4 more ninjas take the stage in 'A Winter's Tale'

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GONZALES — Late Thursday afternoon, four of Gonzales youngest actors took the Crystal Theatre stage alongside 10 other young actors, following an intensive 11-day program at Camp Shakespeare, a University of Texas summer camp for actors ages 11 to 16.

After 11 days of intensive schedules and Shakespearian training, under the direction of Dr. James Ayres, founder of Shakespeare at Winedale, Ben DeMent, Daniel Garcia, Ruby Hamilton and Avalon Palm mounted the stage and took on their roles seriously, each one giving a plausible and exciting performance in Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale.

A Winter's Tale is the story of a jealous Sicilian king, Leontes, who falsely accuses his pregnant queen of having an affair with a visiting Bohemian king. Leontes orders his queen, Hermione, the visiting king and the royal child killed. The queen dies of grief. The visiting king is spared by Leontes' trusted counselor. Antigunus, another trusted counselor spares the child, who is left on the shores of Bohemia with a chest of riches, where an old shepherd finds her and raises her as his own.

Sixteen years later we are introduced to Perdita, the grown child of King Leontes and the deceased queen Hermione. Having been raised by a shepherd family, she is happy to accept the proposal of a young shepherd, who is actually Florizel, the Prince of Bohemia.

Florizel is denounced for courting a low-born shepherdess and flees to Siciala with Perdita. And the rest of the play is an argument of time and encouragement of faith.

DeMent played the role of the old Shepherd. Garcia played Florizel. Hamilton played several roles, including: Emilia, an attending lady of Hermione; Dion, a lord attending Leontes; a gentleman; and Dorcas, a shepherdess. Palm took on the roles of: a lady to Hermione; a lord; a servant; a gentleman and a mariner.

This latest production was the product of the second – and last – of this year's summer camps. Earlier this summer Gonzales' Miguel Moreno took the stage in Shakespeare's Love's Labour Lost.