Dakota Rosell Wins Prestigious Fellowship at Folger Shakespeare Theater

WHS Lions Pride Original Story:

by Miranda Secula

A senior, Dakota Rosell has been accepted to do a fellowship with the Folgers to further his studies in Shakespearean acting.

When asked how he found this incredible opportunity, he responded “after  the show we did which was Julius Ceasar, at their primary school festival, I looked on their website for other opportunities to go to Folgers for other things. And I found the fellowship which was for juniors and seniors so I signed up as a junior to go as a senior. It hasn’t started yet. It starts on Monday but it should be fun.”

After asking how Shakespearean acting is different from average high school acting he said, “It’s completely different. Shakespeare is really a lot more physical, especially when it comes to comedies. So when we did ‘Julius Ceasar,’ it was a really big step forward for people in our school because they’re not familiar with acting dramatically when it comes to Shakespeare…It’s just understanding what you’re reading really.”

At the fellowship, Rosell said “We’ll be studying many famous pieces from Shakespeare. So far, it’s going to be lectures and analysis based on that. Also, we will be seeing performances and critiquing them. We’re also going to sum it up with a presentation and final piece number.”

The English teacher who started to pique high school students interest in Shakespeare, Diana Sung, said “I think it’s fantastic. Only sixteen students from the entire Washington region are accepted into the fellowship every year so it can be pretty competitive. I know that Dakota first became interested in it last year when we went to the Folger Library Secondary Shakespeare festival. When he was there he actually received one of the biggest awards at the festival for his participation and for his excellence in acting. And so that got the attention of the people at the Folger’s Library and I think that combined with his excellent application allowed him to get in.”

Sung plans to inspire others to go forward in Shakespearean acting. “Well, we’re very excited this year because some of the people who were doing the Shakespeare performance last year have decided they’re going to do a Shakespeare club and so we’re going to offer it as a club as well as the production.”

She also said, “We’re also getting to do the Shakespeare play this year as a full in stage production; we’re doing three performances. We plan to go to the Folger’s Library again this year and I think that just what happened last year, so many students saw the production and thought it was good and so I think we have a lot of interest and excitement this year.”

Sung, when asked what inspired her to teach Shakespeare to high school students said,

“I’ve loved Shakespeare since I was a kid. For my sixteenth birthday I didn’t ask for a car, I asked for The Complete Works of Shakespeare, and I got it. So I’ve always been kind of a Shakespeare nerd.”