Whiz Kids: The Cast of King Lear

Name:  Fourth grade students at Shoemaker School    

Accomplishment:  Performed King Lear for students and parents

Key to Awesomeness:  Shoemaker fourth-graders studied the Bard last year and put on some of his plays.

During their WIN (What I Need) Time, one of the enrichment activities was to put on "King Lear."  Ten students participated in the activity, under the direction of fourth grade teacher Christine Gogel:

• Landon Pitts – King Lear
• Olivia Coleman – Goneril
• Jackson Karrat – Edmund and the Fool
• Taira Fadler – Narrator
• Ashley Donegan – Earl of Gloucester
• Katherine Moore – Reagan and Oswald
• Brayton Brandis – Edgar and the servant
• Emily Crounse – Earl of Kent
• Jayne Morgan Gilbert – Cordelia
• Sam Loring – Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Albany

Following lots of practice, everything was ready for the June 14 performance including props and costumes.  Parents, grandparents, teachers and fellow classmates filed into the common area of the fourth grade section of the school to watch the actors and actresses.

During a feedback session following the performance, students gave rave reviews for the future thespians: “I loved the costumes”, “I liked the acting”, “I liked the accents when they talked,” and “I liked the Fool when he made us laugh.”