“This is a rock concert of Shakespeare! Show after show after show the theater is jammed with kids and adults cheering for the performers and the productions.”  – WBUR Boston
Nationally replicated and locally treasured, the annual Fall Festival of Shakespeare brings more than 500 high school students together each year for a nine-week, non-competitive exploration of multiple Shakespeare plays. The flagship of Shakespeare & Company’s Education Program, the annual Fall Festival of Shakespeare is a residency at 10 high schools in Massachusetts and New York. Shakespeare & Company directing teams lead students at each school through a language-based exploration of different Shakespeare plays, culminating in full-scale productions at their schools and on the main stage at our own Tina Packer Playhouse. When high-energy teenagers are turned loose  through the power of Shakespeare’s language, the thrill is palpable, and the houses are packed.
The Fall Festival deeply engages students through personally meaningful, educationally rigorous and dramatically compelling experiences of Shakespeare’s classical dramas. The Festival is truly a celebration, never a competition. Students from multiple schools work collaboratively, exploring Shakespeare’s words, unpacking the humor and the heartbreak, the intensity and humanity of these unparalleled plays.
The 35th Annual Fall Festival of Shakespeare will be held November 16 through 19 at the Tina Packer Playhouse.
SCHEDULE OF PERFORMANCES
Thursday, November 16

6:15 pmLee Middle & High School’s Macbeth
Directed by Tom Reynolds & Abigail St. John

8:30 pm – Berkshire Waldorf High School’s Henry IV, Part 1
Directed by JoJo McDonald & Leslie Field

Friday, November 17

6:15 pm – Mount Everett Regional High School’s Henry V
Directed by Madeleine Rose Maggio & Jerald Wheat

8:30 pm – Lenox Memorial High School’s Macbeth
Directed by: Tori Rhoades & Malle Winters

Saturday, November 18

1:15 pm – Pittsfield High School’s As You Like It
Directed by: Caroline Calkins & Sara Linares

3:30 pm – Springfield Central High School’s Richard III
Directed by: Ellie Bartz, Kristin Yates, & Maurice Doran

6:15 pm – Monument Mountain Regional High School’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Directed by: Kirsten Peacock & Kelly O’Donnell

8:30 pm – Mount Greylock Regional High School’s Romeo & Juliet
Directed by: Naire Poole & Erin O’Connor

Sunday, November 19

1:15 pm – Taconic Hills Jr/Sr High School’s Hamlet
Directed by: Gregory Boover & Kirsten Mulrenan

3:30 pm – Chatham High School’s Much Ado About Nothing
Directed by: Nick Nudler & Beth Somerville

5:00 pm – Reverence & Closing Ceremony

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