with readings, explorations and productions of Hamlet, Macbeth, Richard III, Pericles, A Midsummer Night's Dream, King Lear and the 2018 Tour: The Taming of the Shrew
The more pity that fools may not speak wisely what wise men do foolishly.                                                                    -Touchstone, As You Like It


Season offerings
Richard III
My horse, my horse, my kingdom for a horse!
Richard III lived a sort of nightmare and caused nightmares for all who dared cross him. His rise to power was predicated on one death after another...most of which Shakespeare points to Richard orchestrating. Whether you find sympathy in the hand life dealt him, admiration in his steadfast climb or sheer horror in his actions, this history is far from a lesson filled with dates and is much more a lesson in how not to be a king.
Hamlet
Perhaps the most iconic Shakespeare play the brooding Dane meets his audience in the midst of the greatest nightmare one can imagine: his mother remarried to his uncle and a ghost of his father seeking revenge. Audience struggles with Hamlet throughout the play as he wrestles with how to act and react to the events, contemplating how to be a good son to both father and mother and how to wrestle with all the demons that he cannot escape.
The Taming of the Shrew
summary coming soon
A Midsummer Night's Dream
What is more of a daydream than A Midsummer Night's Dream. Fairy folk mingling with runaway lovers, royal fighting and men turning into donkeys seem to be the rule rather than the acceptions.
Macbeth
The Scottish general Macbeth receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will be King. His ambitious wife spurs him to action and into a world racked with nightmares. Macbeth murders King Duncan, accuses the King's sons of the action and then takes the throne for himself. The guilt and paranoia that follow are met by his wife with anger, then guilt, then madness.
Pericles
summary coming soon

season 8-for the PEOPLE by the PEOPLE

a note from the Artistic Director

Traveling around the Midwest, meeting so many people that love Shakespeare, love theater, have never been to the theater, don't know that Shakespeare is real (OK, that point could actually be argued), all of the people we meet give us as theater practitioners something. That is why for Season 8 we wanted to find a way to include your voice in the productions we are making.

We come to each story we put on as if it doesn't have a 400+ year history. We try to look at the story and its relevance today. And this season we challenge you to come to each story in the same way. We will be fielding questions throughout the season about the shows and how you want them presented.

Tour 8 this year comes out of us asking for your input as we traveled with Tour 7 and it was overwhelming the response. It was also varied, but in the end the request from a group of students in Nashville, IL was the loudest (and the most reiterated by individuals throughout the tour region): The Taming of the Shrew. Of course how we tackle the comedy turned problem play remains a mystery, one that our artistic ensemble is delving into and one that we challenge you to help us solve. In this unique crossroads of moving forward and holding onto values, in playing with female voices from a male playwright, in embracing the strength of a whole gender while still championing the voices of all individuals how do we tackle a love story that is part misogyny, part banter, somewhat violent and not at all easy, but in the end a look at human foibles still present today? We love Katherina and we love Petruchio at different times and in different ways. So too do we love Bianca, Lucentio and their companions that are all slightly  flawed as all of Shakespeare's characters are, making them all so beautifully human-such beautiful PEOPLE.

We will also continue our reading series with plays you have asked for (and some of you by being really good at Oscar prediction or really bad at Trivia have won the right to decide). We will be visiting more schools and towns with workshops this season than ever before. AND we are excited to begin a new series: the NEW CLASSICS. More information on that will be unfolding soon, but it was all crafted by the PEOPLE and for the PEOPLE.

This season we get to look at real people in the stories that we are lucky enough to tell and we are excited to look at them through your eyes, your voices and your experiences. Help us solve the problem of this season's plays by joining us every step of the way online, at events and ultimately by joining us when we bring Shakespeare to your backyard.



-Julia Stemper