AMHERST, Mass., — Some students join for pie. Others show up for the Bard. Whatever their reasons are for joining the new Shakespeare and Pie club at Hampshire College, first-year student and club founder Josh Parr is pretty happy with the response.

Parr started reading Shakespeare in high school, and the idea to pair Shakespearean discussion and snacks came to him shortly after he arrived on the Hampshire campus. The addition of pie, he said, was something he hoped would boost the club's popularity.

"I had a few friends who were interested in a Shakespeare club. But everybody loves pie," said Parr.

At the first meeting, ingredients needed for baking apple, chocolate, and pumpkin pies filled the center island of the Merrill House kitchen, and, as it is a literary club, each one had to be named. "Apples You Like It," "Death by Chocolate," and "Puck-in Pie" were the eventual winners. Thanks to funding through the Hampshire College Theater Board, meetings will be well stocked for the first few weeks.

"They're paying for all the pie," Parr said.

The work of making those pies, though, falls to the students. At the first meeting, those who couldn't find a spot to chop, stir, or mix headed off into a far corner, where a copy of Shakespeare's collected works got the literary half of the meeting started. It was soon clear that these weren't Elizabethan-era novices, as quotes started flying, comparisons were drawn between everything from "Titus" to "The Tempest," and a reading list was drawn up for the next semester.

When Tara Pozo, also a first-year student, heard of the group, she realized it would fit right in with what she had been doing back home in Raleigh, North Carolina.

"I'm part of two Shakespearian troupes, the Bare Theatre and the Nickel Shakespeare Girls, a Renaissance Faire performing troupe," she said. "I'm kind of a jukebox of Shakespeare. Name the play and I'll do a speech from it."

It's that kind of interest Parr anticipated when he started the club. Meetings, complete with pies ready for naming, will be scheduled regularly throughout the semester.