School Matinees and Resources

We're back in business!

UMass Theater is excited to be offering 2 student matinees in the 2022-2023 school year. 

For each performance, we offer an online resource packet to help teachers prepare their classes for the event, as well as a post-show Q&A with select members of the creative team and cast.

ORLANDO 
by Sarah Ruhl
Directed by Iris Sowlat
School matinee Nov. 16 at 10 a.m.
In the Rand Theater

Students tickets are $5, chaperones are admitted free of charge

"He needed something he could attach his floating heart to."
Based on the Virginia Woolf novel and adapted by Sarah Ruhl, Orlando is the story of a charismatic genderfluid English noble and poet who journeys from Queen Elizabeth I’s court to Shakespeare’s London, from Constantinople to Victorian England, and finally to the bustle of the 20th century. As they fall in and out of love, create poetry, and explore their gender, their world expands and time leaps forward. Orlando is a joyous romp through the universal quest to discover one's true self, one's place in the world, and one’s happiness. 
 
INTO THE WOODS 
by Stephen Sondheim & James Lapine
Directed by Rudy Ramirez 
School matinee May 3 at 10 a.m.
In the Rand Theater

Student tickets are $10, chaperones are admitted free of charge 

Twisted takes on fairy tale conventions make this offering from the late, great Stephen Sondheim an utter delight. These tales came from Germany, France, England and other countries, but it is in the United States where, thanks to a certain animated film company, they blended into the versions that became cultural megaliths — which in turn are filtered through the equally American art form that is the musical. What happens when Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, a brace of princes, and a boy with some magic beans are threatened with an ending that’s not so happy? Can they find a way to come together as a community to triumph over adversity?

Resource packets and post-show Q&As are free.

Contact our PR director for more information about reserving tickets.

Due to the themes and language in our productions, we generally recommend our matinees for middle and high school students and highly suggest that teachers go over the study guide with their students so that they can be prepared for any issues raised by the performance. If you have questions about the suitability of a particular show for your student group, please contact us.