To Bard or Not To Bard: Festival Introduces New Junior Bard Program
By Kathryn Neves, guest writer
This summer at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, our youngest patrons will have an exciting new opportunity to look forward to—the Festival’s Junior Bard program! Inspired by the National Parks Junior Ranger program, this fun-for-all-ages activity quest will give young theatre-lovers a chance to dig deeper into Shakespeare, the Festival, and the magic of theatre.
“The idea came about in a staff meeting where we were brainstorming ideas to really connect with our community,” said Festival Education Director Stewart Shelley, “especially children and youth—as they are the rising generation of theatre patrons.” Shelley noted that one of the most common questions he hears in the Seminar Grove is the question of community outreach, specifically toward youth: What are we doing to connect with the younger generation? The answer: lots! From the annual Shakespeare Competition to the Shakespeare in the Schools education tour, from student summer camps and classes to initiatives with local students, education and youth outreach has always been a high priority at the Festival. And with this new Junior Bard program, children will have a fun, free, and accessible way to dive deeper into the Bard as they visit the Beverley Taylor Sorensen Center for the Arts.
The program is centered around an activity booklet, which young guests can fill out and enjoy in order to earn a Junior Bard pin. With acrostic poems, coat-of-arms design, word scrambles, and interviews about the Festival Experience (to name just a few!), the program is designed to take participants on a journey through the Festival itself.
To earn the pin, participants must complete as many activities as they are years old (guests twenty-five or older are invited to complete the whole booklet). “It invites participants to become more actively involved in the Festival Experience,” Shelley said, highlighting the play orientations, seminars, and backstage tours. “We are hopeful that it will highlight the many different experiences one can have at the Festival, in addition to seeing the plays.” Once the booklet is complete, participants can be sworn in as Junior Bards and receive their pin after play orientations at 1:15 pm and 6:45 pm in the Balcony Bards Seminar Grove.
In preparation for this summer’s program, Shelley worked with Festival Creative Director Clare Campbell on the design of the pin. Then he reached out to a pin vendor to print the pins for program participants. “I had a delightful interaction with him. He commented that he takes his son to Shakespeare in the Park at his home on the East Coast; and after seeing the pin and learning who we are, he said his son would be thrilled to participate in a program like this,” Shelley said. “I am excited to send him a booklet and pin for his son, and to invite them to Utah to join us.”
The Festival’s education department looks forward to the connection, community-building, and fun that this new program will provide. “This is an opportunity for our guests to interact face-to-face with Festival staff, and explore the Beverley Center and our theaters on a deeper level—perhaps with a different lens than they have in the past,” Shelley said. “It provides a different and new opportunity to learn more about Shakespeare’s plays, the theatre, and the welcoming and warm community that we share here at the Festival.”
This summer, be sure to pick up a free booklet at the Ticket Office, in the Engelstad gift shop, or in the Festival administration offices, and earn your commemorative pin while you’re here. Whether you’re solving a word scramble before Macbeth, or designing a mask during The Greenshow, the Junior Bard program invites the young––and young-at-heart––to dive deeper into their Festival Experience. With a season of some of the Bard’s best hits and other contemporary favorites, it’s the perfect time to discover the magic both on and offstage.
For questions about the Junior Bard program, email usfeducation@bard.org.
