As the year winds to a close, students will be able to step into the Elizabethan era with Thundermug, the annual competition between actors in Shakespeare scenes on May 19. Hosted by the Hotchkiss Dramatic Association (HDA), the competition is an effort to engage the community with the works of William Shakespeare.
The competition traditionally took place in the Black Box Theater. However, last year, the HDA board moved it to Elfer’s Patio. The board members aimed to diversify the competition’s setting and tone by utilizing a nontraditional space. Rock Zhu ’20, board member of HDA, said, “We try our best to make the scenes engaging, as there is a stigma [that] Shakespeare [is] complex or too difficult to understand. We want to show [that] Shakespeare can be interpreted in different ways and [that his work] is actually very interesting.”
Last year’s Thundermug champions were Billy Burns ’20, Charlie Knight ’20, Meszion Ramsden ’20, and Zhu, who performed a scene from Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing. They will return to perform again this year. Ramsden said, “The competition is a good way to bring people in the theatre community together, as people have a competitive nature. Thundermug is a great way to broadcast the love for theater on a smaller scale, since students don’t have much pressure put on them.”
The competition is open to the whole community, welcoming students, faculty, staff, and spouses to sign up before May 18. As the end of the school year approaches, Thundermug will celebrate the community’s love of Shakespeare and bring joy to audience members and actors.