Evening star., 1923-05-08


Shakespeare. BY nature they easily
fall into swimmin' holes-especially
at this time of year-and are per-
fectly at home on the old ball ground.
Eut when it comes to the celebrated
bard of Avon boys are inclined to
Jest.
They started to do that very thing
Yesterday afternoon at the opening
rerformanC of the Shakespeare
pageant given by the local high
schools in the natural theater at
the south end of the 10th street res
ervoir.
Watch loves young dream" quoth
Shakespeare, as played by KARI
he stood before the court of Queen
Elizabeth, introducing the players
from the Eastern. Mckinley, Busl-
ness, Western and Central High
schools.
Group of Boys Interest.
"Oh you love-" sang out a group
OF boys in the amphitheater. which
graded schools of the city. who were
the guests of the afternoon. The
lageant is to be given each after
noon at 4 o'clock, through Friday
And all Is Well, declared Slld heS-
peare, at another point.
You bet it's WELL chorused the
boys.
"Tll punch your head off," shouted
another
Hey, Jimmie look at Shakespeare
cried one boy to another.
Just then a school official walked
up. marched directly to the boys and
said, IF you boys do not be quiet,
you will have to leave"
After this interlude of the American
hoy. not strictly on the program. but
m interesting part of it. nevertheless.
the entire audience, including the
aforementioned youths, settled down
to the enjoyment of as pretty a pag-
cant as perhaps ever was seen in
Washington.
There were fairies and elves, there
were queens and lovely ladies galore.
there were clowns grotesque and
courtiers. The wealth of Shakes
peare's purple pages" was poured
on to the green amphitheater to make
a Washington holiday. That Miss
Sarah Z. Simons. head of the English
department of the local public high
schools. did her work well was seen
by the prologue, in which the players
from the various high schools were
introduced to Queen Elizabeth MAR
saret Loeffier) and her court by
Shakespeare. Clarke Beach of Cen
trail acted as the herald of the court.
Characters in Review.
Marching in front of the queen, the
brightly clad characters of Shakes
peare passed in review. to hidden
ious companies" and took up posi-
tions on the rolling hills. awaiting
their turn to appear before the court.
No one of Shakespeare's plays better
than "A Midsummer Nights Dream
so the fairy frolics. as presented by
the first company, "the children of
the Chapel Royal" composed Of play
ers from the Eastern High School.
was one of the outstanding events of
the afternoon.
In blue, green, yellow, pink, and all
the other colors OF the rainbow. the
children danced and sang, holding the
rapt attention of even the bad
SO had after all.
Various scenes from the "Midsum-
mer Nights Dream" were presented
by Margaret Beasley, as Puck; Morti-
Tremaine. as Titania; Ruthellen Ward
and Roberta Harrison. as fairies:
Laura Barrett. Mary Clarke. Gather
inc Brady. Dorothy Schenken, Ralph
Nestler and Jack Vierkorn.
Pass to Other Scenes
Came then scenes from THE Mer-
chant of Venice" as presented by
"The Company of Burbage." composed
of players from the Mckinley High
School. The casket scene and sew
eraI other bits from the comedy were
very well given. 1t may be remarked
here that although the ampitheater
Is large, the young players had no
difficulty in making themselves heard.
Ruth Russell made a lovely Portia.
Others in this cast were Olyve Bar
bee. Helen Patterson. Martha Norton,
John Daily. Fred Linton. John Schell-
haas. Prentiss Taylor. David Beers.
Jesse Rohrback Edward Denison.
Philip Litvin. Edward Smith and
Martin Derrick.
The Tanning of the Shrew" was the
ambitious work undertaken by the
"Queens Players of the Business
High School. The prologue to this, as
to eth other offerings. was spoken by
Shakespeare Margaret RYAN made a