To the editor:
Last Friday, over 100 children from Jaffrey and Rindge donned their capes, blazed their swords, swooned from breaking hearts and expressed themselves in metaphors and similes as they took part in the 27th Annual Jaffrey-Rindge Shakespeare Festival.
Students from all four of the SAU 47’s schools shared the stage in Jaffrey’s historic Meetinghouse on a day devoted to outlandish plots woven together with beautiful language.
Highlights of the day included performances from four high school classes and troupe members from Project Shakespeare, as well as three Shakespeare after-school clubs from Jaffrey Grade School, Rindge Memorial School, and JRMS, in addition to Mrs. Crotto’s fourth grade class.
Over the years, I have attended all but one Festival, and as often the case, this year the youngest actors stole the show. The greatest thrill for me, however, as a retired JR teacher, was seeing “Who’s Who” in the audience. Among the parents attending each Festival performance, were several former students, who took time off from work to watch their children perform on the Meetinghouse stage just as they had done when they were in school.
Traditions shared by generations are a hallmark of small town life; the Jaffrey Rindge Shakespeare Festival is a celebration of the language and the art of genius, the intellectual rigor and empathy of his performers, and the beauty of the Monadnock Region, our mountain being the backdrop for the Jaffrey Meetinghouse, where children will continue to “play on” in Elizabethan garb hopefully for another 27 years.
Many thanks to the children and teachers of Jaffrey and Rindge for wonderful performances. And a very special thank you to Conant teachers, Grant Love and Anne Marie Osheyack, whose dedication, organization, and calm in the midst of panic made the 27th Shakespeare Festival a great success.
Marjorie Margolis
Sharon