McGee has been the Shakespeare Reading GroupвЂ™s de facto public relations manager since she joined about seven years ago, when she dutifully began contacting the News each week to spread the word about the weekly meetings.

вЂњThere were some who wanted to Zoom, but many of us couldnвЂ™t,вЂќ she said.

In an interview after the meeting, McGee said this factor also accounted for the groupвЂ™s extended interlude. Many of the groupвЂ™s members, whose ages range from 70s to 90s, were themselves - or lived with family members who were - at high risk for contracting early strains of COVID. The meetings had long been held at Friends Care Community, but even after many meeting spaces began reopening, Friends Care, whose population is at high risk when it comes to COVID, remained off-limits. That rich discussion halted suddenly in March of 2020 when doors across Ohio closed in response to the arrival of COVID-19 in the state. вЂњSo you can see, when we meet, we have lots of different backgrounds that come into the richness of our discussion,вЂќ Deborah McGee added, indicating her fellow group members at the table. вЂњWe loved musical theater and just plain theater,вЂќ she said. вЂњI hadnвЂ™t had a lot of exposure to Shakespeare, but my field of study has been linguistics, so IвЂ™m particularly interested in the language and how it has changed, so I do enjoy hearing it and reading it,вЂќ she said.ДЇlo Lorenz, on the other hand, said her avenue into Shakespeare was through a general interest in the stage - she and her husband, the late Leon Holster, are well-known for having been part of the villageвЂ™s long-running community theater troupe, Center Stage. Nancy Lewkowicz, however, said she found inroads into her interest in another way.

I would вЂ¦ have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done to thisвЂ™ - she couldnвЂ™t read that,вЂќ Hyde said.Д®nglish classes were a common touch-point for the group when discussing how each member came to appreciate ShakespeareвЂ™s writing, with a few members, like Heston, Claire Perks and Deborah McGee, having dug into the works while studying English in college. вЂњWe got to the point where a girl was confronted with reading, вЂI know how tender вЂtis to love the babe that milks me. The groupвЂ™s purpose du jour was to read вЂњRomeo and Juliet,вЂќ but after such a long hiatus, the members present wanted to get reacquainted - not just with The BardвЂ™s text, but with one another.Д¬arl Hyde recalled his first exposure to ShakespeareвЂ™s works in 11th grade, when his class read вЂњMacbeth.вЂќ His memory lingered, he said, on a line spoken by Lady Macbeth, and not only on how arresting the passage was, but on how it affected a classmate tasked with reading it aloud. вЂњShe was from England, and she taught us all about Shakespeare and how the plays were performed - and we called her вЂLittle Shakespeare!вЂ™вЂќ Heston said.

Shakespeer in love