Macbeth: Stage2 Student Matinees

CSC’s annual Stage2 Performances of Shakespeare’s most popular plays are designed for middle and high school audiences. This year’s production of Macbeth, directed by CSC’s Associate Artistic Director Bryn Boice, examines the play’s questions of fate and free will as seen through the lenses of A.I. and technology. 

This timely take on Shakespeare’s classic play will focus on concepts of manufactured jealousy and the tragic consequences of ceaseless social climbing, with the Witches as ghastly algorithms guiding Macbeth along his deadly course of action. For students just discovering Shakespeare —and die-hard fans, as well— don’t miss this bold fusion of past and future!

About Student Matinees

Our student matinee performances will be held:

Thursday, May 8th at 10 AM
Friday, May 9th at 11 AM
Monday, May 12th at 10 AM
Tuesday, May 13th at 10 AM
Wednesday, May 14th at 10 AM
Thursday, May 15th at 10 AM
Friday, May 16th at 11 AM

Macbeth Student matinee tickets are $15 for students and chaperones.

SEE THY WORDS: All performances are Open Captioned. Captions powered by CCTheater™, from AccessTech, LLC (www.getaccesstech.com) 

Stage2 is Supported by Paul Kastner 

This project is funded in part by Shakespeare in American Communities, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. CSC is one of 40 professional theater companies across the nation that produce Shakespearean plays with a professional team of actors for middle- and high-schools and conduct related educational activities for students. Additional funding for Stage2 is provided by The Paul and Edith Babson Foundation, The Boston Cultural Council, the Boston Arts Summer Institute, and The Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Who is Macbeth appropriate for?

Stage2 productions are presented using Shakespeare’s original text, cut for length to approximately 1.5 hours without intermission. Our cuts focus on highlighting the themes, ideas and language that will resonate strongly for a student audience. Our creative team and performers make choices that serve to illuminate the storytelling for this audience without “watering down” the source material.

This year’s Stage2 production is created with a high school audience in mind. Macbeth touches on themes and imagery of violence which may be challenging for younger viewers; however, we encourage educators and/or parents to read the play being presented and make the best choice for their students of any age. Please use the information and graphic below to gain a better idea of what to expect from this year’s play.

About Accessibility

Open Captioning will be provided at every performance.

In addition, ASL interpretation or Audio Description may be available upon request.

For questions or more information, please email education@commshakes.org.

About School Workshops

Alongside this production, CSC will also be offering a number of in-school Macbeth enrichment workshops which can be delivered either virtually or in person.  Click the button below to learn more!

About CSC2

John Hardin (Mercutio) in Romeo & Juliet, CSC2, 2019-Photo by Nile Hawver

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s Stage2 Performance Series provides the opportunity for students and their teachers to attend high-quality live theater created with them in mind. These abridged productions use Shakespeare’s original text, and focus on the themes and stories that will resonate most with young audiences. Performed by our young professional CSC2 Acting Company, these performances bring together the next generation of actors with the next generation theater goers.

CSC2 is a company of early-career professional actors that works with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company to further develop skills in classical acting through performance (including in CSC’s flagship Shakespeare on the Common production), artistic and professional development, and through different educational and coaching settings.

Creative Team

William Shakespeare

Playwright

William Shakespeare

Playwright

William Shakespeare was a renowned English poet, playwright, and actor born in 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon. His birthday is most commonly celebrated on 23 April, which is also believed to be the date on which he died in 1616. Shakespeare was a prolific writer during the Elizabethan and Jacobean ages of British theatre (sometimes referred to as the English Renaissance or the Early Modern Period). Shakespeare’s plays are perhaps his most enduring legacy, but they are not the only things he wrote. Shakespeare’s poetry has also remained popular to this day.

Shakespeare’s work includes 38 plays, 2 narrative poems, a collection of 154 sonnets, and other poems as well. No original manuscripts of Shakespeare’s plays are known to exist today, and about half of Shakespeare’s plays are only available to us because a group of actors in his company collected them for publication after his death. These writings were brought together in what is known as the First Folio (‘Folio’ refers to the size of the paper used). It contained 36 of his plays, and none of his poetry. Shakespeare’s legacy is as rich and diverse as his work; his plays have spawned countless adaptations across multiple genres and cultures, and his plays have had an enduring presence on stage and film.

