This weekend’s 20th Annual Fall Festival of Shakespeare came to a close yesterday after five hundred students performed ten plays for an audience composed of thousands of friends, family and supporters—in just seventy-two hours.
Director of Education Kevin Coleman and Associate Director of Education Jenna Ware were interviewed on WAMC’s Roundtable for this milestone event (along with Ashley, a Lenox High School senior who played Hamlet in this weekend’s Festival). Read and see more about the Fall Festival here and here.
And check out this article in The Independent on Chatham High School’s Hamlet.
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The 20th Annual Fall Festival of Shakespeare kicks off tomorrow evening at Founders’ Theatre. Twenty directors enter ten high schools to produce ten full productions of Shakespeare, involving over five hundred students—and they perform together in just four days.
The Fall Festival was recently featured in an article in the Berkshire Eagle (available online for two weeks), in which it was noted that
For directors, parents and other adults, the festival is a chance to see students come alive.
“There’s something transcendental about the language. I mean, they’re still kids. They’re still teenagers. But during the festival weekend, they scream like it’s a rock concert. They know all the plays and they get all the dirty Elizabethan jokes,” said Dorothy French, a parent.
Shakespeare & Company Director of Education Kevin Coleman speaks about the program in the Berkshire Record, explaining, “We are very interested in firing up the imagination of the students, taking their ideas and seeing how it would work. It is a very different style of directing.” He goes on to say
…it is the things beyond theater that the participants learn, including self confidence, teamwork and public speaking skills, that makes the program a success. “I think they learn important lessons in cooperation and all the other important life skills you can’t teach in a classroom.” Coleman said.
Read the full article at the Berkshire Record’s website. You can read and see more about the Festival here and here. And don’t forget to buy your tickets now for this milestone event.
This weekend is your last chance to catch The Canterville Ghost! Directed by Irina Brook and adapted from the Oscar Wilde short story, it tells the story of the grumpy ghost of Canterville Chase who just can’t seem to rid his home of the non-believing American family that haunts him.
This weekend we’re getting into the giving spirit with a Thanksgiving Food Drive — and a special discount. Patrons can get up to two $18 tickets for every five items of non-perishable food brought to the box office. All food collected will be donated to The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts
This is a chance for Shakespeare & Company and our patrons to express solidarity and support for those who may be facing an especially difficult Thanksgiving season this year. We encourage our patrons to be especially generous with community charities this year. The Thanksgiving Food Drive one of a series of socially conscious and family oriented pricing programs begun this summer with a Cheaper By the Carload discount that encouraged patrons to ‘go green’ by carpooling to the theatre. Given the family-friendly nature of The Canterville Ghost, the carload discount is now called the Thursday Family Rush. Thursday tickets are available at a special discount for groups of four or more who purchase tickets at one time on the day of the show. Patrons who take advantage of the Thanksgving Food Drive discount are encouraged to carpool, although this is not required.
The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts works behind the scenes of nearly every charitable organization that provides food to people in need in western Massachusetts. Its 400 member agency programs include soup kitchens, food pantries, homeless shelters, childcare centers, and elder programs throughout Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, and Hampshire counties. Each year it distributes more than 6 million pounds of food to these agencies to help feed people in need.
For details about this and all of our discounts call the Box Office at 413-637-3353.
