2017 Tour: a note to parents​

Hello Mom and Dad and Grandpa and Aunt and Big Sister and anyone thinking about bringing someone just a little younger to our show! Note: spoilers ahead.

Thanks for wanting to bring your special young person to a play and thank you especially for thinking of us. Below are a few notes about what to expect (some are especially for your young friends and some might just be for you).

Our production of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew does include music, dance, some audience interaction and a few laughs, just like all our previous tours. This play though is considered a "problem" play, and because of that we are posing some tough questions to our audience.

-Katherina is called a "shrew" and some worse things simply because she is a woman who speaks her mind. We are quite proud of her speech and her mind and we plan on having that shine through, but people are quite rude about it throughout the play.

-there is a war BUT we are only FIVE actors...so our war is less cannons and physical violence and more suggestive battles

-we talk about revenge and treachery and murder - some of the heavier moments might be missed by the youngest of audience members, but for the inquisitive in the audience we wanted to give you a heads up

-there is a storm and some chanting and some yelling - if you have a little one that's a little sensitive and they are not keen on loud noises but still want to explore this story, come, we won't feel bad if they need to play on the swing set for awhile or even if you need to leave a little early - we're happy to have you in our audience for as long (or as little) as you can join us

-in the vein of staying for a long time or a little time: the play is about 90 minutes - it is pretty energetic, but we know that some kids need to move after 89 minutes (or 89 seconds) - again, we won't feel bad if fidgeters need to stretch their legs...just warn them to keep their eyes on the actors (you never know when they might need to run by your picnic blanket) and be considerate of neighboring picnic blankets

-cellphones and noise (this might be a note for you too): we don't make any announcements at the start of our shows about cellphones and candy wrappers - if you need to get your "push" notifications during the show - hey we get it (we like sharing pictures of food too and when people like them we want to know) BUT if your phone is on and out please consider taking a picture of us and sharing online, however if your phone does start making noise...we might just use it as a new sound queue

-Speaking of using our surroundings: sometimes it starts to storm in the midwest, sometimes with no warning...we're not really sure where the storms come from; if we're worried we're going to blow away we will all seek shelter together, but if it starts to sprinkle and is only mildly annoying - we might keep going - so bring an umbrella if you're worried it might rain...actually bring a couple - we might need to borrow one

We think that's all...we probably forgot something...but mostly we would just really love to see you and your young friends (and old friends)(and same age friends) when we come to town. We are pretty proud of this story. We have a great script (thanks Shakespeare) and a lot of great helpers along the way, now all Eric and the cast need is you, our audience, to truly bring this story to life!