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Performances and workshops in your school, library, theater, hall, or park.
For 34 years our Shakespeare on Tour program has traveled across California to bring a one-hour version of a Shakespeare play to thousands of students. Our touring troupe of actors bring sets, props, costumes, and music to enliven their active and engaging performance.
The production is professionally directed and suitable for elementary students through adults. The tour visits more schools and libraries than any other theater group in the state. Schools will also receive a curriculum guide written by professional educators, with lesson plans designed to help teachers prepare their students to more fully appreciate the performance.
Scroll down to book an event, learn about the current season, requirements, fees, optional add-ons, cast list, and photo gallery. Use the menu on the left to quickly navigate this page.
Students of all ages will find this quintessential comedy engaging as well as enriching. Mixed-up lovers, sparring fairies, and bumbling actors all collide in a confluence of comedy and conflict that will have your students laughing out loud and ready to engage! A Midsummer Night’s Dream cushions impactful themes of human existence in word-play and physical comedy, leaving room for further learning while delighting and energizing. Plus, walk-on roles for student volunteers will invite your students to join in the fun!
Our production, a one-hour version thoughtfully cut from Shakespeare’s original texts, travels to you with a cast of professional actors with costumes, set, props, and sound. At the conclusion of the show the cast will stay for a short Q&A session with the audience.
Educator’s curriculum materials included-
Written especially for teachers, and indexed to California State Standards, these materials readily facilitate an enhanced understanding of the plot, themes, character motives, and language found in Shakespeare’s writing. Additionally, a copy of the script the cast is using is provided so that the show you are seeing may be reviewed in advance and contemplated after.
(Limited dates remaining)
Limited dates available to book your Shakespeare on Tour performance and/or playshop for spring 2023. The Tour begins on February 14 and concludes on May 6.
The following performances are open to the public:
• Minimum 20×25 foot performance area, with a minimum 8 foot ceiling when indoors.
• Adequate lighting for the audience to see the show (theatrical lighting not required).
• Show may take place indoors or out, on a lawn, in a gym, library, theater, multi-purpose room, or other space.
Deepen your students’ experience of Shakespeare by adding a Playshop.
This active, one-hour, participatory classroom experience will deepen your students’ appreciation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Imaginative vocal and physical exercises, led by actors from the performance, will have your students embodying Shakespeare’s language and discovering on their own that it’s readily understood as well as relevant. Content is appropriate for all grades K-12; specific exercises and material may vary based on grade levels.
Shakespeare on Tour Playshops are designed to accompany the performance. If you are interested in stand-alone Playshops and Residencies, please check out our other offerings in Your Classroom.
(Limited dates remaining)
Within 50 miles of the Festival office (1560 Davidson Ave, San Francisco 94124)
• One show: $1000
• Two shows, back-to-back: $1500 (30 minute break between shows)
• Two shows, same venue but not back-to-back: $1750
• 1 hour Playshop, up to 32 students: $400
• 1 hour Playshop, up to 64 students: $600
• 1 hour Playshop, up to 64 students: $600
Within 50 – 120 miles of the Festival office (1560 Davidson Ave, San Francisco 94124)
• One show: $1600
• Two shows, back-to-back: $2000 (30 minute break between shows)
• Two shows, same venue but not back-to-back: $2250
• 1 hour Playshop, up to 32 students: $500
• 1 hour Playshop, up to 64 students: $750
Over 120 miles from the Festival office (1560 Davidson Ave, San Francisco 94124)
• One show: $1850
• Two shows, back-to-back: $2250 (30 minute break between shows)
• Two shows, same venue but not back-to-back: $2500
• 1 hour Playshop, up to 32 students: $500
• 1 hour Playshop, up to 64 students: $750
PARKER SERA
PUCK / THESEUS / STARVELING
Parker (she/they) is an actor, poet, and teaching artist who is most often based in Philadelphia. She is proud to be making her West Coast debut as Puck/Theseus/Starveling. Most recently, she appeared in Theatre at Monmouth’s As You Like It, Blithe Spirit at The Walnut Street Theatre, and Circle Mirror Transformation at New Jersey’s Eagle Theatre. Parker received her MFA in acting from Temple University, where she also teaches. She has a BFA in Musical Theatre from the Santa Fe University of Art & Design. When she isn’t acting, Parker works as a teaching artist for Philadelphia’s Lantern Theatre Co. and leads trauma-informed arts workshops with international nonprofit BuildABridge. More at parkersera.com
CHRISTOPHER PRESCOTT CARTER
OBERON / DEMETRIUS / FLUTE
Christopher (he/him) has been acting in the bay area theatre scene for twenty-four years. During that time, he has had the pleasure to work with companies like Theatreworks, Tabia Theatre, Renegade Theatre, Bus Barn Stage Company, We Players, Standford Rep, Northside Theatre, Cedar Fairs, American Immersion Theater, and many others. He won the Hal Todd Award for Excellence in Acting, as well as the Theatre Bay Area Award for Best Ensemble.
