Stage Fright on a Summer Night

Jack and Annie together.
    Jack couldn’t imagine anything more fun. Then he thought of his parents back in Frog Creek.
    â€œBut our mom and dad—” he said.
    â€œWe would really miss them,” said Annie.
    Will smiled.
    â€œI understand,” he said. “And I would miss
you
if I were
them
.” He put his hand over his heart. “So, good night, good night. Parting is such sweet sorrow.”
    â€œYes, ’tis,” said Annie, nodding.
    â€œFarewell!” said Will. He waved.
    Jack and Annie waved back. Then Will turned on his heels and headed back to his rowboat.
    Jack and Annie walked to the rope ladder and climbed up to the tree house. When they got inside, they looked out the window.
    Will was rowing back across the Thames River. A single white swan glided across the ripples beside his boat. A silver moon was rising in the sky.
    At that moment, Jack
did
feel sweetsorrow. He wanted to stay in merry olde England just a little longer.
    â€œWait, Will!” he shouted.
    But Annie picked up the Pennsylvania book.
    â€œI wish we could go home,” she said.
    The wind started to blow.
    The tree house started to spin.
    It spun faster and faster.
    Then everything was still.
    Absolutely still.

Jack opened his eyes.
    They were wearing their own clothes again. A lightning bug blinked inside the growing darkness of the tree house.
    Annie picked up Morgan’s note. She repeated the rhyme:
    To find a special magic,

You must step into the light

And without wand, spell, or charm,

Turn daytime into night.
    â€œWe found the special magic,” said Annie. “Theater magic!”
    â€œYep,” said Jack.
    He opened his backpack. He and Annie took out the two scrolls Will had given them. When they unrolled them, Jack saw that Will had written something. He read aloud:

    â€œWilliam
Shakespeare
?” said Annie. “I’ve heard that name before.”
    â€œMe too,” said Jack.
    He took out their research book. He looked up
Shakespeare
in the index. He turned to a page and read aloud:
    William Shakespeare lived from 1564 to 1616. He wrote thirty-seven plays and many sonnets and other poems. Many people think he was the greatest writer who ever lived.
    â€œThe greatest?” said Annie. “
Our
Will?”
    â€œOh, man,” whispered Jack. He stared in amazement at William Shakespeare’s autograph.
    â€œHey, we can leave our scrolls with Morgan’s note,” said Annie. “It’ll prove to her we found a special magic.”
    They put their two scrolls next to the note on the floor. Then they climbed down the rope ladder.
    When they started walking through the woods, a breeze blew, shaking the tree leaves. Shadows shifted. Birds called from hidden places.
    â€œRemember the enchanted woods?” Annie said in a hushed voice. “The fairy queen and the fairy king?”
    Jack smiled and nodded.
    â€œAnd Puck, the merry wanderer of the night?” said Annie. “And Will,
our
Will.”
    Jack nodded again.
    â€œI had a great time,” said Annie. “Didn’t you?”
    Jack sighed.
    â€œYes,” he said. Then he took a deep breath and spoke very clearly and with feeling:
    â€œI have had a most rare vision.
    I have had a dream … .”

MORE FACTS FOR JACK AND ANNIE AND
YOU
!
    William Shakespeare
did
write a play that included a small part for a bear. That play is called
The Winter’s Tale
.
    Queen Elizabeth’s teeth
were
black from eating too much sugar (as were the teeth of many other people from that time). One of the queen’s ladies-in-waiting wrote that the queen was not given a clear mirror to look at herself for the last twenty years of her life.
    There is no historical evidence that Queen Elizabeth I ever visited the Globe Theater. It is believed, though, that she liked Shakespeare’s plays very much and that
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
was performed at her palace for her and her court.
    Today, the place where theaters sell tickets is called a “box office.” That’s because in Shakespeare’s time, people dropped their admission money into a
box
held at the door.
    The reason actors’ parts are now called “roles” is because in Shakespeare’s time, actors were given scrolls, or
rolls
of paper, with only their own lines written on them.
    For over 400 years, people have been quoting lines written by Shakespeare. Some of the lines quoted in