Produced in collaboration with Apocalyptic Artists Ensemble, Twelfth Night will tour schools in the New York City area, providing students with a live theatrical experience. Employing minimal design, vibrant music, and supported by in-school workshops, a company of actors will transform familiar school spaces – classrooms, cafeterias, auditoriums - into the topsy turvy land of Illyria.
Shipwrecked on a foreign shore, and believing her twin brother drowned, Viola disguises herself as a young man to serve in the court of the Count Orsino. Soon after, she finds herself at the center of a passionate love triangle between herself, Orsino, and the Lady Olivia. What will become of this?
Twelfth Night shows us a world turned upside down and reminds us that in life and in love we are all fools. What might we learn from our folly? And how can folly reveal our true selves and our heart’s true desires - what we “will?”
We offer on-site performances at schools in the spring, as well as public school hour performances at an Off-Broadway New York theater for those schools that do not have access to an appropriate performance space. This tour is available in the NYC metro area and the surrounding suburbs of NJ, Westchester and Long Island.
Please fill out THIS FORM if you are interested in this program!
IN-SCHOOL TOUR OF TWELFTH NIGHT
A touring production of Twelfth Night, adapted for Middle School and High School audiences, featuring 8 actors, and live music, to be performed on location in partner schools, preceded by a hands-on theater residency instructed by an artist associated with the production. The production will run 85-90 minutes (2 class periods) and includes an optional talkback with the actors.
HOST A PERFORMANCE OF TWELFTH NIGHT
Space: Twelfth Night will be created for non-traditional theater spaces, or auditoriums. We would prefer a larger room with flexible seating for at least 50 people and a playing space of at least 15 x 15 feet.
Performance Dates: Twelfth Night will tour NYC schools March - April 2027. Performances will have a run time of around 90 minutes.
Classes: We are requiring that at least 50 students attend each school hosted performance. If this is not possible, let me know and I will share information on public school time performances.
Pricing: For pricing please contact Nathan Winkelstein at nathan@redbulltheater.com.
What are the workshops? Shakespeare and Social Justice.
We provide schools the option of single workshops or residencies consisting of 5-7 sequential workshops in advance of all performances, taught by actors and artists associated with the production. The workshops engage students in the language and themes of the play through a social justice lens. The curriculum will be based on the workshops previously developed by us and guided by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Learning For Justice Anti-Bias Framework. Residencies will culminate in an in-class showcase of student performances from Shakespeare’s play.
A typical 7-workshop residency would feature the following content:
Workshop #1 - Character. This workshop focuses on the nuances of identity and how students can and should bring their own lived experience to their creative work.
Workshop #2 - Plot. This workshop explores how characters’ identities and relationships play out in the story, connecting students’ previous work on character identity and relationships to the action of the play.
Workshop #3 - Theater. Inspired by images from the play, students will begin to explore how theater artists translate the richness of Shakespeare’s world to the stage through nonliteral set design and staging. They will also develop their skills as an ensemble, identifying ways they can work more inclusively.
Workshop #4 - Language. Students will engage with Shakespeare’s text, exploring how word choice, rhythm, and imagery illuminate character experience and the action of a scene.
Workshop #5 - Rehearsal. Students will begin rehearsing scenes from the play with a primary objective of establishing their small group ensembles as welcoming and inclusive for all who participate.
Workshop #6 - Staging. As students continue to rehearse their scenes, they will draw from their own lived experience and knowledge of social dynamics of the time to connect with the internal wants and needs of their characters.
Workshop #7 - Performance and Reflection. Students share their work with the class, celebrate their achievement as an ensemble, and reflect on the role of theater and Shakespeare’s work in the culture of today.
All teaching artists associated with the project and these residencies have previous training and teaching experience with Shakespeare’s text and New York City public schools. The lead teaching artists associated with Red Bull Theater and Apocalyptic Artists have taught with all the major theater education programs in New York City and many of them possess terminal degrees in their field of expertise. In alignment with the Universal Design for Learning guidelines, they are trained to adapt when special populations are present in the classroom. This includes adjusting the presentation of activities for English Language Learners, employing a variety of group reflection structures that appeal to a variety of cognitive abilities and learning styles, and adjusting expectations and framework to accommodate any individual group’s strengths as articulated by the classroom teacher or demonstrated during a residency.