Shakespeare Fall Festival
Summer is traditionally the time for theater in the Berkshires, but the season is not yet over at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox MA. Hundreds of teenagers from ten different high schools will take to the stage for the 28th Fall Festival of Shakespeare’s final performances November 17th.
The festival, an annual tradition, culminates a program that brings Shakespeare & Company education artists into local schools to work with students. The young people spend nine weeks exploring Shakespeare’s plays and theater production skills.
The festival is designed to encourage students to delve into Shakespeare’s works, to savor the language, humor, intensity and beauty of his plays. Daily rehearsals are held and focus centers on the students’ personal responses to the text and their connection to the language. They also develop skills in stage combat, performance aesthetics, dance, technical theatre, stage management and the like.
Schools participating in the festival are located throughout western Massachusetts and neighboring New York State.
At 6:15 PM November 17th, Lee High School presents A Midsummer Night’s Dream, followed at 8:30PM by Mount Everett Regional School’s production of The Tempest. November 18th brings The Comedy of Errors by Taconic High School at 6:15PM, and Mount Greylock Regional High School’s Hamlet, 8:30 PM. Saturday, November 19th, Springfield Central High School will stage The Comedy of Errors at 1:30PM; Berkshire Waldorf High School, Henry IV, Part One at 3:30PM; Monument Mountain Regional High School, As You Like It, at 6:15PM, and Lenox Memorial High School, Much Ado About Nothing at 8:30PM.
The festival ends Sunday, November 20th, with Julius Caesar at 1:30PM and Romeo and Juliet by Taconic Hills High School at 3:30PM.
Tickets and festival passes for adults and students are available online or by calling the Shakespeare & Company Box Office at 413-637-3353.
Shakespeare & Company is one of the largest Shakespeare Festivals in the country. More information is available at the link below.
