GableStage's Educational and Community Outreach Programs are a crucial part of our organization's mission. Since 1979, GableStage (formerly Florida Shakespeare Theatre) has partnered with Miami-Dade County Public Schools Division of Life Skills to provide over a million Middle and High School students, as well as the community at large, with an opportunity to see and experience innovative classical and contemporary theatrical productions.

Our Mainstage Productions provides students the opportunity to engage with complex and challenging issues in a theatrical setting. This year we will offer discounted and complimentary student tickets to our production of The Quarrel by David Brandes & Joseph Telushkin, based on the Yiddish story "My Quarrel with Hersh Rasseyner" by Chaim Grade (April 24 thru May 23), which introduces young people to a such thought-provoking subjects as Holocaust and the nature of religious faith.

Our current Page-to-Stage School Tour in October and November is an abridged version of Shakespeare's As You Like It, adapted by Paul Tei (Founder and Artistic Director of Mad Cat Theatre Company) and Pete Rogan, and directed by Pete Rogan. Each performance includes Student Study Guides and a Q&A with the actors and director.

Our Community Outreach Program this year will present two separate productions: A Chat With Jose Marti written and performed by Chaz Mena and, due to overwhelmingly positive response, a repeat performance of our highly successful 2008-2009 MainStage Program, No Child by Nilaja Sun. These productions will also tour through the Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

GableStage provides hundreds of discounted and complimentary tickets every year through services such as Culture Shock and by communicating directly with university students through their professors and campus newspapers.

Past Seasons

In spring 2009, we presented NO CHILD by Nilaja Sun for thousands of students at over twenty special morning performances at our theatre. NO CHILD shines a light on the struggles - and miracles - of America's public schools, proving that one passionate teacher can still make a difference. We prepared a Study Guide and have post-performance discussions focused on the many important issues in the play.

Our annual "Page-to-Stage" School Tour (Oct 27 - Nov 26, 2008) presented student audiences with the opportunity to see an on-campus production of an abridged version of Shakespeare's MACBETH, adapted and directed by Paul Tei, founder and Artistic Director of Mad Cat Theatre Company. It was performed in public schools all over Miami-Dade County for four weeks - reaching over 10,000 middle and high school students.

Our first play of the 2007-2008 Season, IN THE CONTINUUM by Nikkole Salter and Danai Gurira, was presented to thousands students from Miami-Dade County Public High and Middle Schools who attended over twenty special morning performances in our theatre. Our School Study Guide and post performance discussions with students focused on the many important issues in the play.

Our Annual 'Page-to-Stage' School Tour was an on-campus production of an abridged version of DOCTOR FAUSTUS by Christopher Marlowe, directed by Paul Tei, Founder and Artistic Director of Mad Cat Theatre Company. It was performed over 80 times in public schools all over Miami-Dade County.

Our first play of the 2006-2007 Season, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, was presented for thousands of students from Miami-Dade County Public High and Middle Schools. Our School Study Guide and our post performance discussions with students focused on the many important issues in Fahrenheit 451, including First Amendment rights and censorship.

Our Annual Shakespeare 'Page-to-Stage' School Tour was an on-campus production of Shakespeare's Timon of Athens - in a one-hour version adapted and directed by Paul Tei, Artistic Director of MadCat Theatre. It was performed over 40 times in public schools all over Miami-Dade County.

For the 2005-2006 season, our mainstage production was Address Unknown by Frank Dunlop, from Katherine Kressman Taylor's novella. A play told through letter correspondence about the demise of a friendship between a Jewish art dealer and his former business partner who returns to Germany when the Nazi Party comes to power. When it was first produced on Broadway last season, the New York Times said, "The abiding effectiveness of Address Unknown comes from its insistence that given the right political and economic climate, even seemingly good people can go bad quickly. That message is obviously not without contemporary relevance." Our School Study Guide and our post-performance discussions with the students, focused on the environment in which bigotry is allowed to flourish and the destructiveness this atmosphere creates. The play was presented at GableStage in January and February 2006 for our regular audience, as well as for thousands of students from Miami-Dade County Public High and Middle Schools.

Our Annual Shakespeare 'Page-to-Stage' School Tour presented student audiences with the opportunity to see an on-campus production of Shakespeare's Hamlet. This one-hour version focused on the action of the main characters.

Our mainstage production for the 2004-2005 season was The Syringa Tree by Pamela Gien. One actress plays 28 characters in a deeply evocative play about two families, one black - one white, across four generations from the early apartheid era to the present. This production was performed in the mornings for 6 weeks, during which time Miami-Dade County Public High School and Middle Schools visited our MainStage for a taste of live theatre. There were talk-backs with the students following each performance.

