The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

ll -WA1'Htuoo CHRONICLE -Wedneaday, August ii. 2013 Hitting the big stage ' O C O 0 Waterloo boy makes hlS Stratford Festival debut in The Merchant of Venice BYBOBVRBANAC world-famous Stratford Festival where he's Chronicle Staff landed a role in their production of one of ‘ William Shakespeare's seminal works Catching the acting bug came early for “My instructor told me I should audition Waterloo's Gabe Long. for the Stratford Festival," said long. “I audi» He remembers watching his older siblings tioned for the role of Tommy but they told perform on stage with a local theatre com4 me l was too tall. pany when he decided he wanted to do the "I think they were trying to keep from same thing. hurting my feelings" . That interest in the theatre has earned But the audition included acting out a him a role in the Stratford Festival producâ€" scene where he stole the scarfofa character tion of The Merchant of Venice which named Shylock. That's the same Shylock opened last week. character that features prominently in The "1 saw them performing a lot and i want Merchant ofVenicei ed to do it too," said long, who was just a The audition earned him a callback for a preschooler when he got inspired by his sib- role as one ofthe youth who engage Shylock lings Rachel and lordan. “I also saw them in the opening scenes of one of Shake» performing in the “Wizard of 02 at St. Luke's speare's most controversial dramas. It sets school and said i want to do ‘ _ . the tone for a play that that. ‘[just liked the explores islslues of anti~Semi~ “I just liked the idea of - - tism and t e true value and pretending to be different Idea gfzretendlng measure of what it means to ’ , . ‘ people." to e 1 erent be human through the act of M- '-. ' p ; Before he could join them. 7 » mercy. ”M' M‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ his older siblings decldt‘d to peop a He nailed the audition """ , 1 pursue other interests. but ~Gabe long with the quiet confidence he ‘ if 1 Long never let go of the (”0,135 sludgyuat 5,1 [are earned from his earlier audi- " 4 notion that he wanted to be (hlhofu‘ schoolhiakinghts tion. He thinks he also a on stage. Stratford [firmed debut impressed the director by lhat's when he decided to seizing the moment instead .. m ‘”’“_‘ join local theatre group. Growing in the Arts. of responding to a ton ofquestions ;_â€" -* M i“ ’ ‘ and get some formal training “A lot of people were doing a lot of talking That led to a couple of lead roles for the but I was hanging back." said long. “I think 10-year-old through the local theatre arts they were looking for people who were more " training school. including as Fudge in lales controlled." ofthe fourth (irade‘ Superfudgeâ€"arMania He said he let his acting do his talking for ”It's the combination of all three Fudge him. “I had an idea of what I was doing. and books (by author ludy HIumel." said long "I I wasn’t afraid," said long. had to act like a baby So what are his tips for any other young "lite truth is l kind of (“it'd like that at actors out there? home." “You just have to have fun With the role It taught him what it was like to be centre because you can have no fun and it‘s just a stage, and got him over any notion of being boring play, or you can experiment and have nervous out in front ofa production some fun." said long "In terms of learning "l didn't have a lot of long speeches but I lines. I just prat tire before I go to bed got to sajv stuff and use a fuiim voice." said because it settles into my mind " long "l learned how to look into an audi Has he t‘H‘f dreamt about his perform l'lltt' and not get distrattt‘d I (an just look tint es? "Ont e or twice but not that often," there anti stare off into spar 0 It made "if said long want todo more on stage " lhe Strattord festival presents the MN It opened him to a world of possibilities thant Oth'nK't' until Oct. 19 for more infor Waterloo's Gabriel Long, 10, is making his Stratford Festival debut in a production of Mlliam on the stagt‘ Int hiding auditioning for the ination Visit wwwstratfordfestivalt om. Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice we mm ~~ . , l - r ‘ t‘ ' . a l l [ k 7- 7 . r 0 - _ , e , < A . s . .\ _ \ ’ ‘i "f.“ ‘ “! [ nI.’ ' f. _ \}1Q ,_ , ~j r “saw I , ,. ,, , Li H 1 t is. NER new .,: yflj 0 gm 1 v ”03 F 4m“; - _._ i 1 , v " 9 mm ..........s- ...._ hum .- I).-q.o~.l'n. Waterloo.,gi i'wlwl in 2 519-884-262?) Kitt,lii'iu;i . ..: i' a ‘l.r 519â€"579â€"3495 MN" 1‘ .'.i.1 ‘i 519-896-8585