This season marks the beginning of my second decade at the Festival. That fact is both startling to me and very gratifying -- startling, because time has flown by at terrifying speed; gratifying, for much has been accomplished in that time and the groundwork has been laid for an even more exciting second decade.

Often in the last ten years, I have used my program notes as an opportunity to try and define the scope, the worth and the necessity of classic drama. It is a vital part of one of our most precious commodities -- the history of mankind's inner life. The great plays that we call "classics" preserve not so much our deeds as a civilization, but our shared emotional experience. They are the stories that reveal the character and the yearnings of our hearts, souls and minds. These plays contain our myths, our philosophies, our changing mores and our internal struggles to discover the meaning of our existence. They commemorate not only how humanity has lived, but also why and for what causes.

Next year, the Festival turns 40 -- a microscopic mote in the vast sands of history. Yet in those 40 years, thousands will have explored worlds and souls that survive on and on even as the winds of time and the travails of mankind swirl about us.

Welcome to the 2001 Season, and six new voyages filled with "Words, Life and All!"

Bonnie J. Monte