Shakespeare & Susie - A History

Greetings fellow Shakespearean explorers,
I'm Susie Gulbranson and I will be sharing with you my experiences with The Hamlet Project 2011 at the Des Moines Social Club.
As I see it, this blog is one: an opportunity for me to organize my thoughts on the project and two: an opportunity to interact with others taking a similar journey through the incredible Labyrinth that is Hamlet. So, I hope you'll forgive me for what may be sometimes scattered thoughts and at others, pinpoint focused theories I've been working on for years.
For the first couple of posts, I'd like to introduce myself and tell you a bit about my own love affair with Shakespeare, and it has been a love affair with all of the ups and downs, fights and making up, exposures, vulnerabilities, triumphs and even, dare I say, sensual moments.
Shakespeare, for me began as an assault. In junior high it was Romeo & Juliet, which I still can't stomach to this day. Self-concious tweens stumbling over the language trying to make sense of the Montagues and Capulets followed by a viewing of the film (except the teacher fast forwarded through the best part...) In high school it was Macbeth. The play AND the audio dramatization (yes audio...) Any teacher that can make Macbeth boring seriously needs to rethink her methods. I thought Shakespeare was a punishment. Then came Alan, my next door neighbor and my parents best friend and owner/editor of the local newspaper. When he heard I was hating my Dramatic Lit class, Shakespeare especially, he took me under his wing. A couple of friends and I had a standing appointment on Sunday nights for some kind of cultural awakening at Alan's house. We watched all kinds of things. Indy films, Kenneth Branaugh adaptations, marathons of Inside the Actor's Studio (and that was when it was brand new!) I'll never forget watching Lawrence Fishburne's Othello, followed the next week by the opera Otello. Always followed by a long discussion about themes, actors, language, observations. That's when the love affair with Shakespeare began. Sunday nights at Alan Taylor's. College only served to feed the addiction. Acting Shakespeare brought opportunities to play Viola, Lady Macbeth, Paulina and memories of my first stage kiss, first stage crush and channeling a leopard. And college summers the Sunday nights with Alan continued, with the same friends, better discussions and wine, lots of wine. Graduation brought me back to Des Moines, where my restlessness got the best of me and I became frustrated with being here, feeling small and wanting more. One fortuitous encounter with a director at the Des Moines Playhouse introduced me to Shakespeare & Company. So, I applied and was accepted. I quit my job, I packed all of my worldly goods into my blue Chevy Lumina, kissed my parents goodbye and drove myself 1200 miles to Lenox, MA. My adventure had begun. But that's a whole other post.
I'm excited to be part of the project and am looking forward to sharing more. Welcome friends!