On Wednesday, May 20, the freshman class had their annual Shakespeare Festival, in which students performed scenes from the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

For the past month, 9th grade students have studied the play and rehearsed scenes assigned to them by their teacher. They filled classrooms, hallways, and the auditorium, preparing extensively for the big day. Despite the hard work that went into preparing for the festival, most people enjoyed it. “I thought the Shakespeare Festival was a great way to interact with and to get to know your peers a little bit better and to get out of your comfort zone. It was a great experience and I think everyone had a lot of fun,” commented Daniella Archer, Class of ’18.

The Shakespeare Festival is an important part of the 9th grade English curriculum. “The Shakespeare Festival provides an opportunity for students to creatively interpret a scene from Shakespeare and share that interpretation with an audience of their peers and teachers. To perform a scene effectively, students need to read it closely and analyze it carefully. They need to think about where the scene fits in within the larger context of the play while also examining the nuances and subtext of specific words and phrases,” explained English Teacher Amanda Filley.

By Emily Wang