‘All the school’s a stage’: Shakespeare Troupe readies for Fall Festival
Senior Catherine Bloom is excited for the Shakespeare festival.
October 4, 2013
Humor, drama, tragedy, and comedy: all in one night.
On December 5, the event of the season will soon occur: The Shakespeare Fall Festival. Going into its 23rd year, as adviser Sue Biondo-Hench says, “All the school’s a stage!”
Students from each grade are welcome to attend this year’s much-anticipated festival.
CHS senior and director Kyle Whitlock said, “[The fall festival] will be a fun night full of laughs, tears, love, and plenty of death.”
An exciting attribute to this year’s Shakespeare Festival is that “one of Shakespeare’s long lost plays” will be revealed, according to Whitlock.
The Troupe Staff is excited to perform this year.
Sophomore Alex Closs said, “I am looking forward to entertaining hundreds of people in this festival through our performance.”
Director Mallory Chaney is enthused about the festival this year as well. “I’m looking forward to both performing in Senior Troupe and directing scenes from a play that means a lot to me,” said Chaney.
Stage fright and tense nerves are not the only struggles for a Shakespeare Troupe member. Learning the language of Shakespeare can also be difficult.
“Studying Shakespeare, especially for the first time, is like a language immersion program,” Hench said. “It’s a huge breakthrough when a student begins to crack the Shakespeare code.”
Performing scenes from Shakespeare is not an easy task for the students. A lot of planning, directing, acting, and preparation go into the festival. The directors are given a list of Shakespearian plays, and they decide which plays interest them. Directors make sure that the actors memorize their lines and perform to the best of their ability. Masters and mistresses talk between the scenes, and they discuss what play the scene comes from and its plot.
From Much Ado About Nothing to Two Gentlemen in Verona, there should be plenty of exciting performances at this year’s Shakespeare Fall Festival. The festival will occur on December 5 at 7:00pm in the Swartz Auditorium.
To go or not to go? That’s not even a question.