Our in-school production was Shakespeare's Sonnets, a presentation of the works of the world's most outstanding playwright and poet directed by Deborah Mello.

Our School Tour performed in 42 public schools throughout Miami-Dade County, giving 84 performances. Additionally, there were two free performances for the general public at Performance Arts Network in North Miami and at Sanctuary at ArtSouth in Homestead. We performed for approximately 40,000 students.

During our 2003-2004 season, we presented 'Master Harold'... and the Boys, the award-winning play by Athol Fugard. Christine Dolen (in the Miami Herald) wrote: GableStage "is offering the play to both the company's regular audiences and to groups of high school students, who arrive by bus weekday mornings for eloquent lessons in respect and ingrained prejudice." A quote by Tony Guzman (in the SunPost) reads "...in terms of both message and as an introduction to the power of theater, it's a marvelous choice as this year's GableStage production for special presentation to Miami-Dade School students. They can't help but fall under the spell of this Master Harold, and we hope - in this time of war and carnage of innocents - that they absorb its message as well: that oppression and inhumanity are always a lose-lose proposition."

Simultaneously, we presented Shakespeare's "Best of the Bard", which toured 42 schools in Miami-Dade County, giving 84 performances. We also gave free performances at the Miami Children's Museum and at the Alper JCC.

These two projects were performed for approximately 40,000 Miami-Dade Public High School and Middle School Students.

In the 2002-2003 season, we presented The Diary of Anne Frank to thousands of Miami-Dade Public School students at morning performances in our theatre. Our Educational Tour was Shakespeare's As You Like It. Over 80 performances were given at public schools all over Miami-Dade County. In addition, there were free performances at the African Cultural Heritage Theatre in Liberty City and the Goodlet Theatre in Hialeah.

The 2001-2002 Season presented A Lesson Before Dying, a play by Romulus Linney, based on the novel by Ernest J. Gaines, one of our most important African-American writers. With this award-winning production, we continued our longstanding commitment to the students of South Florida. In addition to our regular performances, we presented the play to thousands of Miami-Dade Public School students who attended morning performances in our theatre.

GableStage's in-school educational tour commenced in January. Lend Us Your Ears: Great Scenes from Shakespeare's Plays, was performed for approximately 40,000 middle and high school students. We also gave free performances at the Caleb Center and the Shores Performing Arts Theatre.

In the 2000-2001 season, GableStage continued it's longstanding commitment to the students of South Florida this season with the presentation of Citizen Tom Paine by Howard Fast, which played to approximately 6,000 Miami-Dade County high school and middle school students who attended morning performances in our theatre.

The play's large cast brought to life the exciting times of the brilliant firebrand and pamphleteer whose words and passion inspired the American Revolution. Other historical figures portrayed include: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, James Monroe, Napoleon Bonaparte and Robespierre.

In addition, GableStage toured Miami-Dade Public Schools with The Origins of Happiness in Latin, reaching an estimated 26,000 students. There were also four performances given at the Manuel Artime Theater in Little Havana and two performances at GableStage, all of which were free to the public.

This one-man show follows the path of a young man growing up in a Cuban-American family in Miami. Directed by Ellen Davis, it was written and performed by Felix Pire who attended Public Schools here and was a student of Mrs. Davis at New World School of the Arts. Pire is currently pursuing his career as an actor/director in Los Angeles.

During the 1999-2000 season, GableStage's Educational and Outreach Program presented George Bernard Shaw's enduring classic, Arms and the Man. In addition to the regular schedule of performances, the play was presented to approximately 6,000 middle and high school students who attended morning performances in our theatre.

GableStage also toured Miami-Dade County Public Schools with a production of Jeff Stetson's The Meeting. This powerful and thought provoking play presents a fictional meeting between Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Two of South Florida's most renowned actors, John Archie and Paul Bodie portraying these historic figures, with direction by Award winning Director/Actor Robert Macbeth. An estimated 26,000 students were reached through this tour.

In addition to the tour performances of The Meeting, GableStage increased its outreach efforts by producing this play at the newly renovated Lyric Theatre in Overtown, thereby meeting the need for top-quality live theatre geared to the culturally underserved neighborhoods of our community.

GableStage is proud of its continued involvement in educational and outreach programs, reaching new audiences that may not have had the opportunity to experience the power and richness that is live theatre.