Traveling Players Presents Family-Friendly Plays at Tysons Corner Center

This Summer Traveling Players will bring family-friendly plays to Tysons Corner Center, both outdoors on the Plaza and inside their Studio. Tickets are on sale now to the general public.

About the Plays

Comedy of Errors

by William Shakespeare

August 3 - 7 pm at Tysons Corner Center Plaza

Recommended for ages 8 and up; Runtime: 2 hours, plus a 15-minute intermission

Tickets - Free

Twenty years ago, two pairs of identical twins were separated in a great storm. Now they are on a mission to reunite! But they must act quickly or their father will be executed for a heinous crime - being from Syracuse! Chaos abounds as the two sets of twins dodge mistaken identities, weighty women, and the forces of the law in Shakespeare's ludicrous four-way identity crisis!

Comedy of Errors will be performed by the company's most advanced students in the Shakespeare Troupe. This nationally-unique program offers high school students the opportunity to perform in a professional tour. Past tour venues include Lime Kiln Theatre, Shenandoah National Park, Colonial Williamsburg, and the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage. The full tour list for Comedy of Errors will be available on the Traveling Players website in the coming weeks.

Persephone

by Judith Walsh White

July 29 - 11am at Traveling Players Studio

Recomended for ages 6 and up; Runtime: 35 minutes

Tickets - $15

Demeter and her daughter Persephone live a life of eternal bliss on the sacred Earth. When the trickster Cupid shoots his Arrow at the head-over-heels Hades, Persephone is taken to the underworld. Soon the Earth suffers from her departure; famine, dust bowls, droughts. Can Hades win her love? Will mother reunite with daughter? And, most importantly, will the Earth retain her beauty?

This play was commissioned by Traveling Players to give young actors literature worthy of their skills and imaginations. It is written by former Holton-Arms teacher, and award-winning DC poet & playwright Judith Walsh White.

A Festival of 3 Plays

August 4 at Tysons Corner Center Plaza

Tickets - Free

4 pm - Sganaralle by Moliere

Recommended for ages 6 and up; Runtime: 45 minutes

A misplaced locket and an unexpected fainting fit lead to a hilarious mix-up of mistaken identities, miscommunications, and imagined betrayals that just might ruin two relationships! Will the young lovers be reunited? Will husband and wife clear the air? Maybe, but not without a duel or two.

5 pm - King Stag by Carlo Gozzi

Recommended for ages 6 and up; Runtime: 45 minutes

A naive King's search for love leads to disaster when his evil Prime Minister takes advantage of a magical gift to turn the King into a Stag! Now Angela, the King's betrothed, must team up with wily servants, a cowardly soldier, and a talking parrot to save her love and the Kingdom!

7 pm - Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare

Recommended for ages 8 and up; Runtime: 75 minutes

When Valentine and Proteus visited Milan to broaden their horizons, they never expected that they would both fall in love with the same woman. Now, the beautiful Sylvia must contend with the two young admirers, her father's disapproval of them, and Proteus' old girlfriend - who has shown up, disguised as a man, of course!

In the case of inclement weather - both Comedy of Errors and the Festival of 3 Plays will move inside Traveling Players Studio. Audience members can choose to pre-purchase "rain insurance tickets" which will guarantee admission to the performances. All tickets are $15. Masks are required to attend indoor performances. For more information, please visit travelingplayers.org/performances

Auditions began in December for the plays which will be performed by students in grades 4-12 enrolled in the theatre company's sleepaway camps and advanced conservatories. During the summer the students live and rehearse at the Freedom Center in Leesburg, Virginia. Rehearsal periods range from 2-weeks to 6-weeks depending on the actor's age. The student actors featured in the plays receive professional training and direction, appropriate to their age and experience.

Traveling Players' Artistic Director, Jeanne E. Harrison, will direct and choreograph Comedy of Errors and guide the direction of the other plays. Harrison won the 2016 Strauss Award from ArtsFairfax for her integration of classical theatre and physical theatre. An educator with over 30 years of experience, she has taught theatre for The Folger Shakespeare Library, John Moores University (England), University of Maryland-Baltimore County, Catholic University, The Chapin School, and Interlochen School for the Arts. She was a visiting artist at Loyola University in Baltimore.

Young actors who are interested in training and performing with the company can still audition for this summer's plays. High school students (current grades 8-12) who are interested in technical theatre can apply to train alongside the professional designers and technicians who will create the five sets and more than 140 costumes used throughout the summer.

DC's veteran fight choreographer Casey Kaleba will stage the combat in Comedy of Errors. Kaleba has worked with Traveling Players since 2006 and has served as fight director for more than 200 academic and professional productions, including the Folger Theatre, Signature Theatre, and Olney Theatre Center.

Recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts as one of 25 model "Summer Schools for the Arts," Traveling Players is dedicated to training students in grades 3-12 in theatre. Now in its 20th year, the company has grown from a summer camp of 18 students to a year-round theatrical community engaging 1000 students annually. Founded on faith in the imagination, wit, and honesty of teenagers, Traveling Players' summer programs focus on classical dramatic traditions: Moliere, Shakespeare, Commedia dell'Arte, and ancient mythology. Traveling Players' Studio is in Tysons Corner Center, where they offer classes and performances year-round.

In 2020-21, Traveling Players received the ArtsFairfax Arts Education Award.

Photo credit Jessica Wallach - Greater Depth Media