Shakespeare & Company’s 16th Annual Fall Festival, November 18 – 21

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Lenox – Shakespeare & Company’s 16th Annual Fall Festival of Shakespeare returns to Founders’ Theatre November 18-21, bringing together ten high schools and nearly 500 students from across Berkshire County, Western Massachusetts, and eastern New York for a marathon celebration of Shakespeare. Specifically designed as a celebration rather than a competition, the Festival has become an institution in Berkshire County. It is one of the few inter-scholastic performance projects in the country that brings together hundreds of students to celebrate language, human nature, and youthful achievement through Shakespeare’s plays. The Festival culminates in a four-day marathon of ten 90-minute adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays at the Company’s mainstage theatre in Lenox Center. Tickets are $9.00 for adults and $5.00 for students per performance, or $45.00 for a Festival Pass. The Pass includes all 10 plays. For tickets and Festival information please call the Festival Hotline at (413) 637-1199 ext. 316. In-school performances, prior to the marathon, also are offered. See attached schedule. This season’s Festival increases participating schools from nine to ten with the addition of North Andover High School, returning to the Fall Festival after a five-year absence. For the next eight weeks, students participating in the Festival will explore the world of Shakespeare’s timely themes, discovering the supernatural powers of Macbeth; the magic of A Midsummer Night’s Dream; rousting about with Sir Toby Belch and his band of merry mirth-makers in Twelfth Night; and conjuring a shipwreck with Prospero in The Tempest. Shakespeare & Company’s Director of Education Kevin G. Coleman once again leads the Festival with the assistance of Festival Coordinator Mark Woollett. They are sending ten teams of trained Company artists and directors, along with production staff, into the area high schools to rehearse with the students every day after school for the next two months. This year’s participating schools include: Chatham High School (Macbeth), Monument Mountain Regional High School (Twelfth Night), Lenox Memorial High School (As You Like It), Taconic High School (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Lee High School (Henry V), Springfield Central High School (The Winter’s Tale), Mt. Greylock Regional High School (Pericles), Taconic Hills High School (Twelfth Night), Mt. Everett Regional High School (The Tempest), and North Andover High School (A Midsummer Night’s Dream). “It takes enormous faith for a student to be in a play -- faith in themselves, in their directors, and particularly in other students,” says Woollett. “To stand on stage and speak the truths that Shakespeare has written takes even more faith in oneself. Adolescence is a time of renaissance, filled with new discoveries of great passions, enormous creativity, and inevitable rebellion. If we don’t provide students with challenges, and with opportunities to express their passions, and a place where they can speak words of clarity that describe passionate, powerful, or perhaps unbearable experiences, they will explode. When they come to work with us in the Festival, one of the only requirements we ask is that they whole-heartedly ‘awaken their faith’ in themselves. How could we ask anything more than that?” Rehearsals focus on Shakespeare’s text and the students’ personal responses to it, which create a heightened atmosphere of discovery and play within the work. Research, voice training, movement, stage combat, and period dance are all incorporated, providing students with the necessary skills to create their plays. Company artists and staff lead the students, who are also responsible for lighting design, sets, sound, props, costumes, stage management, poster designs, publicity, and playbill ads for the productions. “We are extremely pleased to be a long-time participant of the Fall Festival of Shakespeare,” said Jason McCandless, Principal of Lee High School. “The opportunity for students from divergent backgrounds to come together with the theatre professionals from Shakespeare & Company and bring to life the energy, love, hate, the schemers and the heroes of Shakespeare’s works is priceless. We are grateful for what the Festival means to our cast and crew, and to the life of the whole school.” Shakespeare & Company’s Education Program has been identified by the Arts Education Partnership and the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities as a Champion of Change. The Education Program is focused on bringing Shakespeare alive and into the lives of as many students and teachers as possible through the active exploration and performance of Shakespeare’s plays. The Fall Festival of Shakespeare, the longest running of the Company’s education programs, receives major support from The GE Foundation, Berkshire Bank, and many other local corporations, private foundations, individuals, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and local cultural councils. The Education Program also includes professional development workshops for teachers, residencies across the state and country, and the Spring Tour of Shakespeare, which will perform Julius Caesar from February through May next year across New England and New York state. Shakespeare & Company has been selected as one of 22 theatre companies nationally for a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, in cooperation with Arts Midwest, as part a national initiative called Shakespeare for a New Generation to support this year’s Spring Tour. Financial assistance, provided by this grant, is offered for schools that wish to participate on a ‘per need basis.’ Contact Mark Woollett in the Education Program at (413) 637-1199 ext. 123 or education@shakespeare.org for an application and information on all programs. Festival performances at Founders’ Theatre For tickets, please contact The Fall Festival Hotline at (413) 637-1199 ext. 316 Thursday, November 18 Chatham High School -- 6:30 pm Macbeth Monument Mountain Regional High School -- 8:30 pm Twelfth Night Friday, November 19 Lenox Memorial High School -- 6:30 pm As You Like It Taconic High School -- 8:30 pm A Midsummer Night’s Dream Saturday, November 20 Mt. Everett Regional High School -- 1:30 pm The Tempest Springfield Central High School -- 3:30 pm The Winter’s Tale Mt. Greylock Regional High School -- 6:30 pm Pericles Taconic Hills High School -- 8:30 pm Twelfth Night Sunday, November 21 Lee High School -- 1:30 pm Henry V North Andover Regional High School -- 3:30 pm A Midsummer Night’s Dream The Reverence 5:00 pm ALL Festival performances at each School For ticket information, please contact the individual schools. Wednesday and Friday, November 10 & 12 at 7:30 pm Lee High School -- Henry V Springfield Central High School -- The Winter’s Tale Taconic High School -- A Midsummer Night’s Dream Wednesday and Thursday, November 10 & 11 at 7:30 pm Mt. Everett Regional High School -- The Tempest Thursday and Saturday, November 11 & 13 at 7:30 pm, and Sunday, November 14 at 2:00 pm North Andover High School -- A Midsummer Night’s Dream Friday and Saturday, November 12 & 13 at 7:30 pm Mt. Greylock Regional High School -- Pericles Monument Mountain Regional High School -- Twelfth Night Lenox Memorial High School -- As You Like It Taconic Hills High School -- Twelfth Night Friday and Saturday, November 12 &13 at 8:00 pm Chatham High School -- Macbeth
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Lanesborough Fifth-Graders Win Snowplow Name Contest

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — One of the snowplows for Highway District 1 has a new name: "The Blizzard Boss."
 
The name comes from teacher Gina Wagner's fifth-grade class at Lanesborough Elementary School. 
 
The state Department of Transportation announced the winners of the fourth annual "Name A Snowplow" contest on Monday. 
 
The department received entries from public elementary and middle school classrooms across the commonwealth to name the 12 MassDOT snowplows that will be in service during the 2025/2026 winter season. 
 
The purpose of the contest is to celebrate the snow and ice season and to recognize the hard work and dedication shown by public works employees and contractors during winter operations. 
 
"Thank you to all of the students who participated. Your creativity allows us to highlight to all, the importance of the work performed by our workforce," said  interim MassDOT Secretary Phil Eng.  
 
"Our workforce takes pride as they clear snow and ice, keeping our roads safe during adverse weather events for all that need to travel. ?To our contest winners and participants, know that you have added some fun to the serious take of operating plows. ?I'm proud of the skill and dedication from our crews and thank the public of the shared responsibility to slow down, give plows space and put safety first every time there is a winter weather event."
 
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