Youth Shakes is an after-school program that equips students to rehearse and perform their own version of a classic play! Directed by a professional teaching artist, students dig into the language, develop their characters, and ultimately perform on the main Seattle Shakespeare stage.
We perform the same productions being performed on the main stage. Students get to share the same set and enjoy a company potluck dinner where they can meet and talk with the adult counterparts playing the same roles.
“Not only have I learned a lot of things in this program that have specifically benefited my life, I've also learned things that I can pass on to other students. Which is amazing.”
“I was so thrilled that she had the experience of not only loving the role and the play, but also loving the experience and the people. Thank you for creating that space for kids.”
Current Production
Toxicity, nurture, growth, love, rage, and plague. This spring, we turn to Shakespeare’s famous story of young lovers to help us understand the seasons of change we find ourselves in now.
Centering on the story of two young heirs suffering under the weight of familial obligations and expectations, Romeo and Juliet find peace and understanding in one another. When their pleas for understanding and acceptance fall on deaf ears, the consequences prove dire.
- Juliet: Rose
- Romeo: Adrian
- Nurse: Arwyn
- Friar Laurence: Charlie
- Capulet: Rudolph
- Lady Capulet: Eila
- Mercutio: Grace
- Tybalt: Ruby
- Benvolio: Fish
- Abraham / Apothecary / Capulet’s Kinsman: Nolan
- Balthasar: Ena
- Paris: Jules
- Petra: Nora
- Queen: Madeline
- Gregory / Montague: Casey
- Lady Montague / Sister J / Featured Dancer (Rosaline): Anneliese
Adapted and Directed by: Anna Klein
Stage Manager: Ava Schmidt
Production Coordinator: Tatyana Emery
Assistant Director: Miranda Gilbert
Dance Choreographer: Hersh Powers
Fight Choreographer: Rachael Uyeno
Photos by: Giao Nguyen
Show poster by: Anna Klein
Past Productions
Adapted and Directed by: Anna Klein
Stage Manager: Ava Schmidt
Production Coordinator: Tatyana Emery
Lighting: Clint Bull
Properties Designer: Robin Macartney
Dialect Coach: Rowan Gallagher
Photos by: Spencer Dykstra
Show poster by: Kayla Brooks
CAST:
- Falstaff: Rudolph
- Mistress Ford: Ruby
- Mistress Page: Natalie
- Page: Fish
- Ford: Adrian
- Doctor Caius: Rose
- Sir Hugh Evans: Sefira
- Fenton / Pistol: Ena
- Anne Page / William Page: Arwyn
- Slender: Kai
- Shallow / Simple: Nora
- Mistress Quickly: Eila
- Nym / Host: Charlie