Lenox School Alumni to Mark Final Reunion at Shakespeare & Company

One hundred years after Lenox School first opened its doors on the land that Shakespeare & Company now owns in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, its alumni are preparing for its final reunion—a long weekend of celebration October 15–17, complete with a rock concert, marking the end of 54 years of gathering.

Following the party, however, the alumni are leaving behind a legacy they hope will positively affect the Berkshires and beyond in perpetuity. In 2024, the Lenox School Alumni Association (LSAA) established the Legacy Fund to support scholarships and service-driven organizations; the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation now administers it in perpetuity to provide grants and scholarships to educational and community partners. Past recipients have included Shakespeare & Company, Christ School in Arden, North Carolina, Trinity Church in Lenox, Christ Church Episcopal School in South Carolina, and various disaster relief and humanitarian efforts.

In 2026, the effort expanded further with the addition of the Curry Fund, to which any future donor may specifically dedicate their gift. Named for Rev. Robert L. Curry, the Lenox School's longest-serving headmaster, the Curry Fund will support national organizations, such as A Better Chance (ABC), which broadens educational opportunities for students whose access to independent secondary schools has historically been limited.

According to LSAA President Bob Sansone, the Lenox School was founded in 1926 and built a reputation for academic rigor and competitive athletics, guided by its motto “Not to be served, but to serve.” Declining enrollment in single-gender schools and broader institutional challenges led to the school's closure in 1971, but while the campus fell quiet, its alumni did not.

In the years since the school's closing, Lenox School alumni have preserved the school's history by digitizing yearbooks, photographs, films, and memorabilia, making materials accessible through LenoxSchool.org. Two physical displays are also housed at Shakespeare & Company, in the Tina Packer Playhouse and Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre.

Events

Each October, alumni gather at Shakespeare & Company for a reunion weekend that includes the LSAA's Charlie McGee Memorial Golf Tournament (honoring an alumnus), a business meeting and campus tours, a hymn sing at Trinity Church, a memorial table recognizing those who have passed, and Hall of Fame inductions celebrating individuals and organizations who embody the Lenox spirit. Among those honorees is Shakespeare & Company's late Founding Artistic Director Tina Packer, recognized for the theater company's longstanding friendship and partnership with the alumni community.

This year, a new event has been added to the celebration, sponsored by the Lenox School Class of 1971: An Evening with Tom Rush on Thursday, October 15, at 7 p.m., at the Tina Packer Playhouse. An instrumental player in the American folk music revival of the 1960s, Rush was credited by Rolling Stone with helping usher in the singer-songwriter era and continues to tour internationally with a folk, blues, and storytelling set list. Rush will be accompanied by Boston-based folk artist Brendan Cleary.