Shakespeare & Company Takes HAMLET and 'LANGUAGE THAT SHAPED A WORLD' on School Tours; Book Now!

Heart-stirring, crowd-rousing and life-changing education programs are a bedrock of Shakespeare & Company. This year, the company presents the New England Tour of Hamlet and the Shakespeare & Company original hit Shakespeare and the Language that Shaped a World. Both Tours sold out last year, so be sure to book now to secure one of these performances in your school!

To book a performance or inquire about the accompanying workshops, contact the Schools Program Manager by phone at 413-637-1199 ext 131 or by email at schoolprogrammgr@shakespeare.org.

"I loved what the company did--the workshop and the production--and our kids had a really good time," said Barbara Washer, a teacher at the Renbrook School. "We're not an easy group to please, but they were so engaged and had so much fun--The response was really wonderful--they were all abuzz, as it were!"

High School: New England Tour of Hamlet
The Tour presents a 90-minute adaptation of one of Shakespeare's most-studied plays Hamlet, directed by Jonathan Croy, and offers a post-show discussion with the audience as well as in-depth, hands-on workshops led by the cast allowing students to get up on their feet and tackle Shakespeare's language themselves. As part of the Tour, educators are provided with additional tools and resources to support and complement the classroom experience. The sold out 2014 tour of Romeo & Juliet played in both small, rural schools and large performing arts centers with audiences of 1,000 or more. The Tour also performed at Shakespeare & Company's Tina Packer Playhouse, giving Berkshire County audiences a chance to catch this one-of-a-kind theatrical experience. With continuing generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Shakespeare & Company can bring this important program to more students at affordable prices.

"I honestly believe Hamlet is the greatest play in the history of the English-speaking theatre," said Tour Director Jonathan Croy. "On the surface, it has everything-an intense family drama, a murder mystery, the love, heartbreak and betrayal that exist between Hamlet and Ophelia, a surprising amount of comedy, murders, mayhem...even a visitation by a ghost. Within that, it's loaded with observations on the human condition that are still timely and relevant-all crafted into some of the finest poetry ever written."

Performed at schools and theatres across the Northeast (including Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey and Washington DC), the Tour uses innovative performances and workshops to take Shakespeare off the bookshelf and place his works within the hearts, minds, and bodies of students and teachers. The annual Tour brings the beauty and wonder of Shakespeare's verse to audiences as it was originally intended. While most school curricula includes classroom study of his works, Shakespeare wrote plays to be heard, seen, and experienced- not read on a page. Witnessing Shakespeare in performance makes all the difference, and our Education staff is dedicated to bringing Shakespeare to life for every generation.

Pricing: $2,300 per day, which can include: One performance of Hamlet and one workshop or Four Workshops with no performance. Alternatively, you can select two performances of Hamlet for $2,800. All performances offer an optional 15-minute talkbalk between the actors and audience.

Middle & Elementary School: Shakespeare and the Language that Shaped A World
Shakespeare and the Language that Shaped A World is a whirlwind tour through the life, times, and work of William Shakespeare, led by six actors equipped with six stools, 2 broad swords, a bit of historical information, and a selection of scenes and monologues from many of his greatest plays. This energetic, fast-paced peek into Shakespeare's world and Elizabethan life was created by Kevin G. Coleman, Director of Education at Shakespeare & Company. It is a fun, accessible introduction to Shakespeare with enough depth to please students who have already studied The Bard. 45 minutes in length, it's suitable for grades 4 and up.

"Shakespeare & Company was so easy to work with and the actors that came for the residency were outstanding," said Janine Massaro, at teacher at Abram Lansing Elementary School. "The experience was so meaningful for my students and myself. In fact we are now hooked on Shakespeare."

The Shakespeare and the Language that Shaped A World performance offers two workshops where our teaching artists work closely with a group of students to unleash an exciting, immediate, and personal experience of Shakespeare's language, which they quickly make their own in the acting process. Students' ideas and interpretations are incorporated and woven into the final scene sharing. In these workshops, each student can succeed and discover that Shakespeare is accessible, outrageous, and immediately engaging. They also perceive their classmates in new and delightful ways. This workshop are about taking risks while experiences the playfulness of acting.

