Nationally replicated and locally treasured, the annual Fall Festival of Shakespeare brings more than 500 high school students together each year for a nine-week, non-competitive exploration of multiple Shakespeare plays. The flagship of Shakespeare & Company's Education Program, the annual Fall Festival of Shakespeare is a residency at 10 high schools in Massachusetts and New York. Shakespeare & Company directing teams lead students at each school through a language-based exploration of different Shakespeare plays, culminating in full-scale productions at their schools and on the main stage at our own Tina Packer Playhouse. When high-energy teenagers are turned loose  through the power of Shakespeare's language, the thrill is palpable, and the houses are packed.

The Fall Festival deeply engages students through personally meaningful, educationally rigorous and dramatically compelling experiences of Shakespeare's classical dramas. The Festival is truly a celebration, never a competition. Students from multiple schools work collaboratively, exploring Shakespeare's words, unpacking the humor and the heartbreak, the intensity and humanity of these unparalleled plays.

Schedule of Events:

November 21, 2024

6:15 pm Berkshire Waldorf High School's Twelfth Night, or What You Will
Directed by JoJo McDonald & Lydia Duff
Scenic Design: Monica Tran Costume Design: Aimee Green

8:30 pm Pittsfield High School's The Tempest
Directed by: Naire Poole & Darius Journigan
Scenic Design: Marcus Kearns
Costume Design: Caleb Stoloski

November 22, 2024

6:15 pm Taconic Hills Jr/Sr High School's As You Like It
Directed by: Kirsten Mulrenan & Leslie Field
Scenic Design: Grace Goosman
Costume Design: Caleb Stoloski

8:30 pm Lenox Memorial High School's A Midsummer Night's Dream
Directed by: Tori Rhoades & Madeleine Weltchek
Scenic Design: Will Sexton
Costume Design: Lezlie Lee

November 23, 2024

1:15 pm Mount Everett Regional School's Twelfth Night
Directed by: Madeleine Maggio & Bill Gordon
Scenic Design: Alex Drake
 Costume Design: Eliza Maggio

3:30 pm Lee Middle & High School's Cymbeline
Directed by: Tom Reynolds & Abigail St. John
Scenic Design: Grace Goosman
Costume Design: Peggy Walsh

6:15 pm Monument Mountain Regional High School's Romeo & Juliet
Scenic Design: Alex Drake
Costume Design: Eliza Maggio
 
8:30 pm Springfield Central High School's A Midsummer Night's Dream
Directed by: Ellie Bartz, Kristin Yates & Maurice Doran
Costume Design: Aimee Green

November 24, 2024

1:15 pm Mt. Greylock Regional High School's Hamlet
Directed by: Erin O'Connor & Luke Haskell
Scenic Design: Will Sexton
Costume Design: Cal Murphy  

3:30 pm Chatham High School's As You Like It
Directed by Lori Evans & Lochlan Angle
Scenic Design: Devon Drohan
Costume Design: Peggy Walsh

5:00 pm Closing Reverence

Date: November 21 - 24, 2024

Location: Tina Packer Playhouse Shakespeare and Company, 70 Kemble Street Lenox, MA 01240

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