Poor Yoricks Players

Poor Yoricks Players:

Poor Yorick's Players are a motley troupe dedicated to entertainment, education and cultural enrichment through the dramatic arts, with specific emphasis on the works of William Shakespeare.

Formed in 2006, Poor Yorick's Players performs free outdoor Shakespeare in Monroeville, just outside of Pittsburgh, PA.

Poor Yorick's Players produce two shows per season - one in the late spring and one in summer.  All shows are free to the public.

Yorick's home is the Tall Trees Amphitheater, in Monroeville Community Park.  The Amphitheater is a large stage at the foot of a gently sloping hill.  Unlike some outdoor venues, we have access to lights, sound, restrooms, dressing rooms, and many other amenities usually reserved for indoor spaces.

In performance, we do our best to remain a traditional Shakespeare company while keeping the plays accessible to a modern audience. We generally do not change the text in favor of any modern words or phrasing.  Most of our performances are under two or two and a half hours, including intermission.

Additionally, because Shakespeare is so short on women's roles, Yorick likes to swap the gender of some characters. We have featured many women in traditionally male roles: Jacques, Senior, and Frederick (As You Like It), Horatio, First Player (Hamlet), Montague, Escalus (Romeo and Juliet), Leonato, Conrade (Much Ado about Nothing).

Yorick is entirely funded through grants and donations from the public.