Soul Food Night
Mar
6
6:00 PM18:00

Soul Food Night

Dear Families, Alums and Friends,

 

It’s time for our annual Soul Food Night celebration!

 

Each year on Soul Food Night, the Hayground community recognizes, honors and celebrates some aspect of black history or heritage to highlight and celebrate. This year’s theme is called Change-Makers.

Some of what the children may be doing is singing, dancing, lip-syncing, a reading or a skit.  Our intention is to showcase the achievements of black culture in a way that is respectful of the people we are honoring. 

 

The festivities will begin in the gym at 6:00 pm, followed by some presentations and dancing with a DJ in the Gathering Space.

 

The parent committee has been in touch with a Google document regarding the logistics of set-up, clean-up and the potluck supper.  The school will provide fried chicken and ribs.  We will continue our tradition of the dessert competition!  This year's theme is "BANANA."  All desserts must be pre-portioned so no slicing/plating is required.  Good options are cookies, bars cookies, brownies, mini tartlets, etc.

 

We look forward to seeing you!  PLEASE RSVP so we can be prepared.  


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Nov
27
to Dec 15

Shakespeare Residency

Once again, Shakespeare & Company will be in residence at the Hayground School from November 27 through December 15.  This marks our twenty-sixth year at the school!  We are delighted to announce that this year we will be working with all the students to explore William Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet.  This exploration will culminate in two presentations at the Bridgehampton School auditorium on Thursday, December 14.  

 

Here is some information about the four directors working with your children.

 

Ellie Bartz (she/her) is an Actor and Theatre Education Artist who grew up in the suburbs outside of Detroit, Michigan. She has taught many of Shakespeare & Company's Education programs, most recently directing Richard III at Springfield Central High School for the Fall Festival of Shakespeare. Ellie finds joy in giving students a visceral experience of storytelling, especially when Shakespeare's words are involved. She is thrilled to return to the Hayground School Residency for the sixth time and can’t wait to dive into a new play with this wonderful community.

 

JoJo McDonald (she/her) is an Actor, Tap Dancer, and Teaching Artist. She has been involved with the work of Shakespeare & Company for many years, both as a teacher and a student. She studied English and French at Williams College and did student-run theater and a cappella throughout her time there. Recently, she directed in the Fall Festival of Shakespeare for her fourth year, and before that played Mercutio in the Northeast Regional Tour of Shakespeare in the winter and spring of 2023. Outside of Shakespeare & Company work, she is involved with They Dance For Rain, a grassroots dance-making project in Pittsfield, MA and Nairobi, Kenya. Last summer she traveled with They Dance For Rain to the Nairobi Dance Life Festival, where she taught tap workshops and performed new works in the festival. She is a proud alum of AmeriCorps, having served in Queens, NY through the program ArtistYear. This will be JoJo’s fourth Hayground School residency, and she is delighted to be back at this beautiful school with wonderful collaborators.

 

Kirsten Mulrenan (she/her) is an Education Artist and Actor based in Los Angeles, CA. She grew up in the Boston area and attended Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY, where she studied Theater, Spanish, and Arts Administration. Kirsten has a background in classroom teaching, having previously been a kindergarten teaching assistant at St. Joseph's School in Needham, MA and a fifth grade teacher at American Martyrs School in Manhattan Beach, CA. She is now proud to be an Education Artist with Shakespeare & Company, where she has taught in the Riotous Youth and Fall Festival programs.

 

Naire Poole (she/they) is a perceptive director and teaching artist, with a focus on how personal expansion can create communal expansion.  Her patience and diplomacy help to cultivate mindful and cooperative spaces. The skills have supported her in her work as a director in Shakespeare and Company’s Annual Fall Festival of Shakespeare, Hayground Residency, and Northeast Regional Tour. She completed her MFA at the FSU/ Asolo Conservatory for actor Training. They’re failing miserably at learning electric guitar and she’s finding out she remembers more Spanish than she thought. She is grounded by a lovely family and lifted by supportive friends. SALU. BLM. This will be Naire’s second Hayground School residency, and she is looking forward to working with the students and teachers again.

 

Parent Meeting:


We look forward to having the opportunity to meet all of you at the parent meeting on Thursday, November 30 at 6 pm. At the meeting, we’ll share some of what we will be doing with your children, and we’ll answer all your questions.  We hope you will be able to attend.

 

We are excited about this unique opportunity to work with the students of Hayground School with Romeo and Juliet.  See you on November 30!

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Nov
21
10:00 AM10:00

Feast of Remembrance

We are gearing up for our 27th annual Feast of Remembrance on Tuesday, November 21, 2023.  More information about the logistics of the event leading up to this celebration will be coming soon, but we thought it was a good idea to share how this Hayground tradition started.

The tradition of the Feast of Remembrance started in the early days of Hayground when our community of parents, faculty and other Haygrounders discussed how we could honor and share the Native American perspective of the celebration. 

So, guided by one of our founders and an elder of the Shinnecock Nation, Elizabeth Thunder Bird Haile (great grandmother of three of our current students Lily, Suki, Neempaui), we decided to help all Hayground adults and children recognize and remember that there is much more to this story and what followed than a friendly harvest meal shared by early English colonists and members of the Wampanoag tribe. 

Our mission to this day includes a commitment to diversity and sensitivity to other cultures. In fact, one of our daily goals is “thinking about and from different perspectives.” Through age appropriate readings and discussion, the teachers will help the students understand the perspective of the Native American. Our intentions were deliberate when we called this day the “Feast of Remembrance.”

Along with the celebration, many of the traditions like the Remembrance Wall and the Roll Call of Hayground graduates will also continue.

We plan to begin the meal about 11:00 am, but we invite families to come by 10:00 am. There will also be a short program before the meal. Please RSVP so we can plan.

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