Touring Shakespeare
Dianne J. Winslow
Since 1998, Touring Shakespeare has traveled within the state of Arizona and beyond as an educational outreach program of the Department of Theatre Arts professional actor training program. Casts have entertained and enlightened audiences in Chicago, Minneapolis, Seattle/Tacoma, and Los Angeles. In the Spring of 1990, Touring Shakespeare was the featured entertainment for the American College Theatre Festival's Irene Ryan Evening of Scenes at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C.
The first original script, Know Bard, Will Travel! Received commendation by the Arizona Board of Regents for its contributions to the University. Rappin' with the Bard, a second production, as video-taped in Tucson and is distributed internationally by Beacon Films. The latest Touring Shakespeare production, The Universal Language of Shakespeare, is a bilingual landmark production, serving up text, music, and lessons in both English and Spanish - El Lenguaje de Shakespeare es Universal!
Every other year, casts tour these 'teaching entertainments' to junior highs, high schools, colleges, and community organizations. Innovative performance concepts provide the keys to unlocking the Bard's blank verse and reducing the anxiety often experienced when first reading, rehearsing, and performing Shakespeare.
Each production includes scenes and monologues supplemented by instructional dialogue and original music to introduce lessons and concepts that explore Shakespearean verse, prose, and vocabulary. After each school performance, cast members teach individual workshops that reinforce lessons presented in performance. Audience members explore Shakespeare's text, encouraged by cast members and cheered on by their peers. In this, the tenth anniversary of its creation, touring Shakespeare celebrates the many talented cast members who have inspired those younger than themselves. "The timeless words of Shakespeare" continue to resound, as former student audience members join our department and young company of actors.
