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Monument Mountain presents 'Hamlet' in the 2017 Fall Festival of Shakespeare.

Fall Festival Of Shakespeare Finale Performances Run Nov. 21-24

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LENOX, Mass. — The annual Fall Festival of Shakespeare is back, bringing hundreds of teenagers from 10 area high schools to the Tina Packer Playhouse at Shakespeare & Company.

Beginning on Nov. 21, the four-day festival marks the culmination of the award-winning program that places Shakespeare & Company Education Artists in 10 high schools across Berkshire and Columbia counties for nine weeks. 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 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 Festival has been called 'a rock concert of Shakespeare,'" said Director of Education Kevin G. Coleman. "But it's actually closer to another Woodstock of Shakespeare. It's wild, hilarious, heart-breaking and deeply satisfying. It's what you'd expect from Shakespeare and from students' passion to bring those iconic characters alive. You have to come be a part of it all."

Led by Coleman, the Shakespeare & Company education artists, technical theater designers and school liaisons, the Fall Festival is a celebration, rather than a competition. Students delve into Shakespeare's works, unpack the language, and savor the humor, intensity, and transcendent beauty of these plays. Daily rehearsals build on students’ personal connection to the text and 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.

The 10 schools participating in the 2019 Fall Festival of Shakespeare are Berkshire Waldorf High School, Chatham High School (New York), Lee Middle and High School, Lenox Memorial Middle and High School, Monument Mountain Regional High School, Mount Everett Regional High School, Mount Greylock Regional High School, Springfield Central High School, Taconic High School, and Taconic Hills High School (New York). Students from all ten schools will gather in a spirit of celebration to perform their plays for each other and the public in a four-day festival at the Tina Packer Playhouse from Thursday, Nov. 21, through Sunday, Nov. 24.

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, or by calling the Shakespeare & Company Box Office at 413-637-3353.

Fall Festival of Shakespeare Performance Schedule

Thursday, Nov. 21

6:15 p.m.:
The Berkshire Waldorf High School’s "The Comedy of Errors," directed by Lezlie Lee & Zoe Wohlfeld.

8:30 p.m.: Lee Middle and High School's "Henry IV,  Part 1," directed by David Bertoldi & Kirsten Peacock.

Friday, Nov.  22

6:15 p.m.:
Mount Greylock Regional High School's "The Tempest," directed by Tom Jaeger & Lilliana Macarone.



8:30 p.m.: Taconic High School's "Henry V," directed by Luke Haskell & Dara Brown.

Saturday, Nov. 23

1:15 p.m.:
Mount Everett Regional High School's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," directed by Madeleine Rose Maggio & Devante Owens.

3:30 p.m.: Lenox Memorial Middle and High School's "Julius Caesar," directed by Rory Hammond & Noa Egozi.

6:15 p.m.: Monument Mountain Regional High School's "Twelfth Night," directed by Dana Harrison & Diana Evans.

8:30 p.m.: Springfield Central High School's "Henry VI, Part 1," directed by Jake Merriman & Ellie Bartz.

Sunday, November 24

1:15 p.m.:
Chatham High School's "Henry VI, Part 2&3," directed by Lori Evans & JoJo McDonald.

3:30 p.m.: Taconic Hills High School's "Macbeth," directed by Greg Boover & Kirstin Leigh Daniel.

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


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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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