MADRIGAL FEASTE FEATURES MEDIEVAL FLAVOR

Visitors will be taken back in time Dec. 9-11 at the Jackson high School Choral Department's annual Madrigal Feaste.

Held at the Bavarian Halle in Fruitland, the feaste includes a 16th century-style dinner, including wassail and kafe. Jugglers, wizards, magicians and others will entertain between courses of the five-course meal."This is our ninth year," said Jean Schweain, JHS choral director. "We started doing dinner theaters with a little thing in the cafeteria. We invited parents and sang songs. We needed money to clean the robes for contests and were trying to raise $500."That first performance pales in comparison with today's spectacle. Schweain disocvered, however, that the community was hungry for such an event -- no pun intended." I thought it was awful, but the parents absolutely loved it," she said. "It's just gotten bigger and bigger. The last three years we've had to rent the Bavarian Halle and do three nights. It's really grown."The evening includes a complete play, written by the group each year. This year's features Arika Lucy and Brian Haas as the queen and king of Dole. A full Royal Court will include dukes , dutchesses, lords and ladies, knights, wenches and knaves and ladies in waiting."We do some study of the period," Schweain said. "Last year did one on customs; we researched different customs we still use today that had originated in that time frame. Each year we find a differnet theme to work. This year, primarily, we talk more about that style of music and how it was performed in those early centuries."The kids love it; it's a wonderful opportunity. It's good qualtiy literature; it's not like we're just singing stuff. It's good literature from the 16th to 18th century."