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Schools

Meet Teacher Bryant Hoex On and Off the Stage

Bryant Hoex leads the drama programs at Dublin High and Wells Middle School and recently landed a lead role in Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing.'

Dublin Patch recently met with Bryant Hoex, drama director at Dublin High School and Wells Middle School, during a weekend work call for Dublin High's upcoming production of "Hide and Shriek" (opening Oct 28 for a four-performance run that closes with a Halloween matinee).

Hoex has performed with Livermore-based Shakespeare's Associates and recently landed a lead role in the Las Positas College production of "Much Ado About Nothing." Before joining Dublin High, he was drama director at Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton.

The Dublin High School Drama Club stages three productions annually.  Over the summer, club members took a three-day road trip to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Ore.  

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Patch: Before we talk about your role as drama director in Dublin schools, tell me about the lead role you just landed.

Hoex: I'm performing Benedick in Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" at Las Positas College.  It's funny because I tell my students to always do their best for every role they try out for, and for everyone you ever act for, because theater is a small world and it just so happens that Lisa Tromovitch who directed me at Livermore Shakespeare recommended me to Ken Ross, the Las Positas director, and said he should really take a look at me for this role. I went out, auditioned and landed the role of Benedick. I also need to mention that it's exciting that Mac Meyer, who graduated from Dublin High two years ago (Class of 2009), is in the show with me playing the role of Borachio.

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What's fun for me is I just directed "Much Ado About Nothing" at Dublin High last year, so the play is very fresh in my mind.  Several cast members have commented (or made fun of me) for the fact that I already have the play memorized because I know it so well from the Dublin High production.

As an actor it's a great challenge to prepare for a role like this because although it's a very funny role I want to strike a balance between not falling into just doing the slapstick comedy but to make Benedick into a real person, the real emotions he feels, the mistrust he feels towards falling in love with anybody, and the absolute surprise and joy of believing that Beatrice loves him, and how he transforms himself to be a better man and someone who is worthy of being a husband.

Patch: How does the Kenneth Branagh portrayal of Benedick in the 1993 film version of "Much Ado About Nothing" make your job harder (or easier)?

Hoex: That's a great question.  A big deal whenever I direct a play is to tell the actors not to watch the movie.  For me - fortunately and unfortunately - I've watched that movie so many times that Kenneth Branagh is burned in my brain and so I am consciously trying to forget what I already know about him and trying to make different choices than he did.  And actually he cheats it sometimes: When he thinks Beatrice loves him, he says, 'Love me, why?' when 'why' isn't the end of the sentence, it's something Branagh did as a joke and I've heard that in some productions people steal his delivery of that line. But that's not the way Shakespeare intended the line.  And although I admire his funny reading of the line, I'm going in a different direction with the text.

So, yes, I'm making a conscious effort at times not to follow him. But the good news is, because that movie's out there I think a lot of people who come to the show will already have familiarity with the play, already know the plot, so they can enjoy some of the nuances.  I grateful that the movie's out there.

Patch: How are you balancing preparing for your role of Benedick with directing the Dublin High Fall Production of "Hide and Shriek"?

Hoex: It's definitely trying and that's why my weekends have been very important to me - trying to do as much lesson planning as I can at the school over the weekend, because during the week I'm pretty much getting out of Dublin High rehearsals around 5:30 p.m., getting home just in time to feed my dog, grab a bite to eat and then run off to Las Positas for rehearsals of "Much Ado."

I will say, as a plug for our kids at Dublin High, that I have some really responsible kids here, students like Sarah Finn who is a great stage manager and students who are responsible enough that they understand my time constraints, so that they're not wasting time. They understand that once I show up we need to get started right away.  Sarah usually already has roll call taken and the students gathered, and the stage set and everyone ready to go.  Nate's taken charge of the set, Sonya is taking care of the costumes; it just wouldn't be possible if I didn't have such a great crew of students here to help me out. We work hard up until 5:30 p.m., then I'm out the door at the same time as the kids.

Patch: How does being an actor in a production complement your role as teacher and director at Dublin High?

Even though it's exhausting, being in a show is good for me as an artist and as a teacher. For someone like me, it's so exciting and I feel like I can pass that on to the students: going to rehearsal for "Much Ado" and learning a different director's style and seeing what things he's saying that I'm also saying.  There are some things Ken tells the cast of college actors in "Much Ado" that I'm telling my high school actors and that's validating for me.  On the other hand, he'll use techniques in rehearsal that I haven't tried before, and I can turn right around and try those techniques at Dublin High and see how they go over with my students.  It's broadening my experience and my students' experience at the same time.

My students right now get a tired but happy director sharing new ideas rather than just teaching the same things I've been teaching for 10 - 15 years.

'Hide and Shriek' opens Oct. 28 at Dublin High School and "Much Ado About Nothing" opens Nov. 12 at Las Positas College.

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