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UID:90076@annarborwithkids.com
DTSTART;TZID=America/Detroit:20260206T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Detroit:20260206T190000
DTSTAMP:20260112T212344Z
URL:https://annarborwithkids.com/events/hamlet-2026-02-06/
SUMMARY:Hamlet
DESCRIPTION:\nPioneer Theatre Guild presents Hamlet as their winter play. T
 he play will be performed in the Little Theater.\n\n\n\nAbout the Show:\n\
 n\n\n\nPioneer Students Dig Up New Ways of Seeing Hamlet\n\n\n\nAn unconve
 ntional staging features five different actors playing the title role in a
  modern setting\n\n\n\n[Ann Arbor\, MI] Hamlet may be the most produced pl
 ay of all time but Pioneer High School students think their February produ
 ction will be different than anything most audiences have experienced.\n\n
 \n\n“I decided to cast five different performers for the role of Hamlet\
 , partly for logistical reasons\,” director Quinn Strassel explains. “
 It takes the pressure off of one kid and gives more opportunities for othe
 rs. But it’s been amazing to see how the five kids we cast each bring so
 mething so unique and add so many new meanings–I learn something new abo
 ut Hamlet everyday in rehearsal.”\n\n\n\n“I”ll be for real\, I didn
 ’t think I’d ever do acting or Shakespeare\,” says Pioneer junior Ma
 simba Chikosi\, who plays one of the Hamlets and delivers the famous “To
  be\, or not to be” soliloquy. “When my teachers heard there was going
  to be poetry and hip hop in the show\, which I love\, they told me I had 
 to audition.”\n\n\n\nChikosi joins Jack Corbett\, Nika Lipin\, Lalena St
 evens\, and Randy Vince in playing the tragically fated Prince of Denmark 
 who famously processes thoughts of murder\, revenge\, and existential desp
 air in soliloquies (monologues featuring a character’s inner-thoughts) a
 fter learning his father has been killed and that his mother has quickly m
 arried the murderer.\n\n\n\nEach of the five students playing Hamlet weave
  in and out of scenes throughout the show\, creating a combined character 
 they hope helps people of all backgrounds to see themselves in the protago
 nist.\n\n\n\n“Being queer\, I never felt like I fit in\,” says Nika Li
 pin\, a Pioneer sophomore also playing Hamlet. “I can relate to the idea
  of just wanting to escape. But theatre has helped me in building confiden
 ce and finding my community. In my portrayal\, I want people to not be afr
 aid to be themselves.”\n\n\n\nIn addition to the unconventional casting\
 , Strassel has also decided to place the action in a modern setting\, allo
 wing the show’s famous “play-within-the-play” to feature original hi
 p-hop lyrics written by students while a separate rock band (made of Hamle
 t’s friends\, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern) open the show with a live co
 ver of a Radiohead song.\n\n\n\n“The fact that we’re incorporating a m
 odern context and even got some hip-hop in it\, I just hope it opens up Sh
 akespeare to people who would never go out of their way to see it or hear 
 it\,” says Chikosi. “It feels great because it feels like we’re brin
 ging ourselves and modern culture to these words.”\n\n\n\nStrassel says 
 it’s important to him that the show feels accessible to all audience mem
 bers.\n\n\n\n“I think a lot of people think they hate Shakespeare becaus
 e they’ve seen bad productions where they don’t know what’s going on
 . I’m working hard to remove any preciousness and even including occasio
 nal breaks for plot description so the audience can enjoy the poetry witho
 ut getting distracted by confusion.”\n\n\n\nStill\, he hopes Shakespeare
  nerds love the show just as much.\n\n\n\n“If you’re a Shakespeare ent
 husiast\, my goal is that you love our production because we allow the wor
 ds to speak for themselves even while we add all these new layers\,” Str
 assel says.\n\n\n\n“It’s like Hamlet says in Act Three–’The Play
 ’s the Thing\,’ If we put together an entertaining show\, people will 
 love it no matter what.”\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTickets are $20/Adults\, $15/S
 tudents\, Seniors (65+)\, and Pioneer Staff. \n\n\n\nHamlet Showtimes\n\n\
 n\n[events_list tag="ptg" scope="2026-02-01\,2026-02-15"]🎭 #_{l\, F j} 
 at #_EVENTTIMES - #_EVENTLINK at Pioneer High School[/events_list]\n\n\n\n
 \n
CATEGORIES:Advance Registration,Arbor Annie's Highlights,High
 Schoolers,Indoor Activities,Middle Schoolers,Optional
 Registration,Parents,Theater
LOCATION:Pioneer High School\, 601 W. Stadium Blvd\, Ann Arbor\, Michigan\,
  48103\, Downtown\, United States
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