INCLUSION, DIVERSITY, EQUITY, & ACCESSIBILITY

SPEAK WHAT WE FEEL

The Fall Festival of Shakespeare Documentary

Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary Film at the 2021 Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF) and the first in-house, feature-length film project in Shakespeare & Company’s history, Speak What We Feel follows students from each of 10 area high schools as they prepare to stage their own full productions of Shakespeare’s plays. Speak What We Feel offers an intimate glimpse into a collaborative and immersive exploration of the Fall Festival of Shakespeare, a mainstay of arts education offered by the Company for more than three decades that is being replicated around the world, including in Australia, Bosnia, India, Israel, the U.K., the U.S., and beyond. “I can’t think of a more compelling and inspiring documentary subject to cover than the Fall Festival of Shakespeare,” says Speak What We Feel director Patrick J. Toole. “Anthropologists should be studying this program and the unique community that has emerged from it.” Director of Education Kevin G. Coleman, who helps narrate the film, added that an abridged version of the documentary for use in schools is also in process, designed to serve as an introduction to the program for teachers. “Our focus is introducing teachers and students to an exciting, visceral, academically rigorous, artistically playful model for encountering Shakespeare, and supporting them with webbased resources and professional development workshops to create similar programs in their schools,” he said. ■

The Fall Festival of Shakespeare, Reverance, 2019. Photo by Katie McKellick. Kevin G. Coleman Patrick J. Toole

Tina Packer Amanda Gordon President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

SHAKESPEARE & COMPANY LAUNCHES #LIVEINCOMPANY SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN

In an extension of our mission to live creatively, work collaboratively, and honor community, Shakespeare & Company has launched the #LiveinCompany social media campaign, spearheaded by its IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility) Committee. Highlighting the words and work of visionaries in various disciplines with one hashtag, this campaign features social media content designed to be shared by anyone and to spark conversation. To date, posts have been made regarding Black History Month, the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, Lunar New Year, and solidarity with the people of Ukraine, to name a few. Our IDEA committee—comprised of year-round staff, seasonal artists, board members, and volunteers—has taken the lead in planning, researching, and collaborating to identify people, causes, days of recognition, and other important events using a social-media calendar as a guide. But the effort takes a cue from our overall mission and vision, centered on the idea of engaging with the three vital questions at the heart of each of Shakespeare’s plays: What does it mean to be alive? How should we act? and What must I do? What’s more, the #LiveinCompany campaign is just one of many moves we're making to deepen our collective Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility knowledge. All of our fulltime, part-time, and seasonal staff complete trainings in cultural competency, bystander intervention, sexual harassment prevention, and microaggressions through resources provided by Multicultural BRIDGE (Berkshire Resources for Integration of Diverse Groups through Education), Right To Be, and Derald Wing Sue. Just this year, we started incorporating optional Company Artist and Actor-training Faculty pronouns in marketing materials such as press releases, e-blasts, and print pieces, including this Playbill. And web accessibility upgrades have ramped up in pursuit of achieving ideal accessibility as opposed to required accessibility. This isn’t a task completed quickly, but we’ve made our first few steps, including creating accessible downloadable forms and addressing colorcontrast and font-size issues on our website, in order to improve the overall experience for all. Shakespeare & Company now has two years of formal IDEA work under our belts, with decades to come. We will continue to move forward with the understanding that becoming an inclusive, antiracist organization requires continual practice and self-examination to build a foundation; a place where all of our stories are nurtured and celebrated. ■

“To be or not to be... It is obvious, we will be. It is obvious, we will be free.”

– President Volodymyr Zelenskyy