A performance of Shakespeare by our touring ensemble, TourCo, will dazzle your students, inspiring them to read, respond, reflect, discuss, and write. in 2020, we will presents a 90-minute touring production and living study guide of Cymbeline. One of Shakespeare’s final plays – and one of his greatest achievements – ​Cymbeline is a romantic adventure story on an epic scale. It tells the story of Innogen, the princess of Britain, who embarks on a dangerous journey to find her husband and through courage and ingenuity clears her good name. Combining elements of comedy, tragedy, history and fairy tale, ​Cymbeline is not only a summation of Shakespeare’s incomparable career but a dazzling piece of showmanship that culminates in one of the most masterful final scenes of revelation and reconciliation in the canon. Featuring an inventive and energetic company of six actors, the Shakespeare Festival TourCo’s production offers a fast-paced, easy-to-understand performance of this underappreciated gem that revels in all the unbridled theatricality of a writer pushing the boundaries of what a play can be.

Students will be greeted first by the actors and led through discussion and activity prior to the start of the show, called the Living Study Guide, to increase performance literacy. How do we decipher, understand, and analyze a performance that you are unfamiliar with? How do we as audience members know which part of the performance is most important to understanding and enjoyment? The Tour Co will walk audiences through skill level appropriate exercises and discussion topics to break down the mystique and foreignness of Shakespeare’s plays and language. The performance of the show that follows will be appropriately set up for the audience in a unique way designed to provide definitions, vocabulary preview, authorial information, and structural patterns.