Hartford Stage Awarded $25,000 Shakespeare in American Communities Grant

The National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest has selectEd Hartford Stage to participate in Shakespeare in American Communities and receive a $25,000 grant for its upcoming production ofMacbeth to help support performances and educational activities, including in-school residencies, workshops, or post-performance discussions.

Hartford Stage is one of 40 professional theatre companies selected to participate inShakespeare in American Communities which introduces middle and high school students to the power of live theater and the masterpieces of William Shakespeare. Since the program's inception in 2003, Shakespeare in American Communities has benefited more than 2.25 million individuals, including 1.9 million students, with live performances and educational activities.

Hartford Stage previously received the Shakespeare in American Communities grant forOthello in 2004, Antony and Cleopatra in 2010, and Twelfth Night in 2013.

Arts Midwest promotes creativity, nurtures cultural leadership, and engages people in meaningful arts experiences, bringing vitality to Midwest communities and enriching people's lives. Based in Minneapolis, Arts Midwest connects the arts to audiences throughout the nine-state region of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. One of six nonprofit regional arts organizations in the United States, Arts Midwest's history spans more than 25 years. For more information, visit www.artsmidwest.org.

The National Endowment for the Arts was established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. To date, the NEA has awarded more than $4 billion to support artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities. The NEA extends its work through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector. For more information, visit www.arts.gov.

Now entering its 50th Anniversary season, Hartford Stage is one of the nation's leading resident theatres, known internationally for producing classics, provocative new plays and musicals, and neglected works from the past, as well as a distinguished education program that reaches 21,000 students annually. Hartford Stage has earned many of the nation's most distinguished awards, including a Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre, the Margo Jones Award for Development of New Works, OBIE awards, two New York Critics Circle Awards, a Dramatists Guild/CBS Award and an Elliot Norton Award, and has produced nationally renowned titles, including the Broadway productions of Enchanted April and Our Country's Good and the Off-Broadway productions of The Orphans' Home Cycle and The Carpetbaggers Children. In the fall of 2013, the Hartford Stage production of A Gentlemen's Guide to Love and Murder will open at the Walter Kerr Theatre on Broadway.

The leading provider of theatre education programs in Connecticut, Hartford Stage's offerings include student matinees, in-school theatre residencies, teen performance opportunities, theatre classes for students (ages 3-18) and adults, afterschool programs and professional development courses. In 2012 the theatre acquired the education programs of the Hartford Children's Theatre and created The Children's Theatre of Hartford Stage.