Shakespeare & Company returns to the Academy at Charlemont

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Lenox - After a 15-year absence, Shakespeare & Company's Education Program returns to The Academy at Charlemont, an independent day school in Charlemont, MA, for their winter production of Shakespeare's magical A Midsummer Night's Dream. The 8-week residency began December 5, and runs through February 20 concluding with four performances at the school February 16 - 17 at 7:00 pm, and February 18th at 2:00 pm & 7:00pm. Performances of A Midsummer Night's Dream are open to the public with tickets at $10 for adults, and $6 for students/seniors. For further information about the performances or to reserve tickets please call the school at (413) 339-4912. The 90-minute, fast-paced performance is directed by Company teaching artists Jenna Ware and Jonathan Croy, with sets by Croy, costumes designed by Jim Day, and lights by Nathan Towne-Smith. Modeled on the Company's annual Fall Festival of Shakespeare, which runs from September to November each year and involves ten high schools and over 500 students, the after-school mini-residency at Charlemont involves 34 students who, like Festival participants, are involved in all aspects of the production from acting, costume, lighting and sound design, to set construction. Ware and Croy work with students up to four hours daily on Shakespeare's text, stage fighting, clown, Elizabethan dance and ensemble work, using the same techniques used by the professional actors at Shakespeare & Company during the performance season. "Having Shakespeare & Company in residence again has been a wonderful part of our twenty-fifth anniversary year," says Headmaster Todd Sumner. "Renewing our collaboration with this extraordinary Company has given current Academy students an experience in common with students who attended the school in its first decade; a great chance to reconnect and to share our love of Shakespeare." Founded in 1981, The Academy at Charlemont makes a classical, academic education available to children from the towns of Western Massachusetts and to a small number of boarding students from other countries and areas of the United States. The Academy is a public-spirited private school that combines the best of the classical academic tradition with a visible commitment to building and sustaining community. Most Academy students go on to college, and most of them live within fifty miles of Charlemont, a small town in rural Western Massachusetts. For more information about The Academy, visit their website at www.charlemont.org. The Education Program has been identified by the Arts Education Partnership and the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities as a Champion of Change. The Program is focused on bringing Shakespeare alive and into the lives of as many students and teachers as possible through the active exploration and performance of Shakespeare's plays. Shakespeare & Company's Education programs have reached nearly one million students since 1978 with innovative performances, workshops, and residencies. Shakespeare & Company's arts-in-education programs receive major support from The National Endowment for the Arts, The National Endowment for the Humanities, TD Banknorth, Berkshire Bank, the Massachusetts Cultural Council and its local cultural councils, and many other local corporations, private foundations, and individuals. For more information about the Company's residencies or its Education Program, please call Jenna Ware, Youth Programs Director: (413) 637-1199 ext. 172.
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Lanesborough Fifth-Graders Win Snowplow Name Contest

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — One of the snowplows for Highway District 1 has a new name: "The Blizzard Boss."
 
The name comes from teacher Gina Wagner's fifth-grade class at Lanesborough Elementary School. 
 
The state Department of Transportation announced the winners of the fourth annual "Name A Snowplow" contest on Monday. 
 
The department received entries from public elementary and middle school classrooms across the commonwealth to name the 12 MassDOT snowplows that will be in service during the 2025/2026 winter season. 
 
The purpose of the contest is to celebrate the snow and ice season and to recognize the hard work and dedication shown by public works employees and contractors during winter operations. 
 
"Thank you to all of the students who participated. Your creativity allows us to highlight to all, the importance of the work performed by our workforce," said  interim MassDOT Secretary Phil Eng.  
 
"Our workforce takes pride as they clear snow and ice, keeping our roads safe during adverse weather events for all that need to travel. ?To our contest winners and participants, know that you have added some fun to the serious take of operating plows. ?I'm proud of the skill and dedication from our crews and thank the public of the shared responsibility to slow down, give plows space and put safety first every time there is a winter weather event."
 
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