The students pictured at left are from Central High School in West Helena, Arkansas. Their teachers heard about the Much Ado Monday Dinners and got a bus-load together of, as it turned out, beautiful young poets. Most of them stood up and sang out with verse at the dinner, reminding all the adults in the room that Shakespeare's is a young language and that when we arm the young with his canon, we hear and see life's Renaissance.

Shakespeare should be played in every classroom. TSC's Barbara B. Apperson Angel Fund is charged with bringing as many children as possible to Shakespeare, no matter where they come from or what it costs. But Central High School came on their own Monday night, and we were the ones benefiting.

And here's something for those of you who don't care for black tie affairs. We're going to launch a special event this fall -- Tennessee Shakespeare Company's First Annual Gala: A Midsummer Night's Roiter-Doiter! The dress is Festive.

The evening, orchestrated by Chairwoman Pat Smith, will include fine spirits, lavish dinner, hedonistic trips and vacation homes, and Elizabethan reveling with the Dream cast. There is also quite an extraordinary Drawing for an overseas Shakespeare Experience. Read more below and get your tickets for the final competition now.

On the Midsummer Night's Dream front, we are in Boston and NYC this week for national auditions and then return to Memphis for the final call, which will include seeing young actors aged 10 and up. For more information, click here.

We are continuing to partner with the City of Germantown and our theatre designers to create the first, exciting phase of the outdoor amphitheatre this fall.

And finally, we will launch expanded arts-in-education programs beginning this August. We were going to work more methodically but then Leigh Mansberg at St. Mary's School in Memphis immediately offered to let us model an in-school Residency with their terrific students around our production of Dream. "We want to do it now," said Leigh. We like Leigh!

It's an invigorating start to the Spring. "What revels are in hand?"

Much love,

Dan

Our March Much Ado Monday Dinner filled Pearl's Oyster House with 80 guests, Blues music, laughter, and lots of Shakespeare - including a German Titania from finalist Renate Rosenthal-Campbell, and a Spanish translation from Cindy Sturni!

Special thanks to all the Central High School students who made the 90-minute trip from Arkansas to be with us.

Our three finalists were Martha Pipkin, Jessica Boyd, and Renate Rosenthal-Campbell. Our playful Judges were Artistic Director of Seattle Shakespeare Company Stephanie Shine; Blues star Susan Marshall, who led the crowd in singing "Crazy Love;" and TSC Board Member Louise Calandruccio.

Jessica Boyd (pictured above with Company Manager Caroline Harrison), one of the students from West Helena, took the top prize for the night with a nod to TSC's 2010 all-female Julius Caesar by pleading to Marc Antony's "Friends, Romans, countrymen..."

Jessica won two tickets to TSC's fall production of A Midsummer Night's Dream; dinner for two at Pearl's; and she, along with each month's winner, is invited to play again at our GALA on September 21. That night's audience favorite will win a walk-on role in Dream!

Photos are posted on our website, tnshakespeare.org.

Join us in April for a very special Much Ado Monday, as we say "Happy Birthday, Mister Shakespeare!" William is turning 445, and we're going to celebrate like its 1599! The party will be at Interim on Monday, April 27 at 6:30 pm.

Tickets are available now by clicking here, or for more details: www.tnshakespeare.org

TSC's First Annual Gala: A Midsummer Night's Roiter-Doiter will feature fine spirits, lavish dinner, and Elizabethan entertainment as only TSC can offer.

Among the revelry, the evening will highlight a Drawing for a true Shakespeare Experience: a trip for two to Shakespeare's birthplace and his home in Stratford-upon-Avon, a three-night stay in the exclusive Shakespeare Hotel in Stratford, and theatre tickets to a performance at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Roundtrip airfare from Memphis to Stratford is included and may be used anytime between October 2009 and December 2010. Chairwoman Pat Smith will draw the winning ticket at the Gala. Will 9/21/09 prove lucky for you?

Drawing tickets are available at all Much Ado Monday events for a $20 suggested donation, or stop by TSC's office in the Germantown Train Depot.

See website for complete details, or click here to make an online donation and your tickets will be automatically entered!

For another near-birthday event, Rhodes College will host two lectures on The Taming of the Shrew, with Dr. Dympna Callaghan of Syracuse University and Dr. Leah Marcus of Vanderbilt University.

Both Shakespeare scholars will discuss the challenges of editing and interpreting The Taming of the Shrew and related plays. Free and open to the public, the event begins April 24, at 2 p.m. in Blount Auditorium of Buckman Hall.

These lectures coincide with, and are intended to enrich, the McCoy Theatre's production of The Taming of the Shrew that runs April 17 - 18, and 23 - 26.