Our 2008 Education Tour production Me & Richard 3 was awarded the Kevin Kline Award for Outstanding Theatre for Young Audiences this past April. Please join us in congratulating the hard work, talent and creativity of the team who put it all together! Me & Richard 3 was the brainchild of Education Director Christopher Limber, who took the story of a power-mad king in Shakespeare’s Richard III and transmuted it into a story about a teen who falls under the literary king’s influence in a modern high school. The production was directed by Jennifer Marissa Bock and featured local actors Aaron Orion Baker, Robert A. Mitchell, Michael B. Perkins, Jennifer M. Theby and Gwen Wotawa* touring with Stage Manager Anna Blair.

The troupe performed Richard and its sister production, A Midsummer Night’s Dream…In the Wink of an Eye! 126 times during its tour, reaching an audience of 26,000 at area schools and community venues.

The Education Tour has been a part of the Festival’s education programming since we began 10 years ago – the first 30-minute production, Meet Romeo & Juliet, visited eight schools. Since then, we have expanded to two full 50-minute productions each season. One play is further reduced to 20 minutes and plays during the Festival Green Show as our mini-play, introducing characters, plot and theme twice nightly before the mainstage production begins. The Tour now spends 13 fully-booked weeks travelling throughout the metro area and as far away as Sullivan, Missouri and into metro-East Illinois.

Visit our 2009 photo gallery for more photos of Me & Richard 3 - click here!

For information about bringing our 2010 Education Tour to your school or community venue, featuring Trippingly Hamlet and All the World's a Stage... click here!

To find information about public performances of Trippingly Hamlet and All the World's a Stage... as well as other Shakespeare performances in the area, click here!

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Photo © J. David Levy.  Top: Aaron Orion Baker, Michael B. Perkins and Robert A. Mitchell; bottom, Michael B. Perkins in 2008's Me & Richard 3. 

*Denotes member, Actor's Equity Association.