Our talented and dedicated actors, their parents and friends are heavily involved in fundraising activities to finance the Players’ two-week “performance” adventure to England and Scotland. Donations are greatly appreciated and are tax deductible (TIN 81-6000136). 

Jeff Ross, Belt High School, #1 Church St., Belt, MT 59412.

Belt Valley Shakespeare Players have been selected to perform as part of the American High School Theatre Festival in Scotland at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2017!

Thank you for joining us for our performance of Henry IV Part I at the Shakespeare “First Folio” Exhibition and Celebration on the University of Montana campus May 20th! 

For more information about the First Folio Celebration click on the poster.

“Belt Actors Make Shakespeare fun” Great Falls Tribune Article Link

          Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part I

 Hal      Hotspur

   A break

  King Henry   Falstaff

  Douglas

 Lady Mortimer   Lady Percy

Above, Kevin Asselin, Executive Artistic Director for Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, directs a stage-combat workshop for Belt Shakespeare actors in preparation for Henry IV Part I.

Coming This Spring 2016…

Thank you all for supporting and attending our spring 2015 performances of

Twelfth Night

About Belt Valley Shakespeare Players

“Shakespeare Alive and Well at Belt High School.” Great Falls Tribune. Great Falls Tribune Videos, 18 March 2014. Web. 27 Dec. 2014.

Dear Friends,

Seven years ago when I became the new Belt High School English teacher, I became aware of the exciting potential of the Belt Theater building and the prospect for the development of youth theater in Belt. Seven years later and I’m still a relative newcomer to this project, for many have worked on the Theater’s revival years before my arrival. Now, with seven years of Belt High School Theater experience under our belts, including productions of Our Town, The Importance of Being Earnest, Pygmalion, You Can’t Take It With You, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and As You Like It, and with last year’s renovation of the Belt Theater Ballroom into our “Shakespeare Theater,” we are ready to take another step in our development, one that extends theatrical opportunities to students around our region, particularly students, families, and audiences from surrounding rural communities.  And while this year’s production of Twelfth Night will be generously supported by Belt High School and the Belt Performing Arts Center, this year marks the transition to our first multi-school cast, and to our new regionally-inclusive name: Belt Valley Shakespeare Players.

Belt Valley Shakespeare Players Mission Statement

The Belt Valley Shakespeare Players is a non-profit youth theater that fosters community, intellectual curiosity, creativity, and confidence with personal and public expression primarily through the study, practice, and performance of the works of William Shakespeare.

 Belt Valley Shakespeare Players value:

• opportunity for all students in grades 7-12
• focus on collaboration not competition
• emphasis on student-driven exploration of character (with assistance, students develop their own “authentic” interpretations of character and theme directly from Shakespeare’s texts)
• free admission for middle and high school students to performances at The Belt Performing Arts Center

Lately The Belt Performing Arts Center has been synonymous with Shakespeare.

Yes Shakespeare, both in voice and spirit. Two years ago our high school theater performed A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In the summer of 2013, I attended a three-week teacher’s residency at Shakespeare’s Globe in London. Twenty-one teachers from around the country attended the program where we learned techniques for “Teaching Shakespeare Through Performance.” To see some of my experiences at Shakespeare’s Globe in London click on the “Beltian at the Globe” link at the top of the page. And last spring we performed As You Like It in our new modest theatrical home inspired by London’s Globe, our very own “Shakespeare Theater.”

Why is this a special opportunity for us?

So let’s take stock. We have a theater in renovation. We have talented actors, musicians, writers, and engaged and supportive audiences from the Belt Valley to the Highwood Mountains, from the Little Belt Mountains to Great Falls. Let me argue that we are witnessing a confluence of circumstances, a perfect storm if you will, to vitalize the performing arts not just in Belt, but in our region. Not in competition with our other school programs or civic projects, for BVSP will be a renaissance working in concert with other local programs.

Therefore, please take a look at Shakespeare’s Globe in “The Comedies with Joely Richardson,” one episode of PBS’s six-part “Shakespeare Uncovered” series. It’s a fantastic program. Watch it on your television, computer or ipad. Here’s the link:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/shakespeare-uncovered/video/the-comedies-with-joely-richardson/

If you can’t watch it all, watch the last 12 minutes. Go to the 41-minute mark of the video to see Joely wander around in the empty Globe’s magical, celestial space. Make no mistake, sans the size, snow, and tradition, that magic can be us.

Jeff Ross