The Shakespeare Festival at Tulane got a big surprise Thursday at a school performance of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” That’s when the National Endowment for the Arts awarded it $25,000 for next season’s school program, part of the NEA’s Shakespeare in American Communities program.

As Tony Chauveaux, NEA deputy arts chairman, made the announcement on-stage at Dixon Hall, Clare Moncrief, the company’s managing director, let out a gasp and blurted, “I didn’t realize it was that much!”

“We wanted to make a special point of coming to New Orleans because we know what an effort it was for the Shakespeare Festival here to get back on track,” Chauveaux said after the performance. “I was amazed not only by the quality, but the enthusiasm of the actors. The kids noticed it, too, in their questions afterward.”

The grant is the thing.  Saturday, April 22, 2006  by David Cuthbert (The Times Picayune)

[In fairness and full disclosure, my sister Aimee Michel is the Artistic Director of the Festival.]