Free performances at 6 regional venues

The inaugural summer season of the newly-formed Piedmont Shakespeare Company will feature a live professional production of “Hamlet” in summer 2025. “Hamlet” will be cast with faculty, students and alumni from Elon University and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA).  “For all theater artists, ‘Hamlet’ looms. It is the play that most reminds practitioners of the power and potential of the theater itself. And thus, it is the obvious first play for our new venture,” said Carl Forsman, co-artistic director of the Piedmont Shakespeare Company and professor at the School of Drama at UNCSA. “Of course, there is a play within ‘Hamlet’ that seeks to prove how powerful the theater can be; when Hamlet asks the players to do a play about a King being murdered, he watches Claudius to see if his reaction betrays his guilt!  “Likewise, we all go to ‘Hamlet’ and observe our own conscience: Have we lived in service of those who ask for help, have we allowed our morality to aid or hinder our devotion, have we loved truly and without reservation? It can feel like there is no part of the human experience the play doesn’t touch on: family, revenge,...