Thomas Jefferson Shakespeare Troupe

Shakespeare Troupe is friendship and drills and paint and costumes and makeup and the Stage and the grand and lights and mics and words and teaching and experiencing and caring and magic and People. Especially people. It is a community that is perpetually changing and adapting to those who comprise it. That is what makes it beautiful-- and what makes it impossible to describe.

It's a place for Shakespeare Dorks who thrive off of debates on Shakespeare's most obscure plays and who can recount Shakespeare's life story, or quote entire scenes from his plays without hesitation. Or people who know nothing about Shakespeare and want to learn.

It's a place for actors who use Shakespeare's rich text and incredible characters to grow as people and as performers, exploring human nature one show at a time. Or people who just need to get over their stage fright.

It's a place for hardcore High Schoolers to grab some power tools and build an entire world up from a flat stage. Or for the teachers-in-the-making who want to inspire younger children that Shakespeare is something more than a boring confusing Bard that stuffy English teachers make them read.

It's a place for someone who needs a welcoming community of compassionate people who take care of each other above all else. Or for a leader who has ideas and needs people and a space to make them happen. Shakespeare Troupe is all of those things or some of those things or something else completely.

It is a student run high school program that has entirely different members with entirely different interests and needs every four years. And it can and does change to fit those needs. Right now, we have two shows and an event called Shakespearience where elementary and middle schoolers come and participate in workshops about Shakespeare. Two years ago we had three shows and no Shakespearience. The one strand that has stayed constant over the years is the close-knit community of people who come together and grow together to define Shakespeare Troupe.

Remember, however, that inevitably this club leaves a perhaps even more significant mark on its members as they continue on past it into the world.