SHAKESPEARE // HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS INTRODUCED TO THE BARD

played some small parts in the play and helped guide the young actors in Shakespeare’s language.

Students from the other three schools worked with ISC mentors once a week after classes, learning about “critical thinking, close reading, literary analysis, public speaking, voice, stage combat and Shakespearean staging,” according to Farkas.

Besides some monologues, students from SFIS will do scenes from “Romeo and Juliet”; students from ATC will focus on “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”; and NMAS performers will contribute portions of “Much Ado About Nothing,” according to Farkas. Upstart Crows, she added, will offer scenes from “King Henry IV, Part I,” which they performed in its complete form earlier this summer.

Farkas said some SFIS student performers asked what they would do after this weekend’s festival and were disappointed to learn that it marked the end of the program for the year. In a sense, their disappointment was “wonderful to see ... it was really affirming for us” that ISC was doing something valuable and appreciated by the students, she said.

Another barbecue will be held in the spring for educators to see what schools want to take part next fall, Farkas added. “Next year, we think it will be bigger,” she said. “All they have to do is give us a classroom and we’ll take care of the rest.”

The participating schools each contribute $300 for the program, while ISC conducts fundraising to help meet additional costs, she said.

Youth Shakespeare festivals occur around the country, with many of them set up as competitions with judges awarding prizes to the best performances, according to Farkas. “We are not competitive,” she added. “We’re more interested in just connecting kids to the material and letting the ripple effects from that happen.”

This first festival includes a guest artist: Devon Glover, The Sonnet Man. Based in New York, he converts Shakespeare’s sonnets to hip-hop form. “He’s very popular,” Farkas said. “He’s made some cool short films.”

Besides performing in the festival, he will lead a workshop with the students, who will create their own sonnets about participation in the program, which will be compiled into a book, she added.