The Winter's Tale: A Celebration of Humanity and Community

“The most rewarding part of this work is witnessing how relationships are formed and nurtured throughout this process and taking theater from being transactional to being more about relationship. We began this process as strangers and we’re leaving this process as a family, a community.”
— Shariffa Ali, Lecturer in Theater

Hear from director Shariffa Ali as she reflects on the production of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale — A Public Works Musical, which enthusiastically took the stage at Berlind Theatre from November 10-12, 2023. Using a relational approach to theater making that she learned as the Community Coordinator for the Public Theater’s Public Works program, Ali successfully united a large, diverse cast of all ages from both the campus and regional community including:

45 cameo group members
33 community ensemble cast members
16 Princeton student cast members
12 Playhouse Choir members
12 run crew
7 Lewis Center for the Arts faculty members
5 stage managers
5 musicians
4 ensemble coordinators
2 staff cast members
1 Princeton Tiger
See all the credits for those who helped make Winter’s Tale happen!

Community ensemble cast members also share what they enjoyed most about making theater with kindness, acceptance, and friendship at its core.

This production of The Winter’s Tale marked the largest attempt thus far by the Program in Theater & Music Theater to engage a broad community in making theater alongside students in the program. Back in the spring of 2019, Victoria Davidjohn ’19 led the first Public Works production on campus with The Oydssey, a project born out of her experience interning with the Public Theater in New York City. Students in the theater program have the opportunity each year to apply for a Public Theater summer internship, which is funded through the generosity of Andrea E. Bernstein ’80 and the Bernstein Fellowships in the Arts.