The Children's Shakespeare Theatre

I formed the Children's Shakespeare Theatre in the fall of 1999 and have been the artistic director ever since. I studied acting and directing with Shakespeare & Company and I'm also a trained Montessori teacher, all of which has served me well in my work with CST.

Forming the Children's Shakespeare Theatre had been a dream of mine ever since I was a teenager and participated in just such a group (see history). I had done some acting throughout my adult life, but when my own children were old enough to begin to grasp some Shakespeare I decided that the time had come to launch this group. Another motivation to start this group was my observation that this world is moving gradually away from valuing community and its positive effects on the human race. I saw children going off to private schools and never getting to know the other children who live right in their neighborhood. I heard the woes of parents who shepherd their children around to a myriad of after-school activities, but never really get involved in what their children do there. So CST was my own attempt at an antidote, an attempt to bring families together for a common experience.

I am thrilled to see this community realized every time we mount a production. Many of the children have participated for 2 years or more and have come to understand that they are building a community, a company of players working together in the best Shakespearean tradition. They support each other, teach each other, look out for each other at school, and help each other with homework. It brings me great joy and I hear from so many parents that it is one of the aspects of this group that they value most. In a desire to extend this heady feeling of community, some of the parents came to me to ask why it wasn't possible that they could form an acting troupe as well. And in that spirit the Strange Bedfellows came together for their first performance! I hope to see this community continue to grow and change and serve itself and the larger community in every possible wonderful way!

-- Diana Green

Contact Diana about lecturing/teaching visiting workshops

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