Shakespeare & Company announces its winter session of in-school Residencies, which culminate in three exciting productions ripe with wit, magic, trickery and love. Lenox Middle School will perform Much Ado About Nothing on Wednesday, January 15th at 7:00pm, the Hayground School in Bridgehampton, NY will perform A Midsummer Night's Dream on January 30th at 6:00pm at the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor and Nessacus Middle School will perform Twelfth Night in February.
Visit: www.Shakespeare.org for more information on all of the exciting Education Programs.
The Residencies are led by
Shakespeare & Company Education Artists, many of whom have previously taught in the Company's well-known Fall Festival of Shakespeare program and performed on our stages over the years. Directors this year include, Annie Considine and Enrico Spada at Lenox Middle School, and Josie Wilson, Caitlin Kraft and Lori Evans at the Hayground School.
New for this year,
Shakespeare & Company is happy to announce an exciting new Residency at Nessacus Middle School! With this residency
Shakespeare & Company Education Artists are assisting Nessacus Middle School teachers, with their production of Twelfth Night a festive romp of mistaken identities. Education Artists,
Kelly Galvin, Ryan Winkles, Enrico Spada,
Luke Reed and
Caroline Calkins, are working alongside Nessacus teachers, Kimberly Lagerwall and Corey Walsh, to create a fun and successful experience for all students.
Tickets for Lenox Middle School's Much Ado About Nothing are available at the door, for additional information please contact the school by phone at
413-637-5560. Please note that if Lenox Middle School cancels school due to weather, the performance will occur on Thursday, January 16th at 7:00pm.
The final performance for each Residency is a celebration of the students' hard work and creativity, with larger roles shared by several students. In the coming weeks, Education Artists will work with students after school, helping them develop theatrical skills and foster a sense of play. The Residencies are a key contributor to the success of
Shakespeare & Company's nationally acclaimed Education Program, with Residencies at the Lenox Memorial Middle and High School occurring for almost the entirety of the Company's 37-year history.
"It is my fourth year working with these students and it is amazing to watch them grow in their ability to express themselves through Shakespeare," says Education Artist Josie Wilson. "The children range in age from 3-13 years old and by the time they are 13, the language is ingrained in them and they have a greater ability to voice their feelings and ideas. They are able to play and work together as a community, having the ability to support another actor onstage and they truly speak with authority about their emotional and imaginative experiences."
The Education Program is one of the most extensive theatre-in-education programs in the Northeast, and has reached over a million students since 1978 with innovative performances, workshops, and residencies. Guided by Education Director
Kevin Coleman, Associate Director of Education Jenna Ware and Company education artists and teachers, educators continue to develop and fine-tune their programs to enhance and complement curricular activities in elementary, middle, and high schools across the country. The Education Program received the prestigious Coming Up Taller Award presented by First Lady
Laura Bush at the White House in January, and also received the Commonwealth Award, the highest award for excellence in the arts, sciences and humanities given by the state of Massachusetts. It was also the subject of an in-depth, two-year study by Harvard University's Project Zero which recommended national replication. The 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.
Shakespeare & Company arts-in-education programs receive major support from The National Endowment for the Arts, The National Endowment for the Humanities, The Dr. Robert C. and Tina Sohn Foundation, the Massachusetts Cultural Council and its local cultural councils, Country Curtains and The Red Lion Inn, and many other local corporations, private foundations, and individuals.
