Play Suitability Suggestions and Study Guides for Schools

Suitability suggestions provide details about play content and are available for each of the season's productions.

Each school and community is unique, so please read carefully to determine what is appropriate for your students.

Be aware that suitability suggestions are often made before rehearsals begin, and decisions are occasionally made before a show opens that change the suitability of a production. In this event, we will publish updates to our website and make every effort contact group leaders.

For additional content warnings regarding violence or graphic depictions that may be upsetting to some audience members, please see our Content Warnings page (may contain spoilers).

By William Shakespeare

At the center of the story is the mass stabbing death of Caesar. As the play progresses, the violence increases, which includes crowd brutality, several suicides, and battles. Julius Caesar may be best enjoyed by well-prepared middle and high school students.

By Oscar Wilde

From the play’s beginning, Wilde spins a feast of wit and escalating absurdity. This classic comedy is suitable for all ages.

By August Wilson

This classic American play, written by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson as part of his Century Cycle, provides a look into Pittsburgh in the 1970s. Some profanity is used and the “n-word” is used familiarly by Black characters to one another. Due to mature content, including discussions of rape, murder, and violence, this play is best suited to well-prepared students able to handle the material.

By Karen Zacarías

An adaptation of the classic novel and movie western, this play includes a bar fight and a shootout. Despite some discussion of violence and a mention of lynching, this play is appropriate, with some preparation, for all ages.

By James Ijames

A comedic adaptation of Hamlet, this 2022 Pulitzer Prize–winning play about family drama at a barbeque/wedding reception includes comic sounds, gestures, and simulation of sexual acts. Profanity and the “n-word” (spoken by characters of color) are used in dialogue. Violence is present in multiple forms including abrupt physical violence and graphic descriptions. Due to the mature content in the play, it may be best suited to high school ages and up.

By William Shakespeare

This delightful comedy is suitable for all ages, but be aware that the language is often complex. Due to the multiple subplots, it will be best enjoyed by students who have some preparation.

By Octavio Solis

An adaptation of Cervantes’s epic Don Quixote set in the Texas borderlands, this play is suitable for most audiences. Some profanity, often in Spanish, occurs at times. There is a scene in which characters are threatened with a simulated theatrical assault rifle and some staged violence occurs. Due to complex themes, including references to death and a character’s experience with dementia, this play is recommended for well-prepared middle school students and older.

By William Shakespeare

Despite some bawdiness involving a character trying to have affairs with not one but two married people, the play has an innocence and sweetness to it, and everyone’s honor remains firmly intact. With some preparation, this bright, energetic comedy is suitable for the entire family.

Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by James Lapine

Mature elementary school students and up who are ready for a darker view of the nature of fables and legends will thoroughly enjoy this classic American musical.

Study Guides are created for every play in the current season. Study guides offer resources to use in preparation for reading, streaming, or attending a play. These materials also offer teaching suggestions, discussion questions, research topics, related websites, and additional resources for each production.

Due to the constantly evolving nature of the production process, study guides may not be available until after a production has opened. We will post them as soon as possible.

All downloads are in PDF format and require Adobe Reader to view and print.

Julius Caesar 
The Importance of Being Earnest
August Wilson's Jitney
Fat Ham
As You Like It
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Into the Woods 
Quixote Nuevo
Quixote Nuevo - Spanish

All's Well That Ends Well
As You Like It
Antony and Cleopatra
The Comedy of Errors
Coriolanus
Cymbeline
Hamlet
Henry IV, Part One
Henry IV, Part Two
Henry V
Henry VI, Part One
Henry VI, Part Two
Henry VI, Part Three
Henry VIII
Julius Caesar
King John
King Lear
Love's Labor's Lost
Macbeth
Measure for Measure 
The Merchant of Venice
The Merry Wives of Windsor
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Much Ado About Nothing
Othello
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Richard II
Richard III
Romeo and Juliet
The Taming of the Shrew
The Tempest
Timon of Athens
Titus Andronicus
Troilus and Cressida
Twelfth Night
The Tempest
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
The Two Noble Kinsmen
The Winter's Tale