Shakespeare Day

This past Thursday was Shakespeare's birthday. In the Waterford Theater Department, we call it Shakespeare Day. Every year, we celebrate with food, treats, readings, and most of all, laughter about past Shakespeare productions in the Black Box. This year's celebration was a first: we celebrated via Zoom!

At Waterford, Shakespeare is the center of our philosophy and curriculum. We learn about his life. We read his plays. We do scenes and monologues from those plays in class. And most importantly, we produce at least one Shakespeare play every year. There is no theater program quite like ours.

For years, I have watched Waterford students hold the most profound words ever written in their mouths, like white-hot coal. I've watched the meanings of those words ignite their bodies. And I've wondered: can they possibly comprehend that fire? Year after year, they show me that they can. And when they leave Waterford, they carry it with them to light the way into the unknown. For most of them, Shakespeare's work is seared into them forever. For most of them, "it is an ever-fixéd mark."

So here's to the 456 years since Will of Stratford was born. And here's to Waterford Theater.