Shakespeare through the filter of middle school

With just a week until the first performance of As You Like It, things are busy here at APT preparing for a season of performances and guests to our woods. Last night I had the opportunity to attend River Valley Middle School Shakespeare Group's performance of As You Like It which proved to be a delightful nod to APT and preview of our season to come. Each year River Valley Middle School students, lead by teacher Sue Quale, selects one of the Shakespeare's that will be performed at APT in the coming season. They study the play and after an APT workshop with actor David Daniel perform their own version of the play. I was completely drawn in as each of these sixth, seventh and eighth-graders performed their roles capably with great confidence and clarity in their story telling. They were mature in handling this quirky love story where a girl is disguised as a boy and love abounds. They were also insightful in delivering such famous soliloquies as 'all the worlds a stage' which I found to be a profound reminder of life's seasons and a good metaphor for middle schoolers who each year are growing in their roles in the world. As I left the warm middle school gym, the Forest of Arden and the lives of Orlando and Rosalind, I heard a fifth grader say 'I get to do that next year'. It made me smile seeing that Shakespeare's words are alive and well in the hearts and minds of another class of middle school students.