Traveling Players Presents Family-Friendly Plays at Tysons Corner Center
Learn more about the full upcoming lineup here!
By: Stephi Wild Jul. 07, 2022
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.
Comedy of Errors
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.
Heracles!
A World Premiere by Judith Walsh White
July 9 & 29 - 11 am at Traveling Players Studio
Recommended for ages 6 and up; Runtime: 35 minutes
Tickets - $15
Heracles, a demi-god hero, commits a terrible crime while under a spell cast by the goddess Hera. His penance requires the completion of 12 impossibly challenging labors, while under the command of vengeful Hera and her cowardly partner in crime, Eurystheus. Heracles shows us that with a little hard work, good can vanquish evil, and awkward kids can grow into the greatest heroes of all time!
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. The play features an original score composed by Nathan Sherwood Liang.
A Festival of 3 Plays
July 14 & 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.
Comments
Videos