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Lenox Memorial High School presents 'Much Ado About Nothing' in 2016.

Fall Festival Of Shakespeare Celebrates 30 Years

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LENOX, Mass. — Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, the annual Fall Festival of Shakespeare will bring hundreds of teenagers from 10 different high schools to the Tina Packer Playhouse at Shakespeare & Company. 

Beginning on Nov. 15, the four-day festival marks the culmination of the nine-week program that places Shakespeare & Company Education Artists in 10 high schools across Berkshire and Columbia counties. During the program, students explore creative thinking, teamwork and Shakespeare as they create a 90-minute fully-produced performance to be shared with their neighboring communities. 

The weekend before, Nov. 8-11, the high schools will stage performances of their plays in their own auditoriums for local audiences.

The Fall Festival of Shakespeare is nationally recognized for its innovative teaching, emotional intelligence training, and philosophy of creativity and collaboration that encourages students from a variety of schools to come together and support one another.

"The Fall Festival has had a significant impact on the culture of these 10 high schools and their surrounding communities for multiple generations," said Director of Education Kevin G. Coleman. "The Festival is where students embody Shakespeare's words, rigorously think, deeply feel, wildly imagine and speak – without inhibition – the thoughts and feelings, the joys and heartbreaks of his characters. While the Fall Festival of Shakespeare has become a celebrated tradition for our local communities and for Shakespeare & Company, its influence has been spreading across the country in adaptations from Atlanta, Georgia, to Portland, Oregon."

Led by Coleman, the Shakespeare & Company education artists and technical theater designers and school mentors, the Fall Festival is a celebration, rather than a competition. Students are encouraged to delve into Shakespeare’s works, unpack the language, and savor the humor, intensity, and transcendent beauty of these plays. Daily rehearsals focus on students’ personal responses to the text and connection to the language. Students also have the opportunity to develop skills in stage combat, performance aesthetics, dance, technical theatre, costuming, stage management, marketing, and publicity during their Fall Festival experience.

Tickets are $16 for adults and $10 for students, and passes for the Festival are $80 for adults and $35 for students. The $4 service fee is waived for all Fall Festival tickets and passes. Tickets are now on sale and are available online.

The schedule for in-school performances is as follows:

Chatham, N.Y., High School: Friday and Saturday, Nov. 9 and 10, 7 p.m.

Lee High School: Friday and Saturday, Nov. 9 and 10, 7 p.m.

Lenox High School: Thursday and Friday, Nov. 8 and 9, 7 p.m.

Mount Greylock Regional School: Saturday, Nov. 10, 7 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 11, 2 p.m., at Williamstown Elementary School

Monument Mountain Regional High School: Thursday and Friday, Nov. 8 and 9, 7 p.m.

Mount Everett Regional High School: Thursday and Friday, Nov. 8 and 9, 7 p.m.

Taconic High School: Friday and Saturday, Nov. 9 and 10, 7 p.m.

Waldorf High School: Thursday and Friday, Nov. 8 and 9, 7 p.m.

 

The performance schedule at Shakespeare & Company is as follows:

Thursday, Nov. 15

6:15 p.m.: Lenox High School's "Midsummer Night’s Dream," directed by Rory Hammond and David Bertoldi.

8:30 p.m.: Chatham High School's "The Tempest," directed by Lori Evans and Sara Holt

 

Friday, Nov. 16

6:15 p.m.: Lee High School's "As You Like It," directed by Doug Seldin and Alison Howard

8:30 p.m.: Mount Greylock Regional High School's "Henry V," directed by Tom Jaeger and Noa Egozi

 

Saturday, Nov. 17

1:15 p.m.: Monument Mountain Regional High School's "Romeo and Juliet," directed by Dana Harrison and Connie Russo

3:30 p.m.: Mount Everett Regional High School's "Much Ado About Nothing," directed by Caitlin Kraft and Madeleine Rose Maggio

6:15 p.m.: Taconic High School's "Hamlet," directed by Dara Silverman and Luke Haskell

8:30 p.m.: Springfield Central High School's "A Winter's Tale," directed by Lezlie Lee and Jake Merriman

 

Sunday,  Nov. 18

1:15 p.m.: Waldorf High School's "Romeo and Juliet," directed by Annie Considine and Ellie Bartz

3:30 p.m.: Taconic Hills High School's "Much Ado About Nothing," directed by Caroline Calkins and Greg Boover

5 p.m.: "The Reverence" (closing event)


Tags: shakespeare,   Shakespeare & Company,   

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Lenox Girls Basketball Earns State Sportsmanship Award

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LOWELL, Mass. — For the first time in the team's history, the Lenox Memorial High School Girls Basketball team has won the MIAA Team Sportsmanship Award.
 
In 2024, the title was awarded to only two of 300 teams in Massachusetts.
 
The school team received the award during the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Basketball State Championships held at the Tsongas Center in Lowell on March 17.
 
"This is a big win for the entire Lenox community," Lenox Principal Jeremiah Ames said. "The Sportsmanship Award recognizes not only sportsmanship on the court, but service to the community and leadership at the school, and the members of our girls basketball team have done precisely that."
 
The team competes in Division 5 of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association and earned the No. 3 seed in the recently completed state tournament.
 
"The girls have worked really hard both on and off the court for this award, and I am tremendously pleased that MIAA have recognized those efforts," Lenox Athletic Director Maggie Rivers said. "Let their achievement be a message to girls in Lenox, if you have a passion for the game, step up: because anything is possible."
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