As someone who has worked with countless high school and college-age performers, I was astounded by the work ethic, intense ensemble cooperation, high-level analytic skills, and focused talent I met in Traveling Players’ student performers. They were fearless individually and supportive collectively, a testament to the fact that many participants return year after year to continue to hone their craft and deepen their commitment to one another.
Shakespeare Troupe
Current Grades 9-12
Saluda Campus
Theatre Conservatory for Actors & Technicians
The National Endowment for the Arts identified Shakespeare Troupe as offering challenges unlike any other pre-college theatre program in the nation.
Troupe rehearses a full-length professionally directed and designed Shakespearean play — then takes the show on the road with a performance tour to amphitheaters throughout Virginia, including professional stages, cultivating stronger, more adaptable and capable artists and individuals. This rigorous six week summer program offers high schoolers the experience of a professional-level production.
Actors are carefully guided by a trio of directors – acquiring advanced acting techniques that lead to new levels of boldness and subtlety. Technicians work closely with professional designers – gaining new skills as well as new portfolio pieces.
Directed by Jeanne E. Harrison, Founder and Producing Artistic Director, Shakespeare Troupe is our Theatre Conservatory for dedicated students eager to sink their teeth into linguistically and physically challenging plays. Our program reflects the origins of theatre when troupes of actors roamed the ancient and medieval countryside, relying on the barest props and boldest imagination to convey their art.
This immersive and holistic experience allows our elite high school actors and technicians to attain a new level of artistry, confidence, leadership, and independence.
This summer’s play is King Lear, Shakespeare’s towering tragedy of family intrigue, devotion, and unspeakable treachery. When old King Lear banishes his daughter Cordelia for disloyalty, he soon finds that loyalty lies in actions, not in words. Now, Lear must face betrayal by his own family, catapulting him into a storm of duplicitous daughters, vicious lords, honorable outlaws, cunning bastards, noble madmen, and a wise fool.
What Families Are Saying
Mathew Willson, Professional Actor, Professor & Workshop Instructor
We have been going to see Shakespeare shows at festivals where, in addition to a regular cast, they also have Equity actors perform. Your kids did as good of a job as we have ever seen – we were totally blown away. My husband could not believe that your kids were high school kids and not college kids.
Audience member
$3000 for my acting specifically — $120,000 from the president of the university for my essay and extracurriculars! I got all that because of Traveling Players. All my experiences here were definitely aids in my college application and audition processes.
Eli, Student
300 people auditioned. 22 people were cast. My son, who was a Traveling Players student for many years, will make his Muhlenberg Mainstage debut this November in the Greek tragedy Agamemnon. He is one of only a very few freshmen to be cast in any of the school’s Mainstage productions.
Tonya, Parent
Traveling Players is probably more singularly responsible for my artistic and social development than any other space I was able to grow in as a child. It incubated and deepened my love of text and poetry, taught me the meaning of ensemble, instilled in me the values of rigor and teamwork. It introduced me to friends who, more than a decade on are still several of the closest people to my heart. Most importantly, it was the place I felt most safe, most able to be myself and to grow into who I was becoming.
Kai Tshikosi, Alum, featured in the National tour of Hamilton
My ability to take on big projects, deal with time constraints, work in groups, take positions of leadership, and improvise new solutions under difficult circumstances are all part of what I learned at Traveling Players. They have allowed me to follow my passions in all directions–political, activist, artistic, charitable and personal–and they have made me a more flexible and resilient person.
Dr. Sarah Stein Lubrano, Alum, Author, Fulbright Scholar, and Researcher at Oxford University
Frequently Asked Questions
For over 20 years we’ve been creating great theatre in the great outdoors with teens and pre-teens. Our team will happily walk you through any one of our carefully crafted programs.
How do you decide who is accepted?
We accept students who we think will be a good fit for our community – socially and artistically.
We ask students to audition because we’re interested in how you play with others – on stage and off – and with whom you play particularly well. Collaboration, chemistry, dedication, kindness, joy, and imagination are the qualities that allow our ensembles and all our students to thrive.
