Shakespeare's return to Plains high school

Danielle Switalski

Montana’s Shakespeare in the Schools is set to perform Romeo and Juliet at Plains High School on Tuesday, October 10 at 9:30 a.m.

This is the 8th year Shakespeare in the Schools will be making a pit stop to perform for Plains students.  The performance is open to any and all students in Plains and Paradise, whether they are in-school students or home-schooled.  Plains Woman’s Club sponsors the event each year.

Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeare’s most well-known tragedy he has ever written.  This year’s play will be performed to approximately 15,000 students in nearly 50 communities in Montana and Wyoming during its annual fall tour, which began in October and goes until early December.

The ten-week tour is a part of Montana State University’s outreach program, which is part of the Shakespeare in the Parks company.  Shakespeare in the Parks made a stop in Plains this past August when they performed The Tempest.

Director for Montana Shakespeare in the Schools, Joel Jahnke said the program has an emphasis on underserved, rural areas and 70% of the schools they will perform in this year will be in communities with a population of less than 5,000 people.

This years production is directed by William Brown, an award winning director from Chicago.

Montana Shakespeare in the Schools began in 1993 with two actors who performed scenes from Shakespeare’s plays with minimal costumes and scenery.  It has now grown to a seven member professional cast.

For the sixth year in a row, Montana Shakespeare in the Schools is funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts “Shakespeare in American Communities: Shakespeare for a New Generation.”