TSF receives grant for youth activities for 2009

The Texas Shakespeare Festival at Kilgore College will use its grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts to support the 2009 season's youth activities.

The TCA grant of $4,639 will help underwrite the TSF's high school acting and stage combat workshops. It will also provide a percentage of the salaries for directors and designers of the 2009 children's production.

The 2009 season will mark the seventh consecutive year that TCA has supported the Texas Shakespeare Festival for a cumulative investment of $25,520. The festival's acting and combat workshops are held each July as on-campus residencies for up to 20 high school students.

The stage combat workshop will feature fight movement and stage weapons including rapier dagger, broadsword, open hand and defensive use of cloak and buckler.

Classes will be taught by the professional company members who appear in the festival productions. Sessions will include lessons in voice, acting, monologue and movement. Students will also delve into the language and critical analysis of the festival's Shakespearean shows.

The Shakespeare Festival qualifies under TCA's Arts in Education Division which requires activities for students and teachers to advance arts education curriculum in Texas.

The Arts in Education Panel declared in 2006 that "no one does it better than the Texas Shakespeare Festival."

The Festival began in 1986 as part of KC's celebration of the Texas Sesquicentennial and has been led by Artistic Director Raymond Caldwell for 23 seasons.

Funding for the Texas Shakespeare Festival is provided in roughly equal thirds by KC, proceeds from ticket and concession sales and by private and grant funding.

The TCA grant accounts for approximately 1 percent of the festival's 2009 season. TCA is the state agency charged with the mission of promoting and developing the arts throughout Texas. Connie Ware of Marshall and Nancy Harrell Nelson of Gladewater are former members. The late John Ben Shepperd of Gladewater was the organizing chairman when TCA was established in 1965.

Texas Shakespeare Festival performances begin July 2 and continue through Aug. 2.

The 2009 shows include "Romeo and Juliet," "Love's Labor's Lost" (both by Shakespeare), "Tartuffe" by Moliere and the musical "She Loves Me." Also, a play for children is set to be announced.

For more information about the Texas Commission on the Arts see its Web site: www.arts.state.tx.us. For information about the Texas Shakespeare Festival's youth activities, visit the Web site: texasshakespeare. com.