Addison Williams (COL ’14) starred as the title role of the Theater and Performance Studies Program’s production of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” directed by professor Derek Goldman. A government major and theater minor with numerous theater experiences, Williams took on the iconic character to stretch his acting abilities and pay appreciation to the great playwright. 

As a government major, how did you get involved in theater?

I’ve done theater my whole life. My dad was a director in New York for a little bit. I didn’t do a lot of theater in high school, because I played sports more, and then I came back to theater in college. 

Now that it’s all over, how do you feel “Hamlet” went?

It was probably my favorite thing I’ve done at Georgetown. It was exhausting and stretching and fun and hard and everything. And I think we did an awesome job. I was proud of that show. We’re usually fighting for people to be in the seats at Georgetown theater, and for this we sold out every single evening performance, which is unheard of, so that was pretty cool. I don’t know what that was – if it was good publicity or word of mouth – but it was just fun. Really, really fun.

How did you prepare for the role of Hamlet?

I started by learning what he was saying. I went through and tried to understand why Shakespeare was using the particular language that he did. I mean, he’s a very brilliant stage director through his prose. He didn’t give you many stage directions, so you can figure out exactly what the character is thinking if you understand the language. Then, once I knew the language, I started memorizing, which took two months. Then, just running the scenes every day, you start to figure out what Hamlet is thinking, why he makes the choices that he does, and once you figure out his intentions, then you have his character.

What did you think about the decision to do a modern interpretation?

When [Goldman] first said it, I freaked out. I had all kinds of reservations; I thought it would be terrible. I just always have qualms about fiddling with Shakespeare and such, but I’m really glad that he did it. I think it worked out really, really well. I’m taking the Hamlet seminar class alongside the show, and we read this piece by Jan Kott called Shakespeare: Our Contemporary and he describes “Hamlet” as a sponge, that it can take on whatever atmosphere, whatever political ongoing of the day and shape it and make it work to kind of reflect that back to people.

Do you think Shakespeare has relevance today with our generation?

Totally. He’s the man. He’s universal. Those stories cross cultures, they cross generations, [and] they cross all sorts of borders that other things in life can set up. I think Shakespeare – and theater in general, but Shakespeare especially – can cross those. So, yes.

What was your highlight of the experience?

That’s really tough because there were a lot of highlights. Derek was really great at working through some of the scenes, so I guess having those moments where it clicks or all of a sudden makes sense. We were working on the “to be or not to be” speech, and Derek turned off the lights, and they just had me repeat each word, say almost each letter of each word and just had me totally understand it. Once I had that realization of what he was going through – that was a highlight. But also, on the last night, taking a bow with the whole cast to 200 people standing and clapping; I mean, that’s something I will never forget.  

Do you have any future plans for your acting career?

I’d truthfully never considered acting as a profession, because I didn’t think it was possible. Not even that really – I just never considered it; it was never in my thoughts. As I said, I’ve been acting my whole life; I’ve loved doing it. But this show kind of catalyzed or solidified my intention to go on and do it next year. I don’t know where, or how, or who with, but it’s going to happen. Or, I’m going to try to make it happen.

Do you have any tips for any aspiring Georgetown student actors?

Go audition! It’s one of the nicest communities on Georgetown’s campus, very open, very inclusive. But I think people get very intimidated by it. I can say it now as a senior: Time here is short – go do it! And if you don’t think you’re talented, you probably actually are because nobody thinks they’re talented, and then you go out there and you try it and figure out you actually can do it. So go audition.