A renowned New England Shakespeare troupe led Aroostook County high school students out of their comfort zones in an acting workshop Friday.
The session preceded a one-night-only performance of “Hamlet” at the University of Maine at Presque Isle.
The performance and workshop at UMPI’s Gauvin Auditorium was the northernmost stop for western Massachusetts-based Shakespeare & Company on its 2026 Northeast Regional Tour. The company is among the most prominent Shakespeare troupes in the U.S.
One of the troupe’s main tenets is education, and the regional tour is part of its theater-in-education program, which reaches 45,000 students annually through workshops, performances and residencies, according to the company’s website.
Since the tour began in February, the group has made stops in Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire and York, Maine.
“There’s no subtext in Shakespeare. He’s all in the text. He shows you how to feel,” Shakespeare & Company education artist Abigail St. John said. “I think that’s the most important thing, that there’s the emotion and connection with the text that we can give the kids.”
The students attending Friday’s workshop were mostly from a drama club and English class at Central Aroostook High School in Mars Hill. Actors broke the students into “warring factions” and had them practice soaring poetry — filled with mock insults and intense vocal expression — against each other.
The troupe also had students create a mini play using the works of Shakespeare. Each of the exercises were sprung upon the students, who did not know what they would be doing ahead of time.
“I kind of have no idea what to expect, but that’s what I’m excited for,” Central Aroostook sophomore Aidan Kinney said before the workshop began.
Finding that adaptability is the point of the activities, St. John said.
“I hope they take out of it that it’s so much fun to be thrown curve balls, to take a chance, to do something big, and be proud of yourself,” she said.
It’s the fourth time Shakespeare & Company have made a tour stop at UMPI, which culminated with a performance of “Hamlet” at the Gauvin Auditorium Friday.
“We have a saying that ‘we’re not trying to get it right, we’re trying to bring it alive,’ St. John said. “We’re trying to make sure that the audience knows that they are a crucial member of our troupe. They are our seventh cast member. There is no fourth wall in Shakespeare. So we are talking to them. We’re encouraging hissing and cheering and crying and gasping.”
