Caught in the act: Juveniles sentenced to Shakespeare

[Forkboy]

LENOX — Tonight, 13 actors will take the stage at Shakespeare & Company in “Henry V.’’ Nothing so unusual in that — except that these are teenagers, none older than 17, and they have been sentenced to perform this play.
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The show is the culmination of a five-week intensive program called Shakespeare in the Courts, a nationally recognized initiative now celebrating its 10th year. Berkshire Juvenile Court Judge Judith Locke has sent these adjudicated offenders — found guilty of such adolescent crimes as fighting, drinking, stealing, and destroying property — not to lockup or conventional community service, but to four afternoons a week of acting exercises, rehearsal, and Shakespearean study.

More than 100 youths have participated since Kevin Coleman, the Shakespeare troupe’s education director, and Paul Perachi, Locke’s predecessor on the bench, started the program. But Coleman is realistic about what Shakespeare can and cannot do.

“I am going to say this right now, really clearly, on a billboard: This does not fix them,’’ Coleman said Friday, before the group’s four-hour rehearsal began. “Do they get back in trouble? Yes, they do. But maybe less often and maybe not as deep. This extreme experience that they’re having starts to change them.’’

http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2010/05/18/caught_in_the_act_juveniles_sentenced_to_shakespeare/

Personally, I'd rather have jail time.... :evilgrin:

[cliffordu]

1. Not me, I loves me some willy the shake.

Fookin' awesome....

[Forkboy]

2. "willy the shake"

:rofl:

[cliffordu]

4. Joni Mitchell referred to him as that in one of her songs....

Forget which one....

Now I remember!!!

"talk to me" off of her 'blue' album. Fantastic.

You could talk like a fool-I'd listen
You could talk like a sage
Anyway the best of my mind
All goes down on the strings and the page
That mind picks up all these pictures
It still gets my feet up to dance
Even though it's covered with keyloids
From the "slings and arrows of outrageous romance"
I stole that from Willy the Shake!
You know--"Neither a borrower nor a lender be"
Romeo, Romeo talk to me!

[aquart]

3. It's the shock of learning his 400 years dead mind understood your soul.

[cliffordu]

5. No kidding. Perfect.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. Now, that's a smart move by the judge and the director.

[AnneD]

7. I hate these liberal judges that are soft on crime......

they should sentence these kids to at least 16 years of hard public and college education.....:evilgrin:

[EFerrari]

8. Great. Have them do a play about fighting, drinking, stealing and destroying property.

:rofl:

[Forkboy]

9. ....

:spray: