Educational Tour: Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)
2020/2021 Educational Tour
Starring Gustavo Flores, Raquel McKenzie and Benjamin Harris
Virtual Educational Tour available NOW. Including a live talk back with your class and the entire Complete Works team. Schedule your viewing and your educational experience now.
Please contact Susan Freestone @ Discover@swshakespeare.org
AZ Gives Day and Two Gentlemen of Verona
Meet the Cast of Two Gentlemen of Verona!
Join us on April 6th at 7pm(PDT) for the launch of our digital fundraiser of Two Gentlemen of Verona for Arizona Gives Day. Stay tuned at intermission to hear our 2021-2022 Season Announce by core company member, Beau Heckman.

Valentine | Stephen Hohendorf |
Proteus | Arthur Langley |
Julia | Joi Fletcher |
Silvia | Bronwyn Doebbling |
Duke of Milan | Keath Hall |
Lucetta | Angela Kabasan |
Launce | Jeff Deglow |
Speed | Victor Yang |
Thurio | Ben Harris |
Sir Eglamour | Jim Coates |
Antonio | Beau Heckman |
Host | Dayna Donnovan |
Outlaw 2 | William Buckley |
Outlaw 3 | Gustavo Flores |
Crab | Dog |
Panthino/Outlaw 1 | Brandon Caraco |
Musicians | Noah Brown |
Flachmann Seminar - Two Gentlemen of Verona April 10th, 2021
The Flachmann Seminar
Seminars this season will be taught by Dr. Susan Willis, dramaturg of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Dr. Willis was an observer at the BBC while it produced “The BBC Shakespeare Plays: Making the Televised Canon”. Since 1985, she has been the resident dramaturg and a director at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and hosts the adult education series “Theatre in the Mind”. She has also worked with its play program, The Southern Writers Project and is a member of the faculty of Auburn University.
April 10th @ 10:00 AM (Public/Educators)
To purchase your ticket. and to register for the seminar, please contact swalston@swshakespeare.org
Attending a Seminar
Delving deeper into the Bard’s works gives one a greater understanding of the play. The seminars also give you a sneak peek behind the scenes as you will meet the designers, mingle with the actors, possible tour of the set and stage and have a special talk back with the actors.
Seminars are from 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM (With breaks throughout)
The location for the 2020/2021 Season Seminars: Virtual Platform provided on Zoom
Reservations are required. The fee for the seminar is $25 for non-subscribers. To get a virtual ticket to Two Gentlemen of Verona, please click on www.showtix4u.com/events/swshakespeare
You can pay for the seminar online by clicking the link above or call 480-435-6868 to reserve your spot.
Bard Club Members
Admission to the seminar is included in Bard Card memberships.
Season Subscribers
Admission is not included in your season subscription, however you can purchase a seat by clicking the button above.
Educators and Students
Because SSC understands the value of bringing Shakespeare alive to students and has the desire to assist teachers with simplifying this task, we encourage all teachers to attend SSC Flachmann Seminars. The seminars offer learning techniques teachers can take directly back to their classrooms. Attendees will receive expert knowledge of the production and most districts accept this as 10 re-certification credits. Educators will receive a certificate upon completion of the day. Please check with your district to receive professional development credit. The course is $20 and the certificate for professional development is an additional $15
Please contact Susan Freestone at discover@swshakespeare.org to book your ticket. This is a virtual classroom an you will be given a link at booking.
For Educators, please contact info@swshakespeare.org to purchase your tickets and information.
Story Time Classics LIVE! A Novel Experience
Story Time Classics LIVE! A Novel Experience
Monday - Friday at 11am (MST) Hosted by Beau Heckman and special guests. Streamed live on Youtube and Facebook.
SCHEDULE:
- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
- Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
- Sherlock Holmes: THE VALLEY OF FOUR by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez
- Sherlock Holmes: THE SIGN OF THE FOUR by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Jan 28th-Feb 3rd, 2021)
- Sherlock Holmes: HOUNDS OF BASKERVILLE by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Jan 15th-27th,2021)
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Dec 28th - Jan 11th, 2021)
- The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (Dec 22nd-24th, 2020)
- The Polar Express, A Kidnapped Santa Claus, Little Gretchen and the Wooden Shoe (Dec 21st, 2020)
- Little Piccola/ The Legend of the Christmas Tree/ The Boy With the Box (Dec 17th,2020)
Educational Virtual Readings
Enjoy some of our classic readings from the summer of 2020 pandemic.
