Programming

Bring the Shake Summer Tour to Your Community

Three actors, sitting on boxes. With the first smiling at the camera while the other two look at him

Want to bring fun, fast, physical performances to your community? Shake tours in both Arkansas and Upstate New York (with a focus on Western New York and the Finger Lakes). The company specializes in rural and underserved communities.

Shake brings the set, sound, and actors – you just need to provide electricity! 

Please email Linda Franke, Executive Director (lfranke@shakeonthelake.org) to learn more about booking and fees to bring Shake to your community!

And don’t forget our educational programming!

Shake on the Lake hosts educational programming at K-12 schools through our Groundlings Programs. Classes and workshops can be a day or several weeks. 

Please reach out to Linda Franke, Executive Director (lfranke@shakeonthelake.org) to  learn more or book our educational programming. 

Three actors looking up in the sky

What does Shake do?

Man stands with his back to us as woman with crown playing a prince looks up as she is seated.

Shake on the Lake started as a summer outdoor production and has grown into a regional touring company with programming all year long. 

Summer Tour

Shake on the Lake performances start in the summer with our Shakespeare Summer Tour. Each year we focus on one of Shakespeare’s classic plays to devise our own Shake on the Lake production. In 90 minutes or less, we present the Bard in accessible, but not watered-down form. These shows can travel and have traveled many miles – communities simply pay our rental fee, and we show up with the set, sound, crew, and actors to perform in your community. The show is designed for outdoor venues. 

Learn more about past performances or our most current summer tour. 

Please contact Linda Franke, Executive Director (lfranke@shakeonthelake.org) if you would like to bring the Summer Tour in your community.


Balloons with faces on them torment a puppet with a puppeteer at a school auditorium

New York State Puppet Festival

In 2018, Shake started to bring New York State Puppet Festival to live and every even year we present contemporary puppetry arts in a ten day festival. Programmed by Producing Artistic Director and Puppet Artist Josh Rice, be prepared for something awesome when you attend a NYSPF event. Learn more about New York State Puppet Festival at the festival website. 

Storefront of Theatre@37 with puppets in the window box

Theatre@37 

Shake’s home is a storefront theatre at 37 South Main Street in Perry, NY. During the year, the company hosts educational programming and performances including First Friday Programming. Through programs like Shakespeare Reading Club, The Nameless Club, Act III Short performances, and artist residencies – you can enjoy performing, literary, and visual, arts all year round. Learn more about our current events. 

If you are interested in renting Theatre@37 for performing arts rehearsals or devising, please email Linda Franke, Executive Director (lfranke@shakeonthelake.org). 


In-School Educational Programming – Groundlings Program

Shake has educational programming opportunities for K-12 schools throughout Western New York. Through our Groundlings Program – our experienced teaching artists teach puppetry, improvisation, playwriting, and theatre arts. Often educational programming includes a final performances by students. Workshops can be hourly or a short residency. Please contact Linda Franke, Executive Director (lfranke@shakeonthelake.org) if you would like Educational Programming in your community.

Customized Educational Programming – All Ages, Seniors, and Special Audiences

Shake is happy to host programs in your community about puppetry, improvisation, Shakespeare, playwriting, and theatre arts. Workshops can be hourly or a short residency. and can be after working hours. Shake has partnered with libraries, day treatment facilities, and senior living communities. Please contact Linda Franke, Executive Director
(lfranke@shakeonthelake.org) if you would like Educational Programming
in your community.

Voices UnCaged

We have also hosted Voices UnCaged, a program developed by Chad Bradford to bring theatre arts to correctional facilities. With a curriculum focused on students developing their own creative voice, students go from script to show in less than a week and perform for an audience of their peers. 

Shake + Agriculture

Shake is developing an exciting Theatre on Farms, an art and agritourism project, to follow our summer tour. Follow along as we develop our first immersive theatre pieces from classic Shakespeare plays like Macbeth and King Lear. 

In partnership with playwright Vinny Mraz, Shake is producing The Dairy Farmer Project. This original piece focuses on the Dairy Farmers in the greater Perry area. 

Winter Season

We end our season with a holiday classic at our home theatre, Theatre@37. Some years our holiday production is also tours, depending on the show. 

Customized Programming

Shake on the Lake is also happy discuss customized programming for your community. If you are thinking of commissioning your own Shakespeare tour, please reach out to us and we’d be happy to talk about our devising and creative process to see if it works with your community. Email Linda Franke, Executive Director (lfranke@shakeonthelake.org) for more information 

woman in costume that resembles a mountain on stage

Interested in Theatre & Education Programming During the Year?

Volume speaker on top left, with the title "First Friday" and a computer
dinosaur puppet

Please check our events page to learn more about what’s going on with Shake outside of our Summer Tour!

Click here

Shake Performance Gallery

Puppet representing the Harpy scene in the Tempest terrifies a king in the foreground played by an actor
The Tempest: Silver Lake (2025)
Man with a crown reading a letter
Henry V: Silver Lake (2024)
Two women waving to the audience after a performance and one man pointing at another while another looks at them
The Comedy of Errors (2013): Silver Lake
Santaland Diaries
Santaland Diaries
As You Like It: Silver Lake (2019)
As You Like It: Silver Lake (2019)
Actors taking their bow with Lake Ontario in the background
Romeo & Juliet: Point Breeze, Lake Ontario, NY (2017)
Three actors looking up in the sky
Rude Mechanicals
Expert's Guide to Shakespeare
Expert's Guide to Shakespeare
Two white women shake their fists to the sky in Shakespeare's As You Like It
As You Like It: Silver Lake (2019)
Girl looking through a telescope with a guy who looks at sky next to her
Twelfth Night: Silver Lake (2016)
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