Flint Hills Shakespeare Festival
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  • Previous Seasons
    • 2010 - The Taming of the Shrew
    • 2011 - A Midsummer Night's Dream
    • 2012 - The Comedy Of Errors
    • 2013 - Much Ado About Nothing
    • 2014 - As You Like It >
      • Program 2014
    • 2015 - The Merry Wives of Windsor >
      • Program 2015
    • 2016 - Julius Caesar >
      • Julius Caesar
      • Sponsors 2016
      • Program 2016
    • 2017 - The Winter's Tale >
      • The Winter's Tale
      • Sponsors 2017
      • Program 2017
    • 2018 - The Merchant of Venice >
      • The Merchant of Venice
      • Sponsors 2018
      • Program 2018
    • 2019 Twelfth Night >
      • Twelfth Night
      • Sponsors 2019
      • Program 2019
    • 2021 - Macbeth >
      • Macbeth
      • Sponsors 2021
      • Program 2021
    • 2022 - Othello >
      • Othello
      • Sponsors 2022
      • Program 2022
    • 2023 - A Midsummer Night's Dream >
      • A Midsummer Night's Dream
      • Sponsors 2023
      • Program 2023
    • 2024 - Much Ado About Nothing >
      • Much Ado About Nothing
      • Sponsors 2024
      • Program 2024
  • Vendors
    • Festival Vendors
    • Christkindlmarkt Vendors
  • Christkindlmarkt
  • Volunteer
  • Gallery

FHSF Sonnet Contest

From 2016-2018, a Sonnet Contest was held annually and the winning Sonnet would be read from stage during intermission. ​

2018 Winners

The Folly of Dreamers by Jessica Ostertag
The night runs swift for those who dream too much--
Who in their fancy place all hope’s desire--
And when the day dispels their spectral crutch,
They find themselves in disillusions dire.
A dreamer dazed by blinding gaze of love
Seen but in these utopias within
Meets not those eyes in humbler guise above,
In lands of breath and light and death and sin.
For what comparison can reason dare
Between the love of dreams and that of day,
With one ideal and sweet and ever fair,
The other, raw, mundane, inclined to sway?
Thus those who choose to live in love’s illusion
Love but themselves, and die in Love’s exclusion.

Second Place: Pull, gentle current by Karin Murray-Bergquist
Third Place: A Meditation on Nature by Jessica Ostertag

2017 Winners

It will Come by Teresa Jones
 When golden autumn into winter fades,
And wretched heart with sorrow ne’er to end
Turns memory into sallow, ghostly shades
For Love grown cold upon the loss of friend;
When Time plods on with bitter, steady tread,
While grief, fallow, lies stale and passions sleep;
When doubts increase by haunting anguish fed,
And hope retires to dismal caverns deep;
With life behind, a wretchedness untold,
And life before yet dead with icy chill,
No love to warm the heart that’s turning cold,
No toast to drink; with friend, no glass to fill--
When feeling seems to sleep for everything--
Then pray for Peace, and, hopeful, long for Spring.
Second Place: Upon a Photograph of Saint Gemma Galgani by Andrew Tucker
Third Place: Behest of Duty by Teresa Jones

2016 Winners

Did Mercy Exist? by Andrew Tucker
Did mercy exist while heavenly lights were placed?
And did compassion dwell amidst the stars
Before man slashed his face sin-deep with scars?
Or was this precious balm with which we're graced
Created not till goodness fell, effaced
By thorn, by nail, by spear that sharply mars?
This soothing salve that heals the wounds of wars,
To which time may its origin be traced?
It could not be that mercy, precious gem,
Was merely stumbled on by accident.
Nay, it lay buried, deep in eternity,
And proof of this in your sweet face does lie;
In making your eyes He showed His full intent:
Before man fell, His pity wrought in them.
Second Place: Before Hiking to the Snow-filled Wood by Mel Goldberg.
Third Place: 155. by Shaun Russell.
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​St. Marys, KS

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  • Home
  • About
    • About the Festival
    • Contact Us
    • Sonnet Contest
  • Donate
  • Sponsors
  • 2025 Festival
    • Plan Your Visit
    • Program
    • Vendor List
    • Auditions
  • Previous Seasons
    • 2010 - The Taming of the Shrew
    • 2011 - A Midsummer Night's Dream
    • 2012 - The Comedy Of Errors
    • 2013 - Much Ado About Nothing
    • 2014 - As You Like It >
      • Program 2014
    • 2015 - The Merry Wives of Windsor >
      • Program 2015
    • 2016 - Julius Caesar >
      • Julius Caesar
      • Sponsors 2016
      • Program 2016
    • 2017 - The Winter's Tale >
      • The Winter's Tale
      • Sponsors 2017
      • Program 2017
    • 2018 - The Merchant of Venice >
      • The Merchant of Venice
      • Sponsors 2018
      • Program 2018
    • 2019 Twelfth Night >
      • Twelfth Night
      • Sponsors 2019
      • Program 2019
    • 2021 - Macbeth >
      • Macbeth
      • Sponsors 2021
      • Program 2021
    • 2022 - Othello >
      • Othello
      • Sponsors 2022
      • Program 2022
    • 2023 - A Midsummer Night's Dream >
      • A Midsummer Night's Dream
      • Sponsors 2023
      • Program 2023
    • 2024 - Much Ado About Nothing >
      • Much Ado About Nothing
      • Sponsors 2024
      • Program 2024
  • Vendors
    • Festival Vendors
    • Christkindlmarkt Vendors
  • Christkindlmarkt
  • Volunteer
  • Gallery