HEBRON – Hebron Academy Middle School participated recently in a workshop given by three members of the Theater at Monmouth troupe, Todd Quick, Andy Stokan and Jessica Pohly, all of New York.

Since its founding in 1970, the Theater at Monmouth, the Shakespearean Theater of Maine, has presented productions of plays in rotating repertory. The group has been visiting Hebron Academy annually to do theater workshops with the middle and upper school in conjunction with the school’s English Department.

The troupe was also on campus to perform “Macbeth,” directed by Jeri Pitcher, for the Hebron Academy community in the campus Androscoggin Theatre.

The middle school workshop consisted of a synopsis of “Macbeth” so the students could understand the story before they saw the performance, followed by an explanation of what theater was like in Shakespearean times.

The workshop was set up like a Shakespearean stage, with the students arranged in a horseshoe-like pattern around the actors, which had allowed for better viewing, interaction and vocalization during the plays of the time.

The troupe members emphasized that Shakespeare’s plays were written to be “heard more than seen,” said Quick, and that “the way they said things were often more important than what you saw.”

They ended the workshop by breaking into three groups and working on a reading from Macbeth. “The best part of it was seeing the students really getting into the emotion and energy behind Shakespeare,” said English teacher Michele Lee.

For more information about the middle school, interested families should check the middle school section of the Hebron Academy Web site at www.hebronacademy.org.