November 2011: SITS Team Announced

Shakespeare Festival St. Louis announced the creative team for the first annual PNC Arts Alive Shakespeare in the Streets. Team members include Tlaloc Rivas (director), Nancy Bell (playwright) and Justin Barisonek (designer).

“For this project we needed a vibrant team of creatives who are passionate about St. Louis,” said Rick Dildine, Executive Director of Shakespeare Festival St. Louis. “Over the next three months this team will immerse themselves in the culture and vibrancy of the Gravois Park neighborhood and develop a piece of theatre drawing upon the hopes, dreams and aspirations of the residents all the while using the works of Shakespeare as the basis for the new play.”

In early 2011 Shakespeare Festival St. Louis announced its largest programming expansion since its founding in 2001. Shakespeare in the Streets is a community immersion initiative that will re-energize a neighborhood through street performance block parties. Professional actors and community members will join a director in choosing and developing a Shakespeare play that speaks directly to the residents’ hopes, dreams and concerns. They will begin with a month-long rehearsal process culminating in three free performances of the play for residents of the neighborhood, as well as the Greater St. Louis area. It is SFSTL’s hope that this collaboration will allow the community to display its uniqueness to others.

“Tlaloc Rivas, Nancy Bell and Justin Barisonek are the dream team for this project,” continued Dildine. “Their vast experience creating work with a community is incredibly valuable.”

Shakespeare in the Streets will perform April 27-29, 2012. The program is generously underwritten by PNC Arts Alive and the National Endowment for the Arts.  Click here to read more.