CHARLIE LAVARONI
EGEUS / HELENA / SNOUT / PEASBLOSSOM
Charlie (gender inclusive) is a bi-coastal actor and teaching artist. They have proudly worked with: SF Shakespeare Festival, Livermore Shakespeare Festival, Catalyst Theatre, Big Idea Theatre, Davis Shakespeare Festival, SFBATCO, and Shakespeare & Co. Some of his favorite recent credits include: Clown- over 14 different characters! (The 39 Steps); Nell Gwyn (Charlie and Nell); Hades (Shining); Burgundy/others (King Lear); and Touchstone (As You Like It). They have trained at Shakes and Co’s prestigious month-long intensive and are a Resident Artist at HamletIsntDead in NYC. charlielavaroni.com
YAMINI JAIN
HERMIA / TITANIA / QUINCE
Yamini (she/her) is an actor based in the Bay Area and this is her first professional production. During high school, she performed in many plays and musicals which sparked her love for acting. This passion made her move from her hometown Dubai to America, where she is pursuing it alongside a degree in Psychology. Coincidentally, her first experience of Shakespeare was at a local performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She hopes to recreate and share the joy of Shakespeare with everyone. She is playing Hermia, Titania, and Quince in this production by the SF Shakespeare Festival.
ROBERT KITTLER
LYSANDER / BOTTOM / COBWEB
Robert (he/him) is thrilled to be a part of the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival. His love for this material began at age 11 when his parents enrolled him in Shakespeare Camp at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington DC. Since then, Robert has studied acting at Studio Acting Conservatory in DC, American Conservatory Theatre in SF, and the Scott Freeman Studio in NYC. Robert has worked with Theatre Rhinoceros, the Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco, Boxcar Theatre, New Conservatory Theatre Center, and California Shakespeare Theatre.
MARJAN SAFA
PUCK / THESEUS / STARVELING – ALTERNATE
Marjan (she/her) is a San Francisco based actor and is delighted to be making her debut with SF Shakes. She was last seen in Monday nights Playground as Alison Lennox in A Peace of Stone and as Betty 5 in Collective Rage at the Pear Theatre in Mountain View. She has previously worked with Contra Costa Civic Theatre, Altarena Playhouse, TheatreFirst, Golden Thread Productions, San Francisco Playhouse, Palo Alto Players, San Francisco Playwrights’ Center and Multi-Ethnic Theatre. She is a graduate of the American Conservatory Theatre (A.C.T.) Summer Training Congress, and has trained extensively at both ACT and Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Currently she is in ongoing classes with Richard Seyd at the Seydways Acting Studios. She likes to read, bake, walk and dip her toes in water in her spare time. To learn more about her you can visit her webpage at marjansafa.com.
ALAN COYNE
OBERON / DEMETRIUS / FLUTE – ALTERNATE
Alan (he/him) is probably on his fourth Tour with SF Shakes, though they say if you can remember Tour, you weren’t really there. With Free Shakes, he has played Bolt in Pericles and Don John in last year’s Much Ado About Nothing. He has also acted with Central Works (The Victorian Ladies’ Detective Collective, Escape from the Asylum), Custom Made (The Braggart Soldier, Chess, Cloud 9), Ferocious Lotus (Evolution), Golden Thread (Autobiography of a Terrorist), and Lafayette Town Hall Theatre. Catch him (if you can) in Golden Gate Park this April/May in We Players’ Adventures with Alice.
BIANCA CHESNUT
EGEUS / HELENA / SNOUT / PEASBLOSSOM – ALTERNATE
Bianca (she/her) is so grateful to be a part of the SF Shakespeare Festival’s Shakespeare on Tour Company! She is a recent graduate of New York University Tisch School of the Arts and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, receiving her degrees in Drama and Classical Acting. Some of her recent credits include Juliet/Sampson in Romeo & Juliet and Olivia in Twelfth Night with the Blue Ridge Young Actors Guild and Franny Glass in a student film adaptation of J.D. Salinger’s Franny & Zooey. You can find more of Bianca’s work at biancachesnut.com
NATALIE AYALA
HERMIA / TITANIA / QUINCE – ALTERNATE
Natalie (she/her) is ecstatic to be back as teaching artist and tour actress with SF Shakes after playing Luciana and Duke in The Comedy of Errors, as well as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet in Shakespeare on Tour productions. She is excited to finally perform in her “dream” show A Midsummer Night’s Dream as Hermia,Titania, and Quince! She was most recently seen in Plethos Productions as Yolanda in In The Heights. Other performances include Memoria del Silencio ( Elia) SF Shakes’ Hamlet (Voltemand/Player/Sailor), Sweet Charity (Hostess), and All In The Timing (Kafka). At San Francisco State University her credits include Shakespeare Goes To School Cabaret and Trifles (Mrs. Peters). When not acting, she is teaching drama and directing shows at many schools.
