Diversifying the Classics’ streamed staged readings with Red Bull Theater reach a wide audience of educators and their students. We were delighted to hear from Andrés Orejuela, who shared some of his students’ responses.

I teach at BHSEC Bronx, a Title 1 school and an early college in the Bard network. We opened the school in 2023 in the South Bronx. I had the pleasure of showing my students Red Bull’s staged reading of The Beast of Hungary as part of my advanced Spanish class.

Student responses were overwhelmingly positive. Here are some of their comments:

“Sometimes I felt that the character almost let herself be misled, which confused me, but I also thought the story was interesting and I wanted to know more.”

“The characters most definitely know that they are lying to each other. It’s in their tone and face. I could not handle it!”

“I think the deception, disguise and dissimulation in the play helped add more depth to the story because it adds a layer of mystery because you don’t know if they are telling the truth.”

“I believe that the characters recognize each other’s deception and understand justice and loyalty, but they hide it to make themselves look more believable.”

“My reaction was surprise. I found it unbelievable that they could treat each other that way. I feel like they recognized what they were doing to each other and you can tell how the mood changed while they were speaking to each other.”

“I like the way they reveal themselves to the people watching, and they reveal that they know what the other characters are doing. There is some justice to that.”

“I think the deception was crazy. I believe at first they didn’t recognize the deception between them, but after coming face to face they did. They reveal it to themselves. My immediate reaction was shock!”