Theater Education at Horse Cave

Through the efforts of its education director, Robert Brock (right), Horse Cave Theatre gets out in the field—and brings in the Bard. The company provides live performances and school workshops to students who might otherwise have limited exposure to the arts. In 2000, the number of students served to date through at-school workshops topped 3,000. Horse Cave also has conducted a three-week Student Theatre Workshop every summer since 1977 and has added acting and playwriting classes for adults during the winter months.

In 1999, Brock developed the most recent addition to Horse Cave Theatre’s education programs: the Young Performers Production of a Shakespeare play. More than 50 young people from throughout the region auditioned, and in March 1999 Horse Cave Theatre presented their staging of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Through this program, 25 students took part in a six-week workshop and rehearsal period, culminating in four public performances. In March 2000, the theater presented its second Young Performers Production, The Two Gentlemen of Verona. And in 2001, the Shakespeare pick Macbeth played eight times, including three matinees for students.