If students haven’t already heard, starting on Thursday, Nov. 10, the MHS theater department is presenting the fall play: Shakespeare in Love. The play will be performed Thursday night through Saturday night. The play will begin at 6:30 p.m., but the doors will be open starting at 6 p.m. The tickets are available on the Instagram profile for MHS theater (the link is in the account bio) or directly through this link.  

In this play, viewers meet William Shakespeare, who promised two producers a play, but is struggling because of his writer’s block. He then meets Viola de Lesseps, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, who loves poetry above all else, and because of her love of beautiful words, her secret dream is to become an actress. Viola and Shakespeare eventually fall in love with each other. With Viola in the dark about Shakespeare’s feelings towards her, she becomes the basis of the play that Shakespeare is writing: Romeo & Juliet. But Viola will discover that her father has promised her to Lord Wessex in order to receive a title for their family. Both Viola and William are destroyed by this information.

Will they be able to be together in the end, or will the relationship between the two young lovers end in tragedy?

All productions at Mead require a lot of effort from the many teams. Initially, the rehearsals were only two days every week and then, as the date of play grew closer, they became every day from 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The cast and tech crew were supported by many others. Some parents helped by bringing dinner to rehearsals; others helped by finding props that will be used in the scenes.

All the people working on the play thank and appreciate all of the help they’ve received.

Theater teacher Ms. Andrea Mackey, when asked how she feels about the upcoming play, said, “As always, I feel nervous, and excited, proud, and inspired.”

When asked if the play this year was difficult to direct Mackey said, “This play was hard because it’s a big set that requires [a lot of] hard work.” She said simply understanding and helping the students understand the context and meaning of the script “was a challenge”. However, she added, “I think that because [it] is a well written script, it made it easier.”

Mackey said that overall, “the crew is really reliable” and she’s so proud of all the students involved.

“The tech students are really good with making their own cues. The cast had fun with this play — they… always worked hard supporting each other,” she continued.

The lead roles are Maggie McMillan (’23), who plays Viola de Lesseps, and Jacob Linn (’23), who plays William Shakespeare.

McMillan (’23) expressed that she is most excited about “seeing everything that [they] worked on coming all together, becoming reality”. She said all the effort they put in is important to the overall production, and she’s excited to show everyone the finished product.

“We worked all together and worked really hard, and it’s important to show to everyone what we created,” she added.

Linn (’23) said that beyond the play itself, the theater traditions have made the process exciting. “I am really excited about the overall performance. And then, I am really excited about the theater traditions, like the ones that we do before performing, that makes us feel part of something special,” he commented.

This is a play where viewers, students and community members alike, are going to have fun. There is comedy, irony, love, a dog, sword fighting, a lot of action, and a little bit of drama. Don’t miss out — come see the play over the next few days!