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Beaufort High School's children's theater series, Gingerbread Theater, is the only South Carolina high school group that will perform in the festival's theater series.
"This is like a dream for a theater teacher to have such an incredible festival accept your students' work," Beaufort High drama teacher LaRaine Fess said. "So I'm extremely proud of them."
The group of 18 students will present "The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet," a whimsical, rhyming play that combines the story of Dr. Seuss' "The Sneetches" -- a tale that aims to teach children not to judge a book by its cover -- with William Shakespeare's classic tragedy "Romeo and Juliet."
After the students put on the show a few times in October, Fess thought they were good enough to perform at the Charleston festival. Fess contacted Spoleto, filled out a theater application and submitted a DVD of the students' performance. She found out in March that the group was accepted.
"Piccolo Spoleto is a festival within Spoleto that showcases regional and local professional artists," Fess said. "So it is a huge deal for the fact that a high school is given this opportunity to perform because we applied to perform as a professional touring group."
The group will perform at the festival at 6:30 p.m. June 11 and 12 and at 3 p.m. June 13 at Sottile Theater in Charleston. Tickets are $11 for adults, and $8 for students and seniors.
Laura Thompson, operations and public relations coordinator for the City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs, said it's been more than 10 years since a high school group has performed with the theater series at the festival.
"It's a very big honor for them to be chosen to be in the Piccolo Spoleto theater series," Thompson said.
Beaufort High junior Margaret Francis of Port Royal will play the part of Juliet in the play. She has been acting with the group for the past three years and is thrilled to have the opportunity to perform at Spoleto.
"We didn't ever think that we would even be considered to go to Spoleto," Francis said. "To know that we're the only high school in the state to be accepted is extremely exciting because that means we have something that other people don't. ... It shows us that we're better than we think we are."
