Following a two-year hiatus during COVID-19, the Department of English and Philosophy will hold its annual Shakespeare Festival on March 9–10,

The festival, which began in 2000, aims to engage local K-12 students and the campus community through live Shakespeare performances.

English Department and Festival Chair Rusty Jones said he started preparing for the event eight months in advance.

“The trick to the whole thing was we were still coming out of COVID, really, when I started the planning of it,” Jones said. “The concern was that the high schools, the middle schools, the ones who bring large groups to the festival would still be a little bit shy about attending a large event.”

But, Jones said he feels confident in the level of community engagement.

“Some schools are still really hesitant to go out and to join large groups,” Jones said. “Others are seeing it as an opportunity to go back to the style of teaching and learning that they were doing pre-pandemic.”

This year, Kentucky Shakespeare, a nonprofit based in Louisville, will perform “Hamlet” in Lovett Auditorium on March 8-9 at 10 a.m. and March 10 at 7 p.m. Tickets for students and staff with an ID are $5, and general admission tickets are $10. Tickets will be available in the box office of the auditorium before each performance.

A panel of four students from Jones’ Shakespeare class will each present on a different topic related to “Hamlet.” The panel is set for March 10 at 3 p.m. in the Waterfield Library Gallery.

Though the festival has never included a student panel before, Jones says faculty members are excited at the prospect.

“This is, ultimately, something that I think is going to become a tradition,” Jones said. “I think it’s going to open up a whole new avenue for students in our department…the idea is to start a movement in our department to get more panels like this, where there are student interactions with professors, and the students are actually able to publicly present their ideas.”

The festival also will include a psychology panel titled “Hamlet and the Best Methods for Coping with Grief.” The panel, slated for March 9 from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Waterfield Library Gallery, will feature psychology professors Michael Bordieri and Gage Jordan, Counseling Center director Angie Trzepacz and Jones as moderator.

The panel will use “Hamlet” to prompt a discussion about mental health, Jones said.

“The goal is really not to talk about Hamlet’s problems but just to use him as a way to say, ‘Here we see examples of depression and grief and suicidal ideation’…and what can the psychology department offer to people as ways to cope,” Jones said.

After the panel, actors from Kentucky Shakespeare will lead an acting workshop called “Hip Hop Shakespeare” from 5 to 6 p.m. in the Playhouse in the Park Annex at 907 Arcadia Circle.

The festival began working with Kentucky Shakespeare because of the interesting work he saw them doing out of Louisville, Jones said.

“They were touring around that area in the east, and I was getting a lot of really good feedback from the tours,” Jones said. “They do really strong work with a relatively small touring company, and they’re really good at creating an accessible Shakespeare.”

The festival has a tradition of placing chairs on the stage so students can watch performances intimately, Jones said.

“It’s really an opportunity that students don’t get that often, and they’re not just sort of sitting in Lovett Auditorium quietly,” Jones said. “We’re really pleased to bring this back and to have it as an opportunity for both the students at Murray State and for the community.”

For more information about the festival or to reserve tickets for a large group, email Jones at [email protected] or call (270) 809-2397.

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