CEDAR CITY, UT—From January to April, the Utah Shakespearean Festival will take its education tour of Romeo and Juliet to more than 70,000 students in four western states. The tour begins with two performances for Cedar City students on January 24 and 25 at 10:30 a.m. at the Randall L. Jones Theatre (300 W. Center St., Cedar City, UT 84720). For a complete tour schedule visit http://www.bard.org/education/tour.html.

Following the local performances, the tour will spend 12 weeks on the road taking this production to schools, community centers and prisons across Utah, Nevada, Idaho, and Arizona with 72 performances.

In classic garage-band fashion, the actors tell this classic story of love, hate, friendship, violence, and life. The goal is to present an exciting new production of Romeo and Juliet in a way that helps students relate to the characters and the story.

Warning: this is not your grandparents’ Shakespeare. Nothing about the sets or costumes looks like traditional Shakespeare. Director Ann Tully worked with her designers to create a timeless yet contemporary feel for the production.

As a former high school teacher, for years Tully saw students deal the same problems that Romeo and Juliet face. “We must be taught to hate, and that hasn’t changed over time,” she said. “In Romeo and Juliet, no one remembers who or what started the fight, and yet it continues. The two title characters learn to look past the labels, and it changes everything. I want our audience to look through their eyes, to begin to see their own lives differently.”

Each year, the Festival creates a production of one of Shakespeare’s great classics and sends it to communities across Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and Idaho. This ten-person group serves as both the acting company and technical crew for each production, with eight actors, a stage manager and a technical director. The company also works with students in workshops ranging from stage combat to Shakespearean text.

“We use Shakespeare to start new conversations,” said Festival education director Michael Bahr. “Romeo and Juliet discusses issues that teenagers have faced for centuries. We hope this production gets students asking questions and finding answers to those issues.