Hundreds Attend Sound Shore Shakespeare Festival Premiere Event

The second annual Sound Shore Shakespeare Festival kicked off Sunday with a mini-Renaissance Faire and the first of several renditions of Romeo and Juliet.

The event, held at the , was also part of the New Rochelle Downtown Business Improvement District Family Day.

It attracted hundreds of people who came to experience aural, visual and participatory delights including excerpts from the ballet Romeo & Juliet by Ballet Atlantic, Melissa the Loud playing the Hurdy-Gurdy and Hip Hop Shakespeare by the Point of Entry Theater Company.

The event also kicked off  “One City, One Book: Romeo & Juliet,” an effort to get New Rochelle immersed in the famous play written by Shakespeare. 

Artisans took time to show off basket weaving, yarn spinning and stone carving. Children and adults were able to make mini shields and calligraphy pieces of their initials, as well as receive a handmade hair garland. Library spokesperson Barbara Davis estimated that over 500 people attended.

Shakespeare-related items for sale benefitted the New Rochelle Fund for Educational Excellence.

“It has been great. Shakespeare is accessible for everyone young and old. It has been wonderful to see everyone—little to big—taking advantage of what is available. It has been fun to see what the kids have been making. And most of them are smiling,” said Susan Weisman, executive director for the New Rochelle Fund for Educational Excellence.

The festival collaborated with the library for the first time, said Theresa Kump Leghorn, vice president of the New Rochelle Council on the Arts.

“Shakespeare wrote about human nature so well that it is relevant 400 years later. In some ways, human nature hasn’t changed. That’s what we are trying to show at the festival. We have art, dance, music, and so much more because there’s so much [to Shakespeare],” she said.

Families like that of Erica Choi of the Bronx were happily creating art and watching the performances.

“I thought was very well organized,” said said. “The events in the theater were nicely done. It was ideal for children. My son made a shield and he had fun. Now we’re going to get a crown.”

Bo Kemp of New Rochelle brought his son, John Jr., to the renaissance faire after hearing about the event through the library newsletter.

“I went to a renaissance fair when I was a little kid. I was always interested in the middle ages, and I wanted to give my son the experience of a mini fair,” Kemp said.

Mary Jackson, of the Bronx, has been a NRPL children’s librarian for over 10 years. She was thrilled to see such a big turnout.

“This is just like the big renaissance fair with the shows every hour and the crafts. All that we are missing are the opulent foods. The kids have had a ball, and I love how everything is unisex. The shield, initials and garland were for boys and girls,” she said.

The festival has been organized by the New Rochelle Council on the Arts with support from the Arts Alive program of Arts Westchester. The Decentralization Program of the NYS Council on the Arts, the City of New Rochelle, the New Rochelle School District,  on Lawton Street and the Green Team Cab Company also helped fund the event.

For a list of festival events, go here.

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