The `Speare Bearer: One-Man Street Shakespeare

9 Sep

The `Speare Bearer: One-Man Shakespeare in Detroit, Michigan’s infamous “8 Mile” section, 08/30

Of course the decidedly “rough” neighborhood made infamous by Eminem, Detroit’s 8 Mile neighborhood, is the area of town I was deterred from bringing my One-Man Shakespeare act to. And of course seven months on the road has made me a little more reckless, and a little more determined and committed to bringing what I do to areas my other peers in the arts are neglecting because these aren’t the people who can “appreciate” what we do.

I beg to differ.

Maybe a did have to fight a bit with some of the audiences here (most of them pictured above), but these audiences, including the more hardened group of black folk, mostly men, my age and much older hanging in a park parking lot who refused to let me take their picture with no explanation after I did my Hamlet scene for them, were as attentive, and as appreciative as any other audiences I had. One of those harder gentlemen told me he “liked-ed: what I did and admitted no one, not at school, not in his family, had ever shown him what I just had, but he was very interested.

I’m not here to make the case that I changed any lives, AT ALL, or even that Shakespeare changed any of these people’s lives, but as artists we COMPLETELY bypassing the common folk, the everyday Americans who make up most of our population, who are anything but common and average upon any sort of close investigation, and deciding for them that they don’t want our theater, our fine art.

I would challange, if the people MOST mired in the “human condition” aren’t finding anything to relate to in YOUR work, is it they who are lacking, or you who are for want of more compassion, humanity, creativity, and most importantly COURAGE, to let them decide for themselves if your art is for them?

That said, I did have a near altercation with a fellow twice my size, who didn’t take kindly to my approaching his group of young fellas playing basketball, loudly informing the group of young men who had arrived earlier that they had “fucked up” because they decided to blow off my performance to play ball. He hit me with two very stern declarations of “We hoopin’ brah,” and proceeded to broadcast his opinion of my outfit and my attire as I rode off.

Detroit is wild.

9 Feb

4 notes

It’s hard to find two things at Florida State University: Good manners and a seat.

Kidding, people were really nice to me there… except for that guy.

As most of you know, at the end of this month I’m beginning my One-Man Street Shakespeare on a Bike tour! Below is the list of cities I will be stopping through along my tour around the USA.

One-Man Street Shakespeare Tour Destinations!

If you or someone you know well lives within 50 miles of any of those locations, and wouldn’t mind hosting this weary Shakespeare gypsy for a night, or if anyone has requests for `Speare Bearer appearances, please contact me. A night getting a hot shower and sleeping in a warm bed as I’m doing this tour will make all the difference in the world. I don’t need much, I’m a pretty low-maintenance guest, and I’ll likely never be in an area for more than one night. Besides, one of the main goals of this trip is to spend time with old friends, and make new ones. So please, check out the list of cites, and let me know if you would like to host me, or have any suggestions as to places I might look into. I’m making a database of possible contacts across the country now. And to let you all know, my tentative launch date from Tampa FL is:

Sunday, January 29th, 2012.

Also, I’ve raised enough funds via my Kickstarter fundraiser to get my trip started, but I’m still lacking some important resources and supplies I’ll need to complete the tour successfully and safely. If you didn’t get the chance to donate before, or you’d generously like to donate again, below is the link with instructions on how to donate to my tour via my Amazon account:

How to donate!

Any donation, whether it be $1, $10, or $100 is deeply appreciated. Please, please, please, spread the word via your Facebooks/Twitters/facetimes, and keep checking the blog for updates. I’ve got some video from my last two shows in Savannah, GA, and Port Charlotte, FL forthcoming. Thanks so much, and I look forward to hearing from you all.

Charlotte Sun Herald: FREE One-Man Street Shakespeare comes to Port Charlotte High Friday, January 20th, 3pm!

Check out the Sun Herald article for my `Speare Bearer show tomorrow at Port Charlotte High.

PCHS auditorium, 18200 Cochran Boulevard Port Charlotte, FL 33948

FREE! And open to the public.

So there’s LOTS of news that I’m hurrying to get out before I go sleep in a tent in my moms backyard, (preparation for my tour). I’m still here in South West in Florida for a another 2 weeks or so before I take off on the One Man Street Shakespeare bike tour. I’ve been here spending some time with my family… I’ve really not spent much time at home at all in the last 4 1/2 yrs I was living at home, so I’ve been doing some much needed catching up with friends and family… also doing a lot of prep work for the tour… actually purchasing a bike, a 2012 Surly Long Haul Trucker I’ve named Grace Monger, (a peddler of Grace), been doing some riding, been doing a good amount of rehearsing, really starting to stretch out and loosen up into my repertiore… it feels nice, but there’s a lot more work to do.. and I’ve booked two preview shows for myself, one in Savannah GA, where I went to college (at SCAD), Here’s a newspaper article about that (!!!!), and one here in Port Charlotte. Hopefully there’s another forthcoming article about that one.

It’s getting late, and that’s the major news so I’ll just end by encouraging everyone to please donate to my tour. I’m DEEPLY indebted and so grateful to everyone who donated to my Kickstarter, and if you didn’t get a chance to and want to contribute, or if you are just divinely generous and just want to donate more, just go to thespearebearer.tumblr.com/donate and there’s simple instructions there about how to give via amazon.com. That’s all for now. Love you all. Good night.

Alright, so I’ve finally worked it out. I have TWO Tumblr blogs. One, Romantic But Fugitive, is just for me to post whatever crazy, warped stuff I want, and then there is my theSpeareBearer.tumblr.com blog, which is exclusively about my project and my trip. I’ll be posting all my updates and news, ruminations and writing, pictures, videos and thoughts about my One-Man street Shakespeare bike tour Across the USA project there. on either blog, you will find a link to the other. one the `Speare Bearer blog, near the home link you’ll find a link to all the locations I’m heading toward and my expected date of arrival, so if you live in that city or town you can come out and see me perform, or alert your friends and/or family if they happen to live in that area. Near the home link I will also soon post information about how people can continue to donate to my project and support what I’m doing if they so desire.

I’m about 3 weeks away from taking off. I’m rehearsing several times a week… I’ve gotten my awesome helmet and I’m picking up my bike today. Things are going well, and I am incredibly excited. More to come soon. Please continue to check out my blogs to see what’s going on, and please hit me up and let me know what’s going on with you.

You may also follow me on twitter and catch alll my blog posts there: @RJPEsquire

-The `Speare Bearer