Looking Back

Looking

BACKBACK On the Stage

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The Taft Drama Association started doing performances in 1900, often casting up to four plays a year. For over 100 years, Taft cast and produced numerous plays, musicals, and one-acts without producing a single Shakespearean title. But in 2014, as the Arts Department was retooling its production schedule, they took a leap of faith and put on Twelfth Night, or What You Will during the winter season. Since then, they have also produced Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and The Tempest all in the Black Box theater space. Offering a Shakespearean play every other year has given students the opportunity to tackle the works of one of the greatest writers of all times, and offers an entertaining show to the Taft Community. And 122 years later, Taft performed A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the Black Box in February.

—Beth Nolan Lovallo ’93 The Leslie D. Manning Archives 5

1. Twelfth Night, or What You Will, February 2014

2. Romeo and Juliet, February 2016

3. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, February 2018 4. The Tempest, February 2020

5. The poster from the February 2022 performance of A Midsummer Night’s

Teachers Pay It Forward, Too—

Dick Cobb’s Enduring Legacy

Taft teachers have an impact long after their students leave school. Dick Cobb, whose career at Taft spanned 40 years, taught Latin, coached, and served as an advisor and dorm parent for thousands of Taft students. Cobb believed in Taft and the value of a Taft education. Beyond dedicating his life’s work to Taft and its students, he made Taft the beneficiary of his retirement account upon his death. Head of School Willy MacMullen ’78 said of Cobb, “He was Taft, as good as Taft ever gets, Taft’s motto

writ large and with humility and compassion.”

The gift left to the school now provides financial assistance to deserving students. Cobb’s influence and commitment to Taft students continue today—and will from here on—thanks to his generous bequest to Taft.

A number of current and former faculty and staff have provided for Taft in their estate planning. Remember your benefactors and provide for Taft through a Legacy Society gift.

For more information about including Taft in your will, please contact Stephen Starnes ’76 in Taft’s Planned Giving Office at (860) 945-7747 or plannedgiving@taftschool.org. Sample bequest language, as well as other planned gift ideas, may be found on our website. www.taftschool.giftplans.org

The Taft School 110 Woodbury Road Watertown, CT 06795-2100 860-945-7777 www.taftschool.org/bulletin

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