From Spring to Fall of 2008;
- the proposition was placed before the director of Tamanend Park that we begin to develop Shakespeare in the Park. It was well received and with the help of the Southampton Public Works Department a stage belonging to Image of the Mind Studios was moved to the park. Work on refining and decorating that stage has continued since then and we are currently constructing a concessions counter and a movie screen for "Shakespeare Under the Stars".
- Over the following summer (in 2008) a workshop was conducted on "Much Ado About Nothing". Numerous people attended and a few others joined in the effort to bring more people to be involved. A small troupe of nine people walked in the Southampton Day Parade on July 4th, 2008 handing out flyers & raffle tickets.
- Over the summer other events in Northampton and Newtown were attended to promote the effort and we recieved the promise of support from a number of agencies and organizations.
- In August auditions were held with mild attendance, which led to further rehearsal activity looking toward a September/October performance schedule, consisting of scenes and music, with a troupe of ten.
- In the fall we presented "Scene & Music from Shakespeare" at The Village Renaissance Faire in Wrightstown which was performed by a small troupe of actors and generally promoted the effort to good success.
- For our performances in Tamanend Park, the following weekend, we had visiting artists from Philadelphia and Montgomery Counties joining the small troupe of local performers. However we got rained out for both Tamanend Park Day and our first weekend at Tamanend Park. So, on the first weekend in October we performed on Saturday and Sunday with a total of ten performers. Scenes & Music from "Much Ado About Nothing", "The Taming of the Shrew" and "Twelveth Night" were presented with an attendance of about sixty people over two days. Our presentation was well received , we had a raffle and free will contributions amounted to $67. (Our current policy is that the first $100 goes toward publicity/printing expenses and the balance is divided between the crew.)
- There was a hiatus over November and December and work began again in January on further improvements on the stage and the layout for a spring performance time slot.
- The decision was made not to attempt a Spring production for various reasons and so focus of attention was placed on continuing with a new tradition of walking in the parade . This year the number of people walking in the Southampton Days Parade on the 4th of July increased to fifteen.
- For this event we brought in a horse and carriage and the theme was "The Earl of Southampton presents Queen Elizabeth". After the parade, we had a barbecue at the stage with over thirty people in attendance. We were all happy to be fortunate enough to have won best Neighborhood Group in the parade. We did not offer a performance to the public, but we did perform various scenes and found that a July 4th performance would have worked quite well, so we will be planning that for the future.
- The current program in development includes;
"Shakespeare Under the Stars"
a cinema presentation in The Meadow Amphitheare on Friday Nights
Lawerence Olivier's "Hamlet", "The Souls of an Age: Shakespeare"
"Scenes from Shakespeare"
script in hand readings of the current study program
other scenes performed from memory
"Music from Shakespeare"
a program of music* that has been written for the lyrics
contained in the plays of William Shakepeare
*it is hoped that this program may tour to other Shakespeare festivals
a cinema presentation in The Meadow Amphitheare on Friday Nights
Lawerence Olivier's "Hamlet", "The Souls of an Age: Shakespeare"
"Scenes from Shakespeare"
script in hand readings of the current study program
other scenes performed from memory
"Music from Shakespeare"
a program of music* that has been written for the lyrics
contained in the plays of William Shakepeare
*it is hoped that this program may tour to other Shakespeare festivals
