Bouncin’ the Bard The Pitts-Wileys make Shakespeare hip BY JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ

When actor/director/playwright and teacher Ricardo Pitts-Wiley set out to introduce local high school students to Shakespeare, he wanted them to not only read the plays but to prepare a performance based on their readings. He pondered the best way to link Elizabethan themes and language to the contemporary life of American teenagers. He decided to consult his own teenager, Jonathan, because of his younger son’s experience in theater and in Shakespearean productions in particular and because of Jonathan’s knowledge and love of hip-hop.

The result is a show titled From the Bard to the Bounce: A Hip-Hop and Shakespeare Experience, which 16 students from the Met School will present at the Providence campus of the University of Rhode Island on December 3 and 4. The show is a blend of scenes from six of Shakespeare’s plays — Romeo and Juliet, Henry V, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Hamlet, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream — with the rhyme and rhythm of hip-hop songs written by Jonathan T.M. Pitts-Wiley.

"I put the challenge forth to Jonathan to find a way to create hip-hop music to carry the story along," Ricardo noted, "and he approached it with such a good sense of hip-hop music and hip-hop energy, plus his learning and knowledge of the theater and these plays. You’d have to know the whole play to know how skillfully he referenced things."

For his part, Jonathan explained, "The hardest part was trying to make the work seamless — knowing what to drop and what to keep. Sometimes you know what’s definitely necessary, but making it work together is tricky. You just don’t want to fragment it or get into a staid structure. That’s not interesting to write nor is it interesting to watch."

So what compelled a 19-year-old history major at Yale (and a graduate of Portsmouth Abbey) to take a year off from his studies to work on a theatrical project with his dad? Part of it was to sort out what he wants to do in life and what he doesn’t want to do. Part of it was a desire to do something outside the academic world (he also worked security at Lupo’s this past year). And part of it was to show students just how accessible Shakespeare can be.

"Language is power, and for many demographics in this country people will use language against you, to manipulate and disenfranchise you," Jonathan fervently observed. "People need to arm themselves with language. So I’m trying to say to students, ‘Shakespeare is not hard. It’s not too difficult for you. No, it’s not for everyone, but let me show you and show respect for it by doing the work as it is.’ "

Two of the students in the show, junior CJ Goodridge and sophomore Alex Romero, who play the characters of Macbeth and Henry V, respectively, have appreciated both Jonathan’s songs and Ricardo’s direction. Romero finds that "the songs are pretty cool," and he values the training he’s getting as an actor. Goodridge feels comfortable asking Ricardo questions about any words he doesn’t understand, and his performance of Jonathan’s songs has spurred him on to teach himself piano. Both students mentioned that working on the Shakespeare plays has given them more confidence about their overall abilities. And that’s an important objective for the Pitts-Wileys.

"Once you empower the kids, it’s something they can do," affirmed Jonathan. "Their grasp of the work was much better than students I know who have immersed themselves in Shakespeare. I can say this, because I’ve been in both worlds, and I’ve seen it. I want to say to some of my college friends: ‘These kids in the hood are way more intelligent than you. I know kids right now that would knock your socks off.’ Most of all, I want students of all backgrounds to know that they are as entitled to this work as anyone."

The older Pitts-Wiley had written some songs for the 2003 version of Bard to the Bounce, but he felt that he really wanted "one young person talking to other young people, in a way that I couldn’t do." When he saw Jonathan’s lyrics, he was stunned by their pithy insight and their innate understanding of the Shakespearean characters. He quoted the opening lines of the "Soldiers’ Anthem" from Henry V: "I got a story that’s all true/Days when war ruled/Half o’ Europe got down/ but that ain’t nothin new," and a hip-hop description of Macbeth: "Rules I bend, make my ends/Killed my best one so I got no friends/It’s true I’m lookin’ rough cuz I get no sleep/I see Banquo’s ghost every time that I eat."

"Jonathan has the ability to do something that very few people have been able to do very well," notes his father. "To use the language of the vernacular, to not insult the intelligence of your listeners, and to just tell your story."

Jonathan’s admiration for his father also runs deep, as he points out that every one of the students from last year’s Bard to the Bounce project at Pawtucket’s Shea High School has gone on to college. And his respect for the project Ricardo had created prompted him to postpone his own college work.

"When I first saw this, I wanted to help my dad out," he recalled. "He’s a great balladeer, but he didn’t know the hip-hop. When you see it and commit to the work, it’s very serious stuff. I take it very, very seriously."

And in January, he heads back to Yale.