The Merchant of Venice: A Young Shakespeare Production at Austin Scottish Rite Theater

Austin Shakespeare's Young Shakespeare program opens its 19th annual summer production in June, presenting William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice at Austin’s Scottish Rite Theater. Featuring music and dance, the production transports audiences from the streets and canals of Venice to the gilded halls of Belmont Estate, with a cast of actors ages 15–20 navigating some of Shakespeare's most morally complex characters. "Now in its 19th year, Young Shakespeare invites audiences into a world of romance, wit, wealth and worrisome bargains — where the weight of gold is tested against love, loyalty and the loss of human dignity, Come join these remarkable young actors inside the beautiful and historic walls of Austin's Scottish Rite Theater as they search for balance inside Shakespeare's comic, yet fragile, house of cards." - Cynthia Florez, Young Shakespeare Director