By Lisa Roskowinski, Director of Much Ado About Will and Teacher of Drama Musical Theatre & Dance in Middle and Upper School

On Friday, November 5 and Saturday, November 6, after 15 months of remote rehearsals and productions, live theater returned to Viewpoint with our first simultaneous livestreamed and in-person performances of the Seventh and Eighth Grade play, Much Ado About Will a celebration of the words of Shakespeare by Robert Johanson. 

This charming entertainment featured 17 students performing a collage of his works and demonstrated the amazing versatility of the greatest playwright in the English language – "Neither age can whither him nor custom stale his infinite variety." The show was bookended by the hysterical antics of the rustics from A Midsummer Night's Dream, with a delightful journey through mistaken identity, murder, love, and war in between. The company of actors presented a dazzling display of comedy and pathos with some of Shakespeare's most famous characters. The entire show was rehearsed and performed outside on Blaney Patio and each student was allowed to invite three guests to be part of our live audience.  

A Shakespeare play was and is an event for the community to come together, and the material is accessible to everyone as a lifelong study. For young, emerging actors to be exposed to Shakespeare and gain an understanding of the relevance of his works through performing is an important experience and one that we had not brought beyond the classroom in Middle School until now.

These amazingly talented and resilient Middle School performers have experienced everything from fully-realized productions in the Carlson Family Theater, to a play performed live from their homes, to then rehearsing and having every movement, syllable, and note recorded individually for a full-scale, green screen production of Annie, our School's spring musical. It felt like the perfectly right group and the best time to take on this extraordinary challenge of presenting Shakespeare.

We have savored the process of rehearsing together in person and getting to laugh and engage in conversations about the Bard's material, as well as just share moments of everyday life. I am proud of these dedicated young artists, and it has been an honor to work with each of them. Much Ado About Will was an unforgettable celebration of our return to live performance.