Reading Selection:
Othello
Hamlet
Henry V (Directed By Quinn Mattfeld)
Richard III (Directed by Irwin Appel)
Henry IV Part I (Directed by Ingrid Sonnichsen)
Henry IV Part 2 (Directed by Ingrid Sonnichsen)
Merchant of Venice (Directed by Irwin Appel and David Ira Goldstein)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (Directed by Ty Defoe and to support Covid relief in Native Nations)
Julius Caesar (Directed by and Starring Tony Award Winning Trezana Beverly and benefiting ACMI)
Pericles; Prince of Tyre - (Directed by Beau Heckman)
2021 ESU Competition
ALL PARTICIPANTS WILL RECEIVE A NO FEE TUTORIAL
About the Annual Competition:The ESU National Shakespeare Competition is a performance-based educational program serving grades 9-12, or ages 14 – 18 years old. Since 1983, the competition has engaged more than 360,000 young people. Approximately 2,500 teachers and 20,000 students in nearly 60 ESU Branch communities participate each year. High school students nationwide read, analyze, perform and recite Shakespearean monologues and sonnets in three qualifying stages: school, ESU Branch and national.
The ESU National Shakespeare Competition is aligned with modern educational practices.
Participating students will:
- practice essential skills such as critical thinking, close reading and public speaking
- work through all 6 levels of Bloom’s taxonomy, from recall to creation, increasing self-confidence through reading, analysis and performance of Shakespeare
- have multiple points of entry to explore universal themes and are challenged to decode for themselves the complex beauty of Shakespeare’s language
- work with teachers and peers in a student-centered program of experiential and cross-curriculum learning
- meet local, state and national standards in English Language Arts and Drama.
The ESU National Shakespeare Competition has been recognized by the Globe Center (USA), the Children’s Theatre Foundation of America and the American Academy of Achievement.
New for 2021:
- The ESU National Shakespeare Competition Finals will take place remotely following the same format it did in 2020. It is our hope that the competition can return to a live format once it is safe to do so. Please contact us if you need to use SSC Video equipment and Facilities at 255 S MacDonald Mesa, AZ 85201 by appt only with one driver and one coach.
- Branch and School Competitions: Recorded Competition
- Same format as 2020 National Semi-Finals. Students upload a video to YouTube and provide a link on the school winner form.
- Send us a Youtube video link to jmurphy@swshakespeare.org
- NO FEE to enter this Prestigious 2021 ESU Competition with its high stakes awards and prizes!
PRIZES2021 Prizes are as follows (due to COVID there is a possibility of delayed/substituted prizes)
- 1st place: British American Drama Academy Mid-Summer Conservatory Program
- 2nd place: American Shakespeare Center Theatre Camp
- 3rd place: $1000
Rules and EligibilityFollow this link for all the rules, regulations, and criteria
- The school must register with the ESU via theSchool Participation Form.
SELECTION ELIGIBILITY (MONOLOGUE & SONNET):
The selections that contestants perform must meet the following criteria.MONOLOGUE
Students must select their monologue from the 2021 Monologue Packet (COMING SOON), provided by the ESU.
No alterations may be made to the monologues. They must be performed as written in the packet.The packet has been updated for the 2020-2021 season and now includes OVER 250 monologues from 120 characters in all 38 plays. The selections offer a variety of monologues, of 15 to 22 lines a piece; students may select whichever monologue they prefer, regardless of gender. Selections have been taken from the Folger Digital Texts resource (folgerdigitaltexts.org).
SONNETSonnets must come from Shakespeare’s 154 sonnet cycle. These are all listed in the 2021 Sonnet Packet (COMING SOON) and are available at folgerdigitaltexts.org.
Student HandbookDocuments and Forms
Polish up your Sonnets/Monologues$100 for 45 minutes with Josh to aid your student(s) to review and receive Sonnets and Monologues Pointers$600 in depth SSC Residency with Joshua Murphy teaching basic Shakespeare and more in depth Preparation and practicing Monologues and Sonnets.
Video Tips from Joshua Murphy
Click on the link below and get expert recording tips from SSC’c Core Company Member, Joshua Murphy.
Shakespeare in the Law
You have to do it, why not do it with us?
Experience live theater while learning and discussing legal ethics. Southwest Shakespeare Company actors perform specific legal scenes from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice.
A Panel of Experts to Guide the Discussion
A highly active presentation coupled with an interactive panel discussion lead by local legal professionals and Curt Tofteland, the renowned founder of the esteemed Shakespeare Behind Bars program.
The lively discussion is unique in its inclusion of actors, lawyers and students attending the program!
Cost of Class Per Person: $145
Cost of Class Per Firm: CONTACT FOR PRICING jmurphy@swshakespeare.org
Class includes three CLE legal ethics credits with certificate, materials from the class, and a live performance of scenes from The Merchant of Venice.
To register please email: Joshua Murphy jmurphy@swshakespeare.org or Breona at bconrad@swshakespeare.org
call: 480-435-6868