NEWPORT – SAD 48 recently received two grants totaling $3,250 from the Maine Community Foundation to help support the eighth-grade project, “Shakespeare in the Schools.”

The program will introduce Shakespeare and his plays into the classroom, where the students will work with a professional theater company and stage an updated version of “A Midsummer’s Night Dream.”

The H. King and Jean Cummings Charitable Fund granted the district $3,000 toward the project and $250 was received from the Bary Lyon Small Fund to help pay for materials and travel expenses. Pupils will help raise the remainder of the funds needed for the show, which will be staged by the Penobscot Theater Company.

Because funding was not available for the project in this, its fourth year, teachers contacted the MCF and applied for a grant so the project could continue. The MCF works with schools and charitable organizations to strengthen Maine’s communities.

For information, visit the Web site at www.mainecf.org, or call 1-877-700-6800.