American Players Theatre

Spring Green, Wisconsin

American Players Theatre (APT), a major professional outdoor theatre devoted to classical works, is located in Spring Green, Wisconsin, 40 miles west of Madison. The 1,148-seat amphitheater sits in a natural bowl on 110 acres of woods and meadow just off the Wisconsin River. The theatre, founded in 1979, has grown rapidly in recent years and currently enjoys the largest audience in the United States for outdoor classical theatre, with more than 100,000 patrons from across the nation attending performances each year. Shakespeare is APT's heart and soul, with accompanying works ranging from the Greeks to British comedies. Each season, APT produces 116 performances of five plays running in rotating repertory from June to October. At the conclusion of their home season, APT tours across Wisconsin, bringing Shakespeare to diverse communities including Appleton, Milwaukee, Madison, Manitowoc, Pulaski, Wausau, Whitewater, and Wisconsin Rapids.

American Players Theatre presented a multi-faceted program combining performances of William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and Much Ado About Nothing with workshops in participating elementary-, middle-, and high-school classrooms and resources for educators. These performance included student matinees, and at the conclusion of their home season, they remounted The Merchant of Venice and toured to seven cities across Wisconsin. During the tour, students enjoyed a full-scale residency. Many of these same schools, especially those from underserved communities, partcipated in workshops introducing students to Shakespeare with various techniques to make his stories, langauge, characters, and themes vivid and accessible. American Players Theatre believes that sharing the techniques that bring dramatic poetry to life with studetns in the classroom can help lead them to an appreciation of the works of Shakespeare, a greater regard for all poetry, and an insight into the potent ways in which language can work.

Visit them at : http://www.playinthewoods.org/

Feedback from Company

The most meaningful aspect, and the one that continues to drive our education program, is being able to open the door for students to enjoy the works of the great classics. Teachers often comment that, while the workshops reinforce the lessons they teach in their classroom, they also engage students in ways the teachers aren’t able to. We frequently receive comments about how even introverted students get swept up and participate with the actors during the workshops. Making the classics accessible and exciting for students is tremendously rewarding.