Every spring, WAHS’ theater department does a Shakespeare play outside in a park, but how does the theater department actually choose which works of Shakespeare to adapt into a play?

WW: How are the Spring Shakespeare plays chosen from Shakespeare’s works?

Cate Caffarella: I actually have only four that I choose from. And so we do a cycle [throughout four years]. 

WW: Which four plays are chosen?

Caffarella: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, 12th Night, and As You Like It.

WW: How or why were these plays chosen?

Caffarella: I picked them because they were my favorites. I think that they’re really entertaining, funny, have great characters, and they’re accessible to all sorts of folks, so our audiences can come in and understand them quickly. They’re more familiar [with] the Shakespeare lexicon.

WW: What kind of set-up do these plays require?

Caffarella: [They’re actually in an] outdoor setting— they don’t require a lot of sets. They don’t require a lot of lighting. Those technical elements aren’t so heavy, [or] imperative in these [plays].

WW: How are these plays for the actors?

Caffarella: The plots [are] not simple, but our cast can follow the plot, and they [can] work in the [outdoor] setting.