Somerset Island Prep students are taking part in a new course. They are now exposed to some of the most powerful thoughts on love ever written: the sonnets of William Shakespeare.
The Keys Shakespeare Festival is a new venture of Richard Ericson, producing artistic director. “The festival’s mission is world-class, island-inclusive theater here in Key West and the Florida Keys. When I learned about Island Prep’s creative and flexible approach to learning, I immediately thought of Shakespeare,” Ericson said. “His poetry and plays were popular right from the start; he had the notoriety of any rapper today. Four centuries on, the emotions, phrasings and verbal agility of his words remain astonishing. Then as now, times were complex and full of uncertainty and even danger. Shakespeare is more relevant than ever.”
The new class at Island Prep includes students in ninth through 12th grades, and will be exploring sonnets in the fall semester. The spring semester will pivot to one of the Bard’s most gripping plays, the tragic love story, “Romeo and Juliet,” which the festival will present in a two-week run in Key West the last half of April 2023.
“Being able to think on your feet — literally, as you speak authentically and persuasively — is one of the core skills for success as well as satisfaction,” said Somerset Island Prep principal Tom Rompella. “Students aren’t just ‘Shaking it up’ with these sonnets, they’re shaking themselves up for even more agile and engaged futures. All of us at Island Prep are looking forward to the results. That students’ firsthand introduction to the festival’s artistic director might lead to participation in the festival itself, whether on stage, backstage, administratively, or in the house, is yet another exciting possibility.”
Somerset Island Prep provides a rigorous and innovative academic experience that develops and fosters students’ sense of purpose to prepare them to contribute both locally and globally as responsible and respectful citizens in a college preparatory environment.
More information is at KeysShakes.org and islandprep.org.
