LITTLE ROCK - As a senior at Lake Hamilton High School in Hot Springs, Kayln Duggan hasn't been concentrating on graduation or prom - she's been rewriting William Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Duggan, 18, first became intrigued with the tragedy in her advanced-placement English class.

"After studying Hamlet in English, something just sparked my interest," Duggan said. "I thought it would make a great modern play and something awesome for our senior class to perform."

AP English teacher Dawn Higgs said she thought Hamlet appealed to her students because of the emphasis on Hamlet's inability to act on his father's demand for revenge.

"When one considers all the flaws that a hero may posses, Hamlet's inability to act - to murder his Uncle Claudius - makes Hamlet seem all the more admirable," Higgs said. "Students recognize that Hamlet's respect for human life motivates his behavior and they are more sympathetic with his plight."

So, while she was sick with the flu for three days, Duggan rewrote the play, changing things from character's names to their personalities. After she completed the 48-page script, she lost her copy and had to rewrite it in one night.

"I had to pull an all-nighter, but I got it done," Duggan said. "But it paid off after the senior class voted to use my play."

Along with writing the play, Duggan served as its director, and she also played a lead role in the play.

Duggan said the hardest part of rewriting the play was the death scenes.

"I typically have a sarcastic personality," Duggan said. "So I had to portray those scenes in a nice way."

Higgs said Duggan is a gifted creative writer.

"I doubt that there are very many students who could write a modernday version of Hamlet and skillfully retain the major themes of the play," she said.

"If Hamlet was performed in its entirety, it would take about five hours,"Higgs said. "Obviously she had to shorten the play quite a bit, but she was able to remain true to the spirit of the original play. She captured Hamlet's disillusionment, his hesitancy to act and the tragic consequences of his delay in seeking his father's revenge. Because of her time constraints, the characters were not as developed as the Shakespearean version."

After the senior class voted to perform Duggan's script for the annual senior play, Duggan set to work casting. Twenty-five seniors were part of the cast and crew, 18 who had acting parts.

"Casting was hard to do. We had some trouble starting off, but after a month of rehearsals it turned out great," Duggan said. "While filling three roles in the play as writer, director and actor, it was tough. I didn't really have any breaks, and when I got home at night, I just fell in the bed."

Duggan played the role of Gertrude, only she changedGertrude's name to Gina Hamlet. Duggan said she also changed the character to add "more layers."

"In the original, Gertrude is passive," Duggan said. "In my version she has more layers - she is ditzy, but still has that sharp edge."

Another change to the play was the character of Horatio, now named Harry.

"Horatio was the backbone of the play," Duggan said. "In my version he serves as a bit of comedic relief, which isn't found in the original."

Dugg a n a not her major change to the original was making the characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern into female roles due to the lack of male actors.

"Taking her audience and their background knowledge into consideration, Kayln crafted a play that is very much her own," Higgs said. "She threw in some comedic elements to keep her high school audience interested and engaged, and she included a very entertaining sword fight."

Duggan's play was performed for parents during a dress rehearsal and then for the Lake Hamilton student body on April 16.

"We were really surprised by the reactions; people laughed in places we didn't think they would," Duggan said. "Overall, we all really enjoyed it."

Duggan's interest in writing and theater came at an early age. She said she began writing in the sixth grade, her inspiration coming from childhood games.

"I would get together with my cousins and our imaginations would just soar," Duggan said. "So in sixth grade I started writing about our playtimes,and I've also always had a vivid imagination."

Duggan said her passion for writing continued and was fueled by her junior and senior high teachers.

"My teachers really inspired me to love reading," Duggan said. "So that really helped. I really had a lot of great teachers throughout school, including Phyllis Griggs, Kathie Wright, Dawn Higgs, Alison Hawbecker,Susan Reick and Marilyn Adcock."

After graduation, Duggan is undecided about college, but said she wants to continue writing.

"I have about half of a Christian fiction novel written that I hope to one day have turned into a movie script," Duggan said.

http://www2.arkansasonline.com/news/2009/apr/26/lake-hamilton-senior-rewrites-directs-act-20090426/?trilakes

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