Northwestern’s Language Arts Department had plenty to be thankful for ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday when the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival issued a call offering to stage one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, gratis.

A week later, a troupe of actors appeared at the high school to perform “Hamlet” for the entire school.

They demonstrated the classic play remains relevant for modern day audiences.

The two performances allowed every student to see the play.

Cost is the main factor inhibiting the high school from making this an annual event.

“WillPower came last year and they approached us again this year, but because of the expense, the plan was to have the troupe come every four years so that every student would see it,” said Pam Henderson, department chair.

“When another school canceled, they emailed Ann Way, because they wanted to have as many students as possible see the play.”

After filing into the auditorium, sophomore Noah Russo couldn’t help but admire the set that would be the backdrop to the play.

“It looks like it belongs in a castle,” he said. “The costumes resembled those that might have been worn during Victorian England.”

Jared Archer who attended the first show, enjoyed the performance.

“I’ve never seen any of Shakespeare’s play, but I think it’s cool they’re all so versatile. I know only one line, ‘To be or not to be,’” he said.

“I think it’s important to watch plays like this because it opens up [your] eyes.”

Preparations needed to be made quickly to accommodate the troupe.

“We had to reserve the auditorium and [our principal] had to modify the schedule,” Way said.

“We had to arrange for food. Steph Dunbar ordered food from the Red Tomato in Schnecksville.

”They reached out to us to see if we would be interested in hosting because they had a last minute cancellation.

“They were able to move grant money around to come to Northwestern for free. [Principal] Aileen Yadush said that was too good an offer to refuse.”

Many believe viewing classic Shakespearean plays still has merit even as more and more people are tied to their small and big screens.

“First of all they’re getting to [experience] Shakespeare the way it was intended, to be seen live,” said Henderson.

“Shakespeare has such staying power because he addressed the really big themes and questions of life. Hamlet is particularly relevant for high school kids because it deals with the angst of being a teenager.”

“This is a young person’s play,” agreed Way.

“Hamlet is a young adult and he’s wrestling with his place in the universe.”

“Hamlet pretends a lot,” Mitchell Grant said, who played several roles in the play. “He has extremes of behavior, but he pretends to throw people off. You can’t get a fair shot at understanding [Hamlet] without experiencing the play.”

In the play, Hamlet also deals with the troubled relationship with Ophelia, his girlfriend.

“Ophelia has no control of her life,” Tori Lewis said, who stars in the role. “She’s a woman in a world where she has to conform and obey but she [dissolves into] madness which causes extreme changes. I enjoy sharing that art of bringing her to life with you guys.”

“Hamlet,” travels to schools throughout the state as part of Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s 17th annual WillPower tour.

PSF was awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

DeSales University is home base for the PSF.

Last year, the group performed “Julius Caesar” for the school.

At the conclusion of the play, the actors welcomed questions from the audience and encouraged the audience to persevere when reading Shakespeare.

“The language is difficult and it takes forever but keep reading,” Mitchel Kawash said, who played Laertes, Ophelia’s brother, “but the more you do it, the easier it will get.”

“Hamlet wasn’t written to be read but to be performed and seen,” Lewis said. “The play is about timeless themes that everyone can relate to like love, revenge and war.”

Henderson said none of the students in the audience had read “Hamlet,” though it is required reading for 12th graders.

“This was such a quick turnaround, but we will be [reading and discussing Hamlet] in the next few weeks,” Henderson said. “When you see live theater, even if you don’t know the story, the actors bring it to life.”

The actors had a daunting task to learn their lines in a short space of time.

“We met nine weeks ago and began rehearsing this play, Monday through Saturday before taking it out on the road,” Javon Johnson said, who played King Claudius.

“Hamlet is one of my absolute favorites,” Henderson said. “I teach it every year and every year I get something new out of it.”

“I’ve read that Hamlet is most akin to Shakespeare’s personality,” she said. “It’s 400 years since the anniversary of Shakespeare’s death [so throughout] 2016 and there [have been] worldwide celebrations.”

“I always [stress] why this stuff is so relevant,” Henderson said. “[Like an] artist who can look at a beautiful sunset and [bring it to life with] paint, Shakespeare was able to look at all sorts of human situations and bring them to life on the stage.”

“There are a lot of reasons to study Hamlet,” Kawash said. “Shakespeare understands the complexities, the ugliness and the beauty of human beings. Today, it’s more important than ever to understand people that are different from us.”