For Shakespeare Troupe: We accept actors into Troupe by considering the needs of the individuals and the play. Since Troupe is going on a professional performance tour, we have to cast the play with actors who are right (or can stretch into) the roles. We must also have roles that challenge the accepted actors.
The learning opportunities in Troupe, however, are only partly reflected in an actor’s role. The demands of mounting a full-length Shakespeare play on a professional rehearsal schedule are awesome and daunting. It’s the experience of a lifetime!
For Technical Theatre Apprentices: We accept technicians while considering the technical aspects of the season’s plays. We need to ensure each technician has a challenging project to work on so they can grow their skills.
Do you offer Financial Aid?
Yes! Traveling Players is committed to making arts education accessible to everyone. We are proud to offer need-based financial aid for all of our programs with no annual or lifetime caps. Once approved for financial aid, you can be extended additional aid for a full calendar year before needing to reapply.
Who founded Traveling Players? Why?
Jeanne E. Harrison founded Traveling Players in 2003 as a nurturing, challenging, educational theatrical community to bring great theatre into the great outdoors. In our first year, we had 18 students and toured our plays to Shenandoah National Park, where we performed As You Like It while backpacking off the Appalachian Trail. That is probably the quintessential Traveling Players play – you escape into the woods and return transformed.
Transformation is at the heart of what we do. We limit the ensembles to only 13 students so that we can give every student the attention they deserve. We only work with students (in grades 1-12) who are literally transforming before our eyes as they grow up, become the next best version of themselves, and, on stage, take on bold roles in our plays. All of this is to help them on their way to adulthood, when they will impact our world.
The basic formula remains the same, but many details have changed since our founding in 2003. We serve over 1000 students a year, offering programs year-round in our Studio in Tysons Corner Center, a major shopping center. We have won national awards for our comprehensive and intensive curricula, and we have seen our alums perform on Broadway and in the West End, serve as Artistic Directors, have their plays published, and become theatre professors. We still tour our plays to the community in our signature purple school buses.
I always knew I could form student ensembles that could create wonderful art while challenging themselves and each other. What I didn’t know was that I was creating friendships that would last a lifetime – the people who will be your “maid of honor/best man” at your wedding. Traveling Players’ friendships endured well beyond summer, through college and adulthood. As an alum said, “Most adults don’t name their summer camp as a central part of their identity.” Traveling Players do.
Who are your students?
Traveling Players students are highly collaborative young artists. They strive to challenge themselves artistically on stage and are kind, inclusive friends off stage. They know that a cohesive and effective ensemble needs a mix of experiences and backgrounds – performers with different skill sets and growth opportunities — all of whom are eager to support and challenge each other to do their best work.
We accept actors into our auditioned programs who are a good fit for our ensembles and our community – and they tend to stick around! Our retention rate is about 70%, and on average, they stick with us for 4 years.
Most of our students don’t stay in the arts – they have eclectic interests and are multi-talented. (Although those who have stayed in the arts have received impressive success.) Probably the most surprising discovery is that 20+ years on, this community remains in the heart of our students.
How is Traveling Players known?
Traveling Players has two distinct reputations.
Called a top “25 summer school for the arts” by the National Endowment for the Arts, Traveling Players is known and nationally awarded for our artistic excellence. Our curriculum is rigorous, and the Shakespeare Troupe in particular has been noted for offering artistic challenges “unlike any other pre-college theatre program in the country.” You can read more about our awards and the excellent work of our students and alumni here.
However, if you asked a Traveling Players student, parent, or alum to describe us, they wouldn’t start by talking about the awards we’ve won, or the best show they were in or had seen from us. They would talk about our community.
With a 70% retention rate, our community is vibrant, connected, and kind. Our curriculum is intentionally designed to promote artistic collaboration. We limit our ensembles to just 13 students to ensure that everyone receives individualized training and attention. We select scripts that offer a wide range of roles and cast to maximize each student’s artistic growth. We help foster friendships both in and across ensembles through theatre games, low ropes challenge courses, and structured fun. The result is a community that remains thriving – and always welcoming. You can read more about why parents choose Traveling Players here.
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