They came, they saw, they conquered. “Veni, vidi, vici.”

When the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Company’s WillPower performed “Julius Caesar” on the high school stage in November, it got all three jobs done.

English teacher Ann Way was the catalyst for bringing the troupe to the high school.

“They sent me an email,” said Way. “I was inspired to pursue it because when they came to our school pro bono before it was such a positive experience for everybody.”

Way said when she met with Principal Aileen Yadush and proposed the idea, “she was on board and suggested if they could do two performances.”

“It did require some jostling of the day,” admitted Way, but “WillPower agreed to do two shows and a talk back after each performance.”

“Julius Caesar is part of the 10th grade curriculum, so three quarters of the school had already read the play,” Way said. “They did an abridged 80 minute version of the play.

“We read it already in preparation for this performance.

“A number of students memorized the famous Marc Antony speech, ‘Friends, Romans and countrymen.’ They tried to be true to Shakespeare.”

“We are all really grateful to Ann Way for spearheading [this initiative],” said Pam Henderson, English department chair. “It’s really nice to bring a live version to the kids.

“This might be their one and only opportunity to see it.

“We have one of the best Shakespeare troupes in the country here at DeSale. Maybe it will inspire students to attend other Shakespeare productions.

The students appreciated the play and commented on the performance.

“It’s been a long while that I’ve seen a show I haven’t been in,” said Ben Hoover, who recently played Ebenezer Scrooge in the fall comedy. “It was great seeing people not much older than us, perform a play that is 400 years old so well. You can really do anything when you’re up on the stage.”

“I thought it was very engaging and made Shakespeare interesting for a lot of students,” said Quentin Bernhard. “I [wondered] about Caesar’s ignorance, how he could pass up so many warnings. Brutus does it all with good intension unlike the others. He [actually] thought he was doing the right thing.”

“I loved it. When you read it in class there’s a complete disconnect,” said English teacher Heather Fugozzotto. “Seeing it performed makes it a lot easier to understand.”

“The thing that stuck out to me was seeing the body of Caesar left out there on the stage for the whole time,” said Way.

“It was very nice to watch a play instead of perform in one,” said Kyle Steber. “I noticed stuff like the actors didn’t have a mic, so they turned around to face the audience and the set was beautiful.”

“They did so well with the set,” agreed Maria Haddad. “They were able to make one set work as different scenery. They made us believe we were in so many different locations.”

Steber also was impressed with how the actors interacted with the students especially “when they jumped out of the audience.”

“I liked seeing that the actors were able to use actual weapons,” said Tristen Hancock. “Watching the play brought it back.”

“It was cool,” said Eddie Parrish who has acted in plays at his church. “I liked [the actors] dressing in modern clothes. It made the play seem more relevant. The actors were like a big group of old friends that seemed to get along really well.”

The event was promoted through Tiger TV.

“English teachers [tried] to adjust their curriculum to include Shakespeare before the performance,” said Henderson. “Classroom teachers prepared students for a positive theater experience. I [was] personally excited to share something that I’m so passionate about with others and to bring this to life. The nice thing is that all the students and teachers in the school could attend.”

The English department hosted a luncheon in the library for the actors after the first performance.

Steber showed the actors a promotional video he worked on discussing the dos and don’ts for theater goers.

“Tiger TV kids promoted the play through parodies and recitation of famous lines from the play,” said Henderson.

The professional actors met for the first time on Sept. 16 and most of the auditions took place in New York City.

For the open call, actors had to recite monologues from Shakespeare’s plays.

The cast worked with a designated fight director in preparation for this play.

“He just did Misery on Broadway with Bruce Willis” said Peter Danelski (Maurellus), referring to the insurrection that results in Caesar’s death which was done in slow motion. “You can’t put a huge war scene on a theater stage.”

“I enjoy working with kids because they’re honest,” said Danelski. “You have to work harder with this audience. It’s good for the theater in general.”

“Some of these kids will never see a play,” said Alex Thompson (Julius Caesar). “The kids were great. We have a lot of different audiences, but I felt this audience was with us.”

“Theater now is far too polite,” said Danelski. “People give out standing ovations like candy. When we get a genuine response from the kids, that’s really moving. They’re a home base for me.”

“I had a guy respond to me personally while the play was going on,” said Aurea Tomeski (Calpurnia). “He said ‘Do you believe this guy?’ referring to Brutus.”

“That’s one of the biggest differences between the theater and the movies,” said Annabelle Rollison (Decius). “This play was written with an audience in mind.”

After the performance, Way was speechless.

“It was outstanding,” she said. “I could see the kids looking at each other [after viewing] the parts that we talked about in class when we read the play. I was watching our kids and they seemed riveted.”

The actors invited students to attend a play at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival during the summer season for the nominal cost.