The spring semester has been a success for the humanities at the Yeshiva University High School for Girls (Central). On the heels of the Central Playhouse’s successful production of the musical Frozen is a first-place overall win for Central’s Envision Shakespeare troupe at this year’s citywide Envision Shakespeare competition, which was held at Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School on Wednesday, April 16.
The troupe is led by senior club heads and co-directors Neima Bronstein and Serah Tolchin. “One of the judges remarked on what a cohesive unit the group was, which was a credit to our directors,” said Envision Shakespeare’s faculty advisor, Humanities Department Chair and Director of College Guidance, Mrs. Rena Boord. “Neima and Serah spent the entire last summer preparing and planning for this year’s competition. They ran Shabbatons for the club; they taught workshops – they really worked to bring the group together.”
This year’s selection from the comedy The Tempest was a challenge, as it depicted the play’s stormy opening scene. “The scene consisted of courtiers interacting with shipmen as a tempest sinks the ship,” Serah said. “We focused on the way humans grasp at straws to hold on to life and will only accept the reality of death after every other option is exhausted. As a senior, I really believe that this was the perfect year of Envision Shakespeare to be my last.”
Performance criteria for the festival are unique: No props or costumes are allowed, with student performers limited to the use of four chairs exclusively during performances. The result of the challenge is an immersive, exciting learning experience. “The students become familiar with the language and meaning of Shakespeare’s works and are able to express the emotions behind the words,” Mrs. Boord continued.
“The competition also gives the students an opportunity to meet like-minded students from other schools who are also interested in literature, humanities, and performance. It’s a growth experience for them.” In addition to two rounds of performance, the competition offers workshops and talks by actors and theater industry professionals.
This year’s troupe was a largely new cast of players, including junior Noa Shuval, sophomores Sarah Galanti, Maayan Kotkin, Emily Segall, and Avigayil Weiss, and freshmen Suri Hoffman, Rachel Mandler, and Tali Schneider. An additional win: Neima was awarded Best Director at this year’s competition.
“When the year started, we had an extremely small cast and were unsure if we could build a large enough team to compete,” Neima said. “To our delight, we found a large base of enthusiastic newcomers, eager to step into their roles. Our team showed incredible devotion, giving up all their plus periods to rehearse, texting Serah and me at all hours of the night with their own ideas for scene direction or line deliveries, and helping to plan extra programming, including drama workshops and a Shabbaton. I’m beyond thrilled with our final scene and our victory, but most of all, I’m proud of our cast and the bonds they built.”
