The prophecy of the three witches to Macbeth was repeated many times last week at The Frisch School, host of the second annual Envision Shakespeare competition. Founded by Rebecca Lopkin, Envision Theater artistic director and Nancy Edelman, Director of Curriculum and English teacher at Torah Academy of Bergen County, the Envision Shakespeare program invites students from Tri-State Area yeshiva high schools to present their own creative interpretation of the same scene from a Shakespeare play, using no costumes or props. This year, the scene selected was Macbeth 1.3.—timely in a year of actual political drama and intrigue. Teams of students from Frisch, Ma’ayanot, TABC, Bruriah, Westchester Hebrew High School, Magen David Yeshiva High School and SAR High School spent the day performing their scenes in two rounds of competition. In between presentations, students participated in enriching theater workshops led by teaching artists who also served as judges.There was a Shakespeare trivia contest while the judges conferred to decide the finalists.

In the end, prizes were awarded to TABC for Best Actor (given to the three students—Benjy Kleiner, Shai Gutfreund, and Yitzchak Bazian—who played the witches); Westchester Hebrew High School for Most Creative Interpretation of the Scene; Ezra Herman of SAR High School for Best Director; and to SAR for the Best Overall Performance.

Lopkin and Edelman hope to include even more schools next year and are already at work on choosing next year’s scene. For more details visit www.envisiontheater.com.

By Nancy Edelman