And… action!

The Upstart Crows, the ETHS Shakespeare Club, offers a place where students can perform and learn more about Shakespeare.

¨We learn about Shakespeare and other dramatists of his time,” Director Anne Lefkovitz says. The club provides a chance to not only perform Shakespeare’s works, but also for students to learn about his life as well.

The club starts off by reading through the text before performing any of the scenes. Since learning the shakespearean language can be challenging, making sure everyone understand the text is important. After everyone fully understand the text, casting begins.

The club normally performs different scenes from Shakespearean plays, including Romeo and Juliet, which all freshmen read, and Macbeth, which all sophomores read.

“We learn a lot about the history of theater and how it’s changed over the year,” junior Meredith Byrnes says. “We are not a high stakes club; it’s pretty relaxed.”

Anyone is able to the join the club The club isn’t too intense and is a great way to get involved with theater and learn at the same time. Students are still able to join in the little theater on Wednesdays after school.

Students who participate in the club become close through the course of their time together. “We always have an Upstart Crows party and we always have a cake with a cap and gown on it with the names of the graduating seniors names on it,” says Lefkovitz.

“We become closer with club members through Shakespeare because it’s so hard to understand flow of the language, ” junior Maya Parks says

“We can give a lot of feedback to the director on how we want to do the scene,” Byrnes says.

“It’s really quite a learning experience. A lot of students say it really helped them in their English classes,” adds Lefkovitz. After learning the history and the text with the group, students can become better informed with Shakespeare’s work and time.

The students perform and hour-long show , The Showcase of Scenes from Shakespeare, at the end of January. Auditions for roles happen in November. Students are given the chance to be a main role, and then also have a smaller role throughout other scenes.

Also, even for students not participating in the Upstart Crows, are able to participate in the Shakespeare competition through Evanston. It’s normally held in the end of December or beginning of January. After Evanston’s competition the next level includes around 24 to 25 high school in the Chicago area competing against one another.

The Chicago area competition is normally in February and takes place at Roosevelt University. For the competition students must memorize a 20 line monologue, then must perform it with great skill. Once the Chicago area competition had concluded, they will send a student to nationals in New York.

The upstart crows are always welcoming to new members to participate in the showcase of scenes from Shakespeare or to compete in the ETHS competition. Stop by the little theater after school on Wednesdays to join.