Heart of America Shakespeare Festival
in partnership with Kansas City Young Audiences
and the National Endowment for the Arts
presents
Shakespeare To Go!
Conceived and Directed by Sidonie Garrett,
Heart of America Shakespeare Festival Producing Artistic Director
and Kara Armstrong, Heart of America Shakespeare Festival Education Director
featuring excerpts from William Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Othello, Macbeth, and Romeo and Juliet
In partnership with Kansas City Young Audiences, and with special funding from a National Endowment for the Arts Chairman’s grant, Heart of America Shakespeare Festival is able to give middle and high school students a unique opportunity to bring the Festival’s professional company into the classroom to present Shakespeare To Go! For more information or to schedule a school performance, contact Festival Education Director Kara Armstrong at 816-531-7728 or by e-mail at karmstrong@kcshakes.org. Study guides and companion workshops also available.
Synopsis -- The “rude mechanicals” a troupe of journeymen actors from A Midsummer Night’s Dream attempt to enact a very ‘lamentable comedy’ and are interrupted by Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, giving them his famous ‘speech to the players’, which is the best instructional text for all actors on how to ‘speak the speech’. This bumbling group of workmen take Hamlet’s words to heart and convincingly portray Cassius persuading Brutus to assassinate Julius Caesar, Iago’s sociopathic manipulation bringing out the ‘green-eyed monster’ of Othello’s psyche, Lady Macbeth shoring up Macbeth’s resolve to commit regicide and become the King of Scotland, and the beautiful starlit courtship of Romeo and Juliet in the famous balcony scene. Finally, the “Mechanicals” turn to their own play, presented with less skill but lots of hilarity!
Performance Fee: $500 Fee for Title I schools: $250
Availability: Tuesday and Thursday mornings
Shakespeare To Go!
Community Performances
