The Shakespeare Forum Announces El Barrio's Shakespeare Festival

The Shakespeare Forum, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating empowered communities through education and performance, announces El Barrio's Shakespeare Festival, supported by TD Bank. The three-week festival will present professional and student performances, and seeks to help foster the actors and audiences of tomorrow. El Barrio's Shakespeare Festival will kick off on June 1 with the premiere of TITUS, directed by The Shakespeare Forum's Executive Director, Sybille Bruun-Moss. The festival will also feature free student performances by young actors from across New York City. The Shakespeare Forum has trained each of the young performers through the organization's various education programs. All performances will be presented at El Barrio's Artspace PS109.

"The Shakespeare Forum and El Barrio's Artspace PS109 provide an artistic and literal home for current and future generations of artists and actors," said Tyler Moss, Artistic Director of The Shakespeare Forum. "This festival is a celebration of voices and how we can give words life and truth."TITUS
Thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy, The Shakespeare Forum's presentation of TITUS continues the organization's investigation into how to create relevant and immediate theatre and is an exploration of humanity, choice and the possibility that redemption is always within reach. The production hopes to raise awareness of the global humanitarian crises currently facing many parts of the world.

"This project started in my heart, as a play about mothers, fathers, and children," remarks Bruun-Moss. "The familial threads that stitch us together and unravel in an instant."

Following The Shakespeare Forum's acclaimed production of Henry V in 2015, TITUS was conceived by The Shakespeare Forum community members through an exploratory and collaborative process. With this project, Bruun-Moss continues to challenge audiences to think about why stories are told and what place theatre has in an ever-changing political climate.

The TITUS cast features AnDrew Barrett, Denny Desmarais, Antonio Disla, Whitney Egbert*, Fahim Hamid*, Ellyn Heald, Amanda Pulcini,* and Kevin Stanfa* (*actors appearing courtesy of Actors Equity Association). The cast will share all roles and the presentation will feature music by acclaimed band, Cloud Cult.

Prior to each performance, as audiences approach El Barrio's Artspace PS109, they will encounter an outdoor performance installation featuring actors and vocalists. The installation, inspired by the play and the sons the character Titus lost in war, aims to provide audiences with a visceral connection to the plot and the opportunity to reflect on the numerous current global crises that mirror Shakespeare's tragedies.

Free Student Performances

Through El Barrio's Shakespeare Festival, supported by TD Bank, The Shakespeare Forum is providing students from each of the organization's education programs with the opportunity to share their work with the public. High school students from Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics will present As You like It, young actors from South Bronx Early College Academy Charter School will perform scenes from Macbeth, students from PS 108 and The Shakespeare Forum's after school program will present scenes from Romeo and Juliet, and participants of The Shakespeare Forum's Youth Forum will present Much Ado About Nothing.

THE SHAKESPEARE FORUM'S EL BARRIO'S SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL
June 1 - 4, 8 - 11, 15 - 17
El Barrio's Artspace PS109
215 East 99th Street
Accessible from the Q, 6 to 96th Street and the M101, M102, M103 to 99th Street.

Tickets:
TITUS: $18 | Call 212-352-3101 or visit www.theshakespeareforum.org
Student Perfor mances: Free

Performance Schedule:
Week One
Thursday, June 1st
8pm TITUS

Friday, June 2nd
8pm TITUS

Saturday, June 3rd
12:30 Youth Forum presents Much Ado About Nothing
2pm TITUS
6pm Youth Forum presents Much Ado About Nothing
8pm TITUS

Sunday, June 4th
2pm TITUS
4:30 Youth Forum presents Much Ado About Nothing

Week Two
Thursday, June 8th
8pm TITUS

Friday, June 9th
6pm Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics presents As You like It
8pm TITUS

Saturday, June 10th
2pm TITUS
6pm Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics presents As You like It
8pm TITUS

Sunday, June 11th
2pm TITUS
4:30 Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics presents As You like It

Week Three
Thurday, June 15th
8pm TITUS

Firday, June 16th
6pm PS 108 & The Shakespeare Forum after school program present scenes from Romeo & Juliet
8pm TITUS

Saturday, June 17th
12:30 South Bronx Early College Academy Charter School presents scenes from Macbeth
2pm TITUS
8pm TITUS

ABOUT THE SHAKESPEARE FORUM
Founded in 2009, New York's critically acclaimed The Shakespeare Forum was created to inspire artists and non-artists alike to find their creative voices through theatre and the works of Shakespeare by offering free or low-cost classes, workshops, and performances. The organization provides open workshops every Tuesday and Thursday for people to work, watch others work, network, and learn about Shakespearean stagecraft. Past productions include Hamlet (directed by Sybille Bruun-Moss), A Midsummer Night's Dream (directed by Tyler Moss) and Love's Labour's Lost, The Merchant of Venice, and Henry V (co-directed by Andrew Borthwick-Leslie and Sybille Bruun-Moss).

Education Programs
Since 2013, to help address the gap in arts education, The Shakespeare Forum has offered free and low-cost customized workshops to schools, particularly District 75 and Title 1 Schools, in need of theatre arts programming. In 2015, the organization also launched Youth Forum, a weekly 90-minute class that introduces young people to some of the most iconic characters in drama, and to some of the greatest poetry in the English language. This past year, the organization initiated an after school program at El Barrio's Artspace PS109.