy learning his lines for the role of Nick Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream which he and 21 classmates will perform as part of “Literature 110: Shakespeare,” taught by Jeff Groves.
For more than 20 years, Groves’s consistently oversubscribed course has become something of an institution at HMC, one of the five Claremont Colleges in Southern California, because of the course’s focus on performing Shakespeare. Through performance, Groves says, “the students learn to understand the language more deeply. It’s a way of rendering a literary text in terms of its original material conditions and practices.”
Though Harvey Mudd offers majors in only engineering, science, and mathematics, students are required to take one third of their courses in the humanities, social sciences, or the arts so that, as the school’s Web site puts it, they “can have the occasional conversation with a civilian.” Consistent with that goal, Groves strives to “contribute to the breadth of the students’ education by challenging them to create something out of Shakespeare’s texts, to be memorable.”
The class was certainly memorable for Grant Shreve, (HMC 06) who, of his role as Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night, says: “I played a self-indulgent fool who fancied himself a witty and adept knight during a time when I myself was a self-indulgent fool suffering under similar delusions. My memories of that time are inextricably bound to the role I was cast in.”
From last year’s "Twelfth Night": Michelle Hansen as Olivia (left), and Sonja Bohr as Viola/Cesario
Married alums, Kurt (02) and Kendra (03) Dresner also have lasting impressions of Groves’s class. From trekking to Home Depot and trying to fit extra-long PVC pipes for sets into a small car, to keeping a straight face during repeated flubbed lines at rehearsals, Kurt Dresner welcomed the opportunity “to get away from the many strictly left-brained courses that made up the bulk of my HMC education.” Kendra Dresner says the class was one of the highlights of her experience at Mudd.
As for Richman, this spring marks the second time he’s taking the class. He says it “helps bring out your artistic side, exposing you to a different approach. It makes you think about how things fit together.” Sophomore Olivia Beckwith agrees. “Getting to experience what I’m learning about makes me understand it better. It’s fun to have a class that’s ‘hands on,’ where I’m not just sitting and listening to lectures.”
But if the class is fun, it’s not easy. While some students are comfortable performing, others suffer from stage fright. “Seeing nervous students later become comfortable on stage is what makes all the effort worthwhile,” Groves says. And the time commitment is a huge challenge. “Besides the Friday classes,” Richman says, “the students direct, rehearse scenes, and make sets and costumes, which can take up to 15 hours a week.”
Nonetheless, it was worth the time, Shreve says, because, “Professor Groves has a humility about him that allows the course and the performance to take on the life and character the students give it.” Kurt Dresner says Groves’s “passion for the material rubs off on even the most reserved and skeptical students. He’s a damn good teacher.”
Jeffrey Groves (photo by Kevin Mapp from Groves's HMC Web page)
But why would Groves, trained in literature and pursuing scholarly work in the history of the book, opt to teach at a science and math-oriented school? “First,” he says, “the students bring intellectual firepower to their classes. You can push them hard and they’ll respond. That’s pretty special. Second, working at an interdisciplinary institution, I can develop myself as a teacher and scholar. The intellectual vitality here challenges me to keep reinventing myself.”
Early on, Groves noticed that the Thomas-Garrett building where he teaches, with its open courtyard, second-story walkway, and stage-framing pair of olive trees, resembles an Elizabethan amphitheater. “By performing in this space,” Groves explains, “we replicate Shakespeare’s original playing conditions, so students can understand why he is constantly giving his audience cues about time of day, lighting, and the weather.”
“After performing there, I never looked at the courtyard of Thomas-Garrett Hall quite the same way,” Dresner says. And Richman likes the trees because “they’re fun. Every year, some part of blocking involves climbing up into those trees.”
This spring, performances are scheduled for April 29 and 30 for students, families, faculty, and alumni participating in HMC’s annual alumni weekend. A regular attendee, Peter Saeta, a professor of physics, says sometimes he sees a student who in physics class is quiet, but is “an absolute cut-up in one of the comedic roles. It is great fun to see another facet of their personality.”
Beginning this summer, Thomas-Garrett Hall will be torn down. According to Groves, the new building is being designed with a courtyard for future performances. That will be a relief to students waiting to enroll in the class. After all, Dresner says, this is one of the few opportunities to “really ‘show off’ in front of everyone.”
“I really enjoy comic acting,” Richman says, “and this is a pretty good moment.”
His character Nick Bottom speaks to the fun, scary adventure of bringing the Globe to a courtyard in Claremont.
I see their knavery: this is to make an ass of me;
to fright me, if they could. But I will not stir
from this place, do what they can: I will walk up
and down here, and I will sing, that they shall hear
I am not afraid.
Miriam Chernick is a journalist and author in Bethesda, Maryland.
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