EVAN HELD
LYSANDER / BOTTOM / COBWEB – ALTERNATE
Evan (he/him) has been an actor and teaching artist in the Bay Area since his 2018 Educational Tour of The Comedy of Errors with San Francisco Shakespeare Festival. He’s been acting up and down the Bay Area, and is currently co-leading educational programming at San Francisco Shakespeare. He’s ecstatic for the Tour to make its reemergence, and delighted to take part in spreading the joy of Shakespeare across California.
SYDNEY SCHWINDT
DIRECTOR
Sydney is an actor, fight director, teaching artist, and visual artist. She joined the SF Shakes family in 2015 playing Rosalind in the tour of As You Like It. Favorite acting credits include: Laertes Hamlet, SF Shakes; Sally Ride She Persisted the Musical: Bay Area Children’s Theatre; Helena A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Benvolio Romeo and Juliet, Helena Landless Mystery of Edwin Drood Davis Shakespeare Festival; Cassandra Jihad Jones & the Kalashnikov Babes Arabian Shakespeare Festival; Hartford Stage, Berkeley Rep, Mirage Entertainment, The Hampton Theatre Company. Education: BFA Hartt School of Music, Dance, and Theatre, Accademia dell’Arte, Society of American Fight Directors, DAI, SF Clown Conservatory. sydney-schwindt.com
ROBYN GRAHN
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Robyn (she/her), a Resident Artist with San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, is very excited to return to working with Shakespeare on Tour! She has also worked with Playground SF, Livermore Shakespeare, Shotz-Amios West, Marin Shakespeare, 6NewPlays, SF Olympians, and Ross Valley Players. Favorite roles include Viola from Twelfth Night, Emilie from Emilie, and Louka from Arms and the Man. She is an avid environmentalist & artist, doula & momma, and always looking for new opportunities.
MIN KAHNG
COMPOSER
Min Kahng (he/him) is an award-winning playwright, composer, lyricist and creative coach whose works include The Adventures of Honey & Leon, The Four Immigrants: An American Musical Manga (Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award, Theatre Bay Area Award, Edgerton New Play Award, NAMT Production Grant), GOLD: The Midas Musical (Theatre Bay Area Award), Iris Lee’s Audio Odyssey (published by Playscripts), Inside Out & Back Again, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon: A Musical Adaptation, Bad Kitty On Stage!, The Song of the Nightingale and Tales of Olympus. Kahng also wrote the NEA-funded project Story Explorers, an original musical for young audiences with autism. Kahng is an alumnus of MacDowell, Playwrights Foundation Resident Initiative, Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor, Djerassi, Willapa Bay AiR, and the TheatreWorks New Works Festival. He has been invited as a Guest Lecturer/Artist at Harvard University, Stanford University, UC Berkeley, San Jose State University and The San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Kahng is a Jonathan Larson Grant Finalist, a Richard Rodgers Award Finalist, and a Dramatists Guild committee member. minkahng.com
LEE GARBER-PATEL
COSTUME DESIGNER
Lee (they/them) has worked on several productions in a variety of capacities, from backstage to onstage. In their first year as a production intern with the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, they focused on the costumes and wardrobe department.They are currently at UC Berkeley, working towards a B.A. in Media Studies, with a double minor in Theatre and Ethnic Studies.
Casting is complete for the 2023 Spring Session of Shakespeare on Tour, but keep an eye on our Auditions Page for an announcement about late 2023 auditions for the 2024 Tour. We typically seek 10 actor/educators (5 full time and 5 alternates), and we greatly encourage BIPOC, LGBTQiA+, gender non-conforming and folks of all abilities to audition for this unique experience. SF Shakes is deeply committed to inclusive, empowering, and color-conscious casting.
Funding provided by Shakespeare in American Communities supports our residency programs, helping us in our goal to make Shakespeare accessible to all.
SAN FRANCISCO SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL
PO Box 46093
San Francisco, CA 94146-0937
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