His writings have been compiled in various iterations of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by different entities, which usually include all of his plays, his sonnets, and his other poems. From Stratford to London and beyond, William Shakespeare was and is one of the most important literary figures of the English language.

 

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Bryn Boice

Director

Bryn Boice

Director

Bryn Boice is an award-winning director, educator, actor, and producer, as well as CSC’s Associate Artistic Director and Director of Education & Training. Also for CSC, Bryn helmed Universe Rushing Apart: Blue Kettle & Here We Go – two Caryl Churchill one-acts – which garnered her the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Director, Large Theatre. Other recent Boston-area credits include: The Sound Inside and The Children (both Elliot Norton nominated for Outstanding Production, Speakeasy Stage); The Book of Will, Into the Breeches! (Elliot Norton nom. for Direction and Production, Hub Theatre Company); Tall Tales from Blackburn Tavern, Gloria (Gloucester Stage); The Half-Life of Marie Curie (The Nora Company); Admissions (The Gamm Theatre); Last Night at Bowl-Mor Lanes (Greater Boston Stage Company); an all-female production of Julius Caesar for Actors’ Shakespeare Project; and a number of Apprentice Repertory Company and Stage2 productions for CSC. New York, regional and other Boston credits as an actor and/or director include work with Asolo Repertory Company, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, Anthem Theatre Company, Okoboji Theatre, InProximity Theatre, Theatre Row, Martha’s Vineyard PAC, Monomoy Theatre, Caroline’s on Broadway, and Manhattan Theatre Club. Before turning full-time to CSC, she taught at Salem State University, where her wide-ranging experience allowed her to teach Voice for Performance, Applied Stage Movement, Public Speaking, Directing, Acting III (Early Realism), Dramatic Theory & Criticism, and Dialects, among others. MFA in Directing, Boston University. MFA in Acting, Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training (FSU). Member AEA. For more information visit www.brynboice.com

 

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The Strand Theatre,
owned by the City of Boston and managed by the Mayor’s Office of Arts & Culture

543 Columbia Road
Boston, MA 02125

The view from the stage out across the 1,400 seats of The Strand Theatre. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

Driving Directions to The Strand Theatre

From South: Take I-93 North to exit 15, Columbia Road. Left at the bottom of ramp to third set of lights.There is a Kentucky Fried Chicken / Tedeschi’s on the corner. Turn left onto Columbia Road. Go through two sets of lights, the Strand is on the left, just past Bank of America.

From North: Take I-93 South to exit 15, Columbia Road. Right at the bottom of ramp to third set of lights. There is a Kentucky Fried Chicken / Tedeschi’s  on the corner. Turn left onto Columbia Road. Go through two sets of lights, the Strand is on the left, just past Bank of America.

From West: Mass Pike (I-90) east into Boston, to I-93 south. Follow “From the NORTH” directions.

From Jamaica Plain/ Brookline: Take the JamaicaWay south to the Arborway. Keep straight to the rotary. Go 3/4 around the rotary and turn into Franklin Park. Go through the park, and turn left onto Blue Hill Avenue. Go about 50 yards, then make a right onto Columbia Road. The Strand is about 1 1/3 miles down on the right, just past the Strand/ Walgreen’s Pharmacy.

Parking

On street parking is available on Columbia Road.

Free off-street parking is available in the Ramsey Street Municipal lot. Ramsey Street is located at the intersection of Dudley Street and Columbia Road behind CVS Pharmacy and Payless Shoes.

For evening and Sunday shows, free parking is also available in the Citizen’s Bank and Santander Bank parking lots. The Citizen’s Bank lot is located at the corner of Columbia Road and Cushing Avenue. The Santander Bank lot is located in the rear of the bank at 585 Columbia Rd.

Public Transit

Red Line: Get off at Andrew station. Take the #16 (Forest Hills) or #17 (Field’s Corner) bus to Upham’s Corner/Dudley Street. Get off in front of Payless Shoe Store. The Strand is up one block on the left, just past Bank of America.

Orange Line: Get off at Ruggles station. Take the #15 (Upham’s Corner) bus via Dudley Station. Get off in front of Get off in front of Payless Shoe Store. The Strand is up one block on the left, just past Bank of America.

Orange Line: Get off at Forest Hills station. Take the #16 (Forest Hills) or #17 (Field’s Corner) bus to Upham’s Corner/Dudley Street. Get off in front of Payless Shoe Store. The Strand is up one block on the left, just past Bank of America.

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