[singlepic id=12 w=320 h=240 float=left]The Ohio Renaissance Festival is happening now, and some Sinclair Community College students are excited it’s here. There are students involved in entertainment, food and crafts at the festival.
A few students have joined the street cast of performers who roam the festival and interact with patrons. Fine performing arts student Michael Conley plays William Shakespeare in the Pirate Comedy Stunt Show. He says he enjoys working at the festival and in the stunt show.
“Oh yeah it’s fun, but it is dangerous. We fight with real swords and we do our own stunts. We take our bumps and bruises. It’s work, but it all pays off in the end,” Conley said.
Street cast performers rehearse for eight weeks and perform for eight weeks, according to Conley. Training includes dialect, language and history of the Elizabethan period, he said.
“The renaissance festival is unlike any theatre that you could ever hope to do. I would recommend that everyone try it once,” Conley said.
Samantha Percy has been working in the street cast for two years. She plays Smooth Morgan Blair, the town criminal, and she is involved with the human chess match and festival dances. She also performs in the stunt show where she climbs a cargo net and dangles upside-down by her legs. Percy believes the improv games during rehearsals help build relationships among cast members.
“We just get to know each other as a cast because it’s easier to come out here and play with each other when you know each other,” she said.
[singlepic id=11 w=320 h=240 float=left]Some students get involved by working at the festival. Online student Pat Stanley works as a food service manager. She and her husband used to work at the festival together before he passed away in January.
Business and biology student Jennifer Howard will be selling braided leather crafts of her own creation including belts, chokers, wristbands and more. She said she was trying to think of what she could do to work at the festival when she remembered she could braid things.
“It’s my random talent,” she said.
Adam Aaronson doesn’t work at the festival, but he said he enjoys the atmosphere and hanging out with his friends. He goes when he can, though he hasn’t been able to for two years.
“In my mind, it’s a hobby,” Aaronson said.
Both Conley and Percy say that people who have never been to the festival should be open-minded and try to enjoy what is happening around them.
“I thought I was a very open person before I came to the renaissance festival and tried out,” Percy said. “I come to find out that I was not as open as I thought I was. It’s a completely different experience.”
News Editor Samuel Huist contributed to this article.
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