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Community Corner

Sound Shore Shakespeare Festival

     The New Rochelle Council on the Arts’ Sound Shore Shakespeare Festival
returns in April to celebrate the 450th anniversary of the birth of

the Bard of Avon. The Sound Shore Shakespeare Festival will run from April 3rd
to May 15th , with a variety of Shakespeare-themed events planned,

including films, concerts, lectures and performances, including the world

premiere of a ballet based on A Midsummer

Night’s Dream
.

    “The Sound Shore Shakespeare Festival is especially meaningful this year as we celebrate the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth,” says Theresa Kump Leghorn, President of the New Rochelle Council of the Arts and founder of the festival. “Four centuries may have passed since Shakespeare’s time, but his gift for storytelling – and his grasp of human nature – remain timeless.”

   Among the treats in store is a screening of
three different versions of “The Taming
of the Shrew
” at the New Rochelle Public Library on Thursdays in April,
with introductory comments by Prof. Amy Stackhouse, PhD, Assistant Chair of the
English Department at Iona College, and Prof. T. J. Moretti, PhD, Assistant
Professor of English at Iona College and Co-Editor of The Shakespeare Newsletter.

     The Ajkun Ballet will perform the world premiere of A Midsummer Night’s Dream on April 11th and 12th at the Whitney Young Theater at New Rochelle High School. Choreographed by company founder Chiara Ajkun, the piece is described as “magical and irresistible.”  Also on tap is a concert “Serenade in Song –Shakespeare Set to Music” by the Sound Shore Chorale on April 26th.  The evening will include madrigals, part songs and scenes from opera and Broadway musicals. A full calendar of events for the Sound Shore Shakespeare Festival can be accessed at www.newrochellearts.org.

      Leghorn notes that this year’s edition of
the Festival will have a special focus on introducing Shakespeare’s work to 
young people. “We’re bringing two traveling theater groups to New Rochelle this 
year,” she says. “Thanks to the New
Rochelle Fund for Educational Excellence
, Knighthorse Theatre will be 
conducting workshops at both middle schools and the high school, and NRCA is 
bringing the Brown Box Theatre Project to work with youngsters at the Boys and 
Girls Club.”  Knighthorse Theatre Company

is a non-profit, traveling theatre company dedicated to bringing vibrant,

living art into schools, colleges and universities across the country and

around the world. Knighthorse specializes in creating original adaptations of

Shakespeare with one or two actors --- on a bare stage using simple costumes 
and few props --  playing all the parts. 
Or, as the company puts it, “Two actors, 38 plays and a lot of words.” For more on the Knighthorse Theater Company visit their website at http://www.knighthorse.org.

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     The Brown Box Theatre Project is a Boston-based performing arts education collaborative dedicated to bringing high-quality performances to communities and locations along the eastern seaboard that ordinarily lack access to live theater. Brown Box strives to make Shakespeare’s plays accessible and enjoyable to audiences of all ages, with the idea that excellence in the performing arts does not need to come with a hefty price tag attached.For more information about the Brown Box Theatre Projectvisit their website at http://www.brownboxtheatre.org/







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