Fredonia Shakespeare Club members celebrated the conclusion of the 2019-20 year with a virtual meeting on Zoom in lieu of an annual picnic.

Participants included thirteen current members. Lucille Richardson, outgoing president, thanked her fellow officers for their support during the previous year, with special thanks to Michele Starwalt for facilitating Zoom. Gail Crowe, incoming secretary, gave the annual report prepared by Priscilla Bernatz. Leanna McMahon gave the treasurer’s report.

Karin Cockram presented each member with a unique coffee mug commemorating the club’s 2019-20 year, which focused on “Nobel Prize Winners.” Each mug displayed a likeness of William Shakespeare. The club noted that its esteemed bard persevered in times of great stress. King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra were written during a period of self-quarantine in the midst of a plague-like contagion.

Richardson turned the meeting over to Mary Croxton, incoming 2020-21 incoming president, who lead the scheduling process for next year’s program. Papers for the upcoming year will focus on “Humor and Humorists.”

The club’s new year will begin with the annual tea to be held on Thursday, Oct. 1.

The Fredonia Shakespeare Club was established in 1885.