The Episcopal School of Dallas celebrated William Shakespeare’s birthday in a big way, with their annual Bard on the Quarry.
Eighth grade performing arts classes came together for a cross-curricular production at the second annual Bard on the Quarry and Renaissance Festival. band kicked off the festivities with a rendition of an old English folk song “Scarborough Fair.” Audiences were then treated to the eighth grade 4th quarter choir singing a 16th century madrigal called “Sing We and Chant It,” where they demonstrated vocal techniques and verses that were popular during the Renaissance period.
Eighth grade theater students then closed out the celebrations with a mash-up of Shakespearean script selections from some of the author’s most popular plays. The performance included scenes from As You Like It, The Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, and more.
The celebrations continue this week with Shakespearean performances from the Breakfast Bunch at the Lower School, a group of elementary students who get together before school to learn about the arts and, more specifically, Shakespeare. The students vote on which play they present and learn lines from scripts adapted specifically for children, which are then performed and filmed.
This year, students selected The Taming of the Shrew and Macbeth. Lower School librarian Bonnie Tollefson originally formed the idea after attending a seminar in Cambridge, England and has been implementing it at ESD for the last 15 years. The filmed selections will be screened at the Lower School Fine Arts Night this Wednesday evening.