Meet the Team for the 2026 Education Tour

The Utah Shakespeare Festival is excited to announce its team for the 2026 Shakespeare in the Schools education tour of The Comedy of Errors. This group of ten theatre professionals recently gathered in Cedar City to begin rehearsals. Beginning in February, nine of the ten company members will travel across Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, and Nevada from February 2 through April 17, visiting more than 50 schools and community centers. 

Before they get on the road, the community is invited to a free public performance on Friday, February 6, at 7pm in the Southern Utah University Auditorium. A talkback with the cast will follow the performance. This is open to all ages.

The Tour

This 75-minute Shakespeare performance is part of the Shakespeare in the Schools program run by the Festival’s Education Department. It is designed to be condensed yet complete theatrical experience. Education Director Stewart Shelley says this tour is one of the most meaningful opportunities for young people in our region each year.

“Through this program, Shakespeare is presented in an accessible, engaging format to students in grades 1–12 across the Intermountain West, many of whom may not otherwise have access to live theatre,” he says.

For middle and high school-aged students, the touring company offers hands-on workshops in addition to the show. “Beyond performance, the touring company offers talkbacks and interactive workshops that invite students to practice and refine their own theatrical skills, including text and speech, movement, improv, and tech and design.” 

For elementary school students, the tour company prepares a 45-minute assembly version that explores elements of theatre and Shakespeare. They talk about the story of the play, ask the students questions, and offer Shakespeare in a way that is exciting and digestible for even the youngest student. 

Shelley continues: “This direct exchange between professional artists and young audiences creates powerful learning experiences, making the tour deeply impactful for students and profoundly rewarding for the actors who serve them.”

The Play

This is the first time that The Comedy of Errors will be taken on tour by the Festival. Director and Festival veteran Marco Antonio Vega hopes the comic story will offer an opportunity to laugh and to show that we are more alike than we are different. 

“This play is ultimately a story about outcasts and homecomings,” he says. “It’s a comedy that begins with a tragedy: an elderly man is given a punishment of death, simply because of where he is from.” But he is allowed to tell his story about his search for his lost twin sons and their servants, who are also twins, in hopes of being reunited. Through a series of mishaps and seeming errors, at long last, his family is reunited.

“From a full outcast refugee tragedy, to a comedic homecoming feast of equals, The Comedy of Errors teaches us that there is more that connects us than separates us,” Vega says.

The Team

Many may remember Vega from his numerous appearances at the Festival, performing in seven mainstage seasons between 2014 and 2024. Some of his roles include Antipholus of Ephesus (one of the twin sons!) in 2021’s The Comedy of Errors, Paris in 2023’s Romeo and Juliet, and Don John in 2024’s Much Ado About Nothing. He received his BA degree in theater from Southern Utah University and his MFA from the University of San Diego, and has taught at both Utah Tech University and Southern Utah University. 

The tour will travel with two production staff, Tour Manager Alyssa Peters and Stage Manager Fiona Misiura. The performing cast consists of seven actors: Jeric Gutierrez, Mikki Pagdonsolan, Giuseppe Michael Pipicella, Gianna Porfano, Emily Michelle Walton, Christian Watts, and Zay Williams. These seven individuals will perform for thousands of students, teachers, and community members. Read more about the team’s individual bios here. 

Members of the resident Festival staff designed the production. Scenic design is by Properties Director Ben Hohman. Props design is by Assistant Properties Director Marielle Boneau. Costume design is by Diana Girtain. All the elements of the touring production are designed to be easily set up and taken down, and hauled in a moving truck and van, which the company will use to take the show on the road. 

The Festival has been sending out the Shakespeare in the Schools tour since 1993. Shelley sums up why this tour is so important: “This direct exchange between professional artists and young audiences creates powerful learning experiences, making the tour deeply impactful for students and profoundly rewarding for the actors who serve them.

For more information, contact the Utah Shakespeare Festival Education Department at 435-865-8333, usfeducation@bard.org, or by visiting bard.org/about/education/shakespeare-in-the-schools.