This year marks the 30th year of Shakespeare and Company’s Fall Festival. Education artists from Shakespeare and Company work with ten high schools in Massachusetts and New York to mount 90 minute productions of Shakespeare’s plays. First the productions are presented at the participating schools. Then all the schools present at The Tina Packer Playhouse at Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, Massachusetts. This event usually takes place the weekend before Thanksgiving. This year the dates are November 15 to 18. Due to the predicted snow storm, one of Thursday’s performances is rescheduled for Sunday.
As an audience member, you not only enjoy the productions, but also the audience of high school students cheering on each other’s work. This is not a competition, but a sharing of Shakespeare’s work. In his book, Shakespeare: A Way to Learn, Bob wrote that this audience was as close as one could get to an original Shakespearean audience as it responds to the plays with a fresh enthusiasm.
The Festival is primarily the work of Kevin Coleman, Shakespeare and Company’s Education Director. We have interviewed Kevin about the Festival numerous times on our radio program and on our blog.
Click below for our first interview with Kevin. He also talks about programs other than the Fall Festival
Kevin Coleman on the Fall Festival, 2012
The Berkshire Theatre Critics Association awarded Kevin and Shakespeare and Company The Larry Murray Award for Community Outreach and Support through Theatre this year.
Click below to see more about the awards.
Berkshire Theatre Critics Association
More Theatre Talk 