7th and 8th graders gathered at the presentation hall in late May to showcase their renditions of Shakespeare’s canon in front of parents, teachers, and fellow students. The 7th graders performed the comedy ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, and the 8th graders staged the tragedy ‘Macbeth’. 

Students who completed the act-it-out in previous years returned to watch younger kids perform. As the show continued, they compared it to their own work in previous English classes. Robert in 9th grade said, “The last fighting scene [in Macbeth], I played that [part] too. I was really impressed by that.”

Brian Cho, another freshman, added that “the costumes made this year’s acting more realistic.” 

Every time the actors transitioned between scenes, the presentation hall resonated with claps and cheers. Ms. Nagy, one of the teachers that produced the shows, said, “It was so wonderful. Everyone was excited, the audience was wowed.” 

The actors gave their all until the curtain call. And in the end, many students came down from the stand elated that they got over their stage fright. Haydn in 8th grade said, “I’ve had past traumatic experiences with stage fright, but this time I practiced a lot and looked, researched on how to get over stage fright, and I was just focusing on my lines and focusing on my fellow actor Yujun, instead of the crowd. And while I was doing the play, it was really cool because the only thing I was focusing on was how I was doing, and it was like the crowd didn’t exist.”

Behind the scenes, students and teachers geared themselves up for the perfect show. Despite some tough moments, everyone had fun with the process. Agnew in grade 7 said, “I mostly enjoyed the act and [the] project, because we were able to actually be the characters themselves and express what they would actually feel. And acting is one of the best parts of doing a project, because I mean, you get to laugh with your friends, and [it’s] better than just a written form of tests.”

Both Ms. Loutsch and Ms. Nagy appreciated everyone’s collaboration. Ms. Nagy said, “It was so fun to see the students team up with different partners that they don’t traditionally get to spend time with because of the division of our classes.” Ms. Loutsch also commended 7th and 8th graders for the hours they put in outside of school. 

After the presentation hall cleared out, Ms. Loutsch said, “[The actors] really took it to a new level in their performance.” They put on an enchanting show for everyone in the audience. Even better, these student plays will return for another round next spring.

Gallery • 16 Photos

The witches recite Macbeth's prophecy. Photo by Anna Yoon.