Pricing: $1,000 per day, which can include: One performance of Shakespeare and the Language That Shaped a World and two workshops, or two presentations of Shakespeare and the Language That Shaped a World and one workshop.

Tour Director Jonathan Croy - Croy is the Company's Youth Programs Director and an Artistic Associate. This year he directed The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) in the Packer Playhouse and Romeo and Juliet at The Mount, Edith Wharton's Home, and Private Eyes. Croy has been a Company member since 1982 and has played more than 70 roles in over 60 plays. In recent seasons he has directed Richard III, Twelfth Night, The 39 Steps, The Real Inspector Hound, Julius Caesar, Scapin, and for last season's New England Tour, A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Director of Education Kevin G. Coleman - Coleman is a founding member of Shakespeare & Company. He teaches text analysis, stage combat and clown. He has been a guest teacher or director at MIT, Harvard, LSU, Stanford, both Stratford's Shenandoah Shakespeare, QUT - Brisbane, Lincoln Center, the Folger Library, the Stratford Festival in Ontario, and the Mercury Theatre in Colchester, UK. Kevin is the Theatre Director for the Austen Riggs Center where he has directed over 30 productions. Coleman holds degrees from St. Louis University and NYU.

About the Education Program - Guided by Director of Education Kevin G. Coleman and Associate Director of Education Jenna Ware, the Company's award-winning Education Program is one of the most extensive theatre-in-education programs in the Northeast. The Education Program, since its inception in 1978, has reached over a million students with innovative performances, workshops and residencies including The Northeast Regional Tour of Shakespeare, the Fall Festival of Shakespeare, Shakespeare & Young Company, Riotous Youth, Shakespeare in the Courts (with the Berkshire Juvenile Court), Shakespeare in our Schools: Workshops for Teachers and Actors, and the National Institute on Teaching Shakespeare, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. For the eleventh consecutive year, the Northeast Regional Tour was generously supported by a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts through Arts Midwest, Shakespeare in American Communities initiative, administrated by NEA's national program.

The Education program received the Commonwealth Award, the highest award for excellence in the arts, sciences, and humanities given by the state of Massachusetts, and was also the subject of the two-year study by Harvard University's Graduate School of Education (Project Zero), which recommended national replication. Most recently recognized by a 2013 Massachusetts House of Representatives Resolution, the Education program has been identified by the Arts Education Partnership and the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities as a Champion of Change. The Education Program is supported in part by grants from The National Endowment for the Arts, the Massachusetts Cultural Council and its Youth Reach Initiative, the Dr. Robert C. and Tina Sohn Foundation, Deborah and Bill Ryan, Jeffrey Konowitch and Wendy Laurin, Berkshire Life Insurance Co., A Guardian Corporation, The Feigenbaum Foundation, The Charles Hall Foundation, The Red Lion Inn, Country Curtains, Berkshire Bank, the Cultural Councils of Great Barrington, Lee, Lenox, Monterey, New Marlboro, North Andover, Pittsfield, Sheffield, Springfield, Stockbridge and Richmond, and a coalition of businesses, families, and individuals.

About Shakespeare & Company - Located in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts, Shakespeare & Company is one of the largest Shakespeare Festivals in the country. Founded in 1978 by Tina Packer, the organization attracts more than 60,000 patrons annually, with a core of over 150 artists and more than 30 full-time staff. The Company develops and performs Shakespeare, classics, contemporary, and new plays of social and political significance, generating opportunities for collaboration between actors, directors and designers of all races, nationalities and backgrounds. Shakespeare & Company embraces the core values of Shakespeare's work: collaboration, commitment to language, visceral experience and classical ideals, expressed with physical prowess and an embodied contemporary voice.

The Company offers one of the most extensive actor training programs by a regional theatre in the country, where professionals from all over the world come to train with the organization known for its original, in-depth, classical training and performance methods. Shakespeare & Company is also home to an award-winning and nationally recognized theatre-in-education program, one of the largest the Northeast; it reaches more than 45,000 students annually with innovative performances, workshops and residencies. For more information, visit www.shakespeare.org.