Weitz Fellows Voices: Will at The Rose

This is a guest blog written by one of our Weitz Fellows, Will Hassell. This blog is estimated to take 3 minutes to read.

Hey everybody! My name is Will Hassell (he/him) and I’m the current (and first!) Weitz Fellow at The Rose Theater, a non-profit children’s theater in downtown Omaha! Now, I was not a theater major during my time at Carleton College, I was an English Major who minored in Education Studies and Creative Writing, and never acted in a Carleton theater production. So why did I find the opportunity to work at The Rose so exciting? It all comes down to the words displayed prominently on the home page of their website: Find yourself at The Rose. I might not have been an actor (yet! Spoilers), but as a writer, I knew how important it was to help children find ways to express themselves in the arts. I saw those words and I was hooked.

I was thankful to have the opportunity to co-teach our Young Playwrights class for the entirety of the year. I got to work with some fantastic teachers and a wonderful cohort of about thirteen teenagers from the beginnings of the class going over the basic concepts form and genre, all the way to the production of their pieces at our Young Playwrights Festival in the spring! As someone who found his passion for writing in his early teenage years, it was fulfilling to be able to give back to the next generation and helping these students find –or refine– their voices through writing.

But I wasn’t just working with teens all year long, I was working with elementary schoolers who came to The Rose for full day field trips, where schools would come to the Rose to learn about theater. We would teach them a story from a different country, then help them act it out for the other classes and their teachers at the end of the day. We taught them acting tools, world cultures, how a theater works, and most importantly to be kind and to be brave. There is nothing better than hearing a child leave your classroom saying “This was the best day of school ever!” I heard these kids, some of whom came in reasonably nervous and uncertain, start to find themselves through theater.

I was also an assistant director for our Christmas musical, Mo Willems’ The Pigeon Gets a Big Time Holiday Extravaganza. The show included a cast of 22 young people, all playing squirrels. They were two of the craziest months of my life, but this experience, as well as the two listed above, helped me find myself as a director and educator, and work with some fantastic mentors along the way.

I found myself creatively as well. I was cast as Banquo in The Rose’s production of Shakespere’s Macbeth, which toured local high schools in the spring. The intention of this tour is to make Shakespeare more accessible to high schoolers, and hearing the audience truly roar with excitement during the final fight between Macbeth and Macduff was, again, one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life. I was terrified when rehearsal started, but with my castmate’s support and our director’s teaching, I was able to be a part of something I’m truly proud of.

I could go on forever. I sadly won’t be returning to The Rose, as I am taking the next year to be with family and apply for graduate school, with the intention of becoming an English Professor. However the lessons, experiences, and friends I gained here will stick with me for a long time. I am thankful for the opportunities I have been given at my time at The Rose, and I bittersweetly look forward to my final two months as a fellow.