Last fall, students at Berkshire Waldorf High School performed William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar for the 33rd Annual Fall Festival of Shakespeare, part of the educational program at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox. This year’s enthusiastic directors were Jojo MacDonald and Jake Merriman, both of whom have directed in the past, but at other schools.
“It was cool seeing it all come together. The energy for the Festival performance was fantastic, and it brought the best out of the actors,” said Kevin Krum, Class of 2023 (sets and props), “But tech week was not a highlight, because we rehearsed until 8 p.m. each evening and still had a lot of work for school.”
More than half of the student body participated in the production. Because of COVID, this year was the first complete fall festival since 2019. The production of Julius Caesar was performed 4 times, 3 times at the Bernstein Theatre for the school community, and a Festival performance on Thursday, November 18, at 8:30 pm, live streamed on CTSB television from the main stage at the Tina Packer Playhouse. Because of the pandemic, students and parents were not allowed to watch most live performances. Each school was paired with another to be part of a live audience, and all others had to live stream the performances. Berkshire Waldorf was paired with Monument Mountain Regional High School so that friends at both schools could see each others’ work.
The Fall Festival of Shakespeare brings together approximately 300 students from 10 schools for a long weekend of Shakespeare performances each November. All schools except Waldorf are public schools, but every student is inspired by and interested in exploring the meaning and possibilities of Shakespeare’s plays. Directors choose and cast each play based on their work with the students. In 2019, our school presented Romeo & Juliet, and, in 2018, As You Like it. Jaeden Alston, 2024