CHIMACUM — At first, Timon the Athenian has plenty of money. He’s free with it, lends it to friends, hosts gatherings and gives fancy gifts.
But one day the tide turns, as it often does in literature. Timon realizes he’s deep in debt. And none of those “friends” respond when he asks for help. Shocked and hurt, he goes off to live in the woods.
So begins “Timon of Athens,” Shakespeare’s satire on wealth and popularity, now made into a movie by a band of local students.
The Olympic Peninsula Home Connection (OPHC), a support program for home-schooling families, will present the motion picture this week at Finnriver Farm & Cidery, 124 Center Road. Showtimes are 7 p.m. Wednesday, 4 p.m. Thursday and 7 p.m. Thursday, and admission is free with donations accepted.
Since Finnriver’s hay barn has just 80 seats, advance tickets are recommended via www. eventbrite.com; search for “Timon.” Any remaining tickets will be available at the door. For more information about OPHC, contact Karen Brennan at 360-774-0242 or kbrennan@csd313.org.
“I was looking for something that isn’t done so often,” said Consuelo Aduviso Brennan, the professional theater artist who directed the movie. “When I read ‘Timon,’ it seemed really applicable to middle school and high school kids. There’s a preoccupation with popularity,” plus those questions about whether one’s buddies are true friends or not.
The feature film illustrates how these students — fourth- through eighth-graders — are good at taking on a whole new thing, Brennan added.
OPHC, which is based at the Crescent School District in Clallam County, provides theater and other arts programming for students across the North Olympic Peninsula. That has included performing a Shakespeare play, seven years in a row — until 2020, when it was canceled.
OPHC’s staff and parents didn’t want homeschooled youngsters to miss out again this year. So Carla Powell, the mother of a student, suggested filming the actors outdoors, with COVID safety protocols.
It worked, Brennan said, thanks to the nimble minds of the students and the patience of the film editors.
“One thing that we are able to do with the movie that we never dreamed about with a play is incorporate some epic drone footage,” Powell said.
“Students had to act while ignoring the buzzy bee-like device circling around them,” and add voice work later in the studio, she said, but they managed.
“We set out to film a roughly 90-minute movie with original music in less than two months, and somehow we did it with two older video cameras, an iPhone 6, and a whole lot of work in Final Cut Pro,” Powell said.
Port Townsend eighth-grader Peter Sanok plays the title role while his peers are students from Sequim, Port Hadlock, Nordland, Quilcene and Chimacum: Kai Campbell, Auden Darrock, Cricket and Sierra Douglas, Fern French, Ruby Groussman, Gretel Maberry, Hayden Montgomery, Anna Munn, Tenzin O’Neill, Brianna Palenik, Miranda Ramsey, Aeden Sisson and Tristan Stewart.
OPHC alumnus Rowan Powell created the music for the movie while the production team, a mix of parents and paid staff, included Carla Powell, Maggie Kelley, Cathy Adler and Jamey Campbell.
Finnriver Farm is ideal as a COVID-conscious venue, Kelley said. The hay barn is covered and has open sides for good air circulation. A number of the movie’s scenes were filmed in the orchard just 100 feet away, she added.
Shakespeare’s tale may be 400-plus years old, Brennan noted, but the young actors bring it to life. They also adapted to the necessary COVID restrictions, sometimes filming without their scene partners present.
“They rehearsed diligently,” Brennan said, “and performed beautifully.”
________
Jefferson County senior reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladailynews.com.
“Timon of Athens,” Shakespeare’s play about popularity, has been turned into a movie starring, from left, Brianna Palenik of Sequim and Hayden Montgomery and Gretel Maberry of Port Hadlock. (Photo by Maggie Kelley)
