91¶ĚĘÓƵ Theatre brings Shakespeare’s heartwarming tale of mystery and magic to life in an original musical, featuring hit songs from the ’80s and ’90s and dynamic choreographed dance numbers. “The Winter’s Tale: A Musical Adaptation” comes to the Lee Eshleman Studio Theater, with nightly shows at 7:30 p.m. from April 9-12.

Tickets for the show are on sale at and will be available at the door, though seating inside the theater is limited and tickets have been known to sell out quickly. Tickets range from $6 for 91¶ĚĘÓƵ and JMU students, $10 for children and other students, $18 for seniors (65+), and $20 for adults.

“The Winter’s Tale” follows two kingdoms torn apart by jealousy, a lost queen, and the love that may bring them back together. When Leontes, the tyrannical king of Sicilia (Elie Hoover), suspects his wife Hermione (Jubilee Soper) of unfaithfulness with Polixenes, king of Bohemia (Samuel Castaneda), he becomes so enraged that he orders her jailed and their infant daughter abandoned.

Sixteen years later, as the seasons shift from winter to spring, the story moves to Bohemia, where Leontes’ daughter, Perdita (Emilee White), is now grown and has captured the heart of Florizel (Kayden Beidler), the brash and dramatic son of Polixenes. Will their love be enough to reunite the two kingdoms?

Perhaps best known for the stage direction, “Exit, pursued by a bear,” this sweet and complex romance is written in Shakespeare’s signature iambic pentameter. But this adaptation adds a “nice little twist,” said guest director Haley Davis: a mix of 1980s and ’90s chart-toppers, personally selected by 91¶ĚĘÓƵ’s talented student cast, woven throughout the play. It’s sure to have the whole audience singing along.

Frequent 91¶ĚĘÓƵ Theatre collaborator Jim Clemens returns as music director, performing iconic rock ballads and pop rock songs on piano, while student Bryan Joya-Estrada, who also portrays the Shepherd, plays various instruments.

The costumes, designed by Rebecca Bailey, blend early modern and Renaissance elements with an ’80s and ’90s punk rock aesthetic, Davis said.

Rounding out the crew are Shannon Dove as technical director, Sierra Priest as choreographer, and Sarah Peak as stage manager.

The play will be performed in the round, with audience members seated on all sides of the raised stage and in the upper balcony.

“It’s more fun when you have the audience right there at your toes,” said Davis, an administrative-professional faculty member of James Madison University’s School of Theatre and Dance. “You can look up at the heavens or down at the earth, and you have people there to share the moment with.”

It was only after the audition process that it became clear to the production team which play to perform. “In a special way, this play was chosen based on the people rather than the other way around,” she said. “I found that this approach, coupled with the students musically adapting the play, gave the team unique agency in the story they wanted to tell.”

Beidler, who plays the roles of Florizel and Antigonus, said they love how collaborative the show has felt. “It was so fun helping pick the music, and it really feels like we’ve made this show ours,” they said.

Hoover, who portrays Leontes and Autolycus, said, “It’s fun getting to play characters who are both so different from each other and from me.”

One of the play’s most striking moments is when it travels over 16 years, transporting the characters from Sicilia to Bohemia, from a harsh winter to a forgiving spring. The shift has also felt meaningful for the students, who began rehearsals in winter and are gradually emerging into spring themselves.

“I want audiences to walk away with a sense of hope,” Davis said. “Things can look bleak and cold and scary, but there’s something better around the corner if we hold on and let time do what it needs to do.”

Cast
Leontes/Autolycus — Elie Hoover
Hermione — Jubilee Soper
Mamillius/Perdita — Emilee White
Camillo — Erin Batten
Polixenes — Samuel Casteneda
Paulina — Elena Middlebrook
Florizel/Antigonus — Kayden Beidler
Shepherd/Officer — Bryan Joya-Estrada
Lord/Messenger — Kyah Young

Crew
Director — Haley Davis
Music Director — Jim Clemens
Technical Director — Shannon Dove
Costumer — Rebecca Bailey
Choreographer — Sierra Priest
Stage Manager — Sarah Peak

“Horseradish looks just like mayonnaise, so a label is good because it helps you differentiate between them,” Cooper told a crowd at Common Grounds Coffeehouse on Tuesday night. 

“There can be a great place for labels or it can be incredibly limiting,” she added. “A label you use today may not apply tomorrow, or three years from now, or graduate school or as you start a family.” 

Cooper, a Black transgender woman who serves as director of community engagement for the , spoke at 91¶ĚĘÓƵ’s LGBTQ+ History Month keynote. As a member of the , she is the second-highest ranking transgender woman in the U.S. government. 

The health and equity advocate told the gathering of 135 people about the history of the transgender community. She discussed key definitions of gender and transgender identity and reviewed anti-LGBTQ+ legislation being introduced.

Cooper said it was especially important for her to provide a historic context for transgender identity, as she presented slides of some historical figures who would have identified as transgender.

“Trans is not new,” she said. “It just might be new to some of you.”

The event not only attracted students from 91¶ĚĘÓƵ but also from other colleges and universities throughout the region. Following her presentation, Cooper engaged in a fireside chat with nine 91¶ĚĘÓƵ students who shared their experiences of living with queer or transgender identities. 

One of those students, Sarah Peak, a junior, spoke about how she had fought a losing battle trying to turn the Queer Student Alliance at her high school into a school-sanctioned club. 

“Every single time we applied for it, we were denied,” she said. “That just goes to show you that even though you’re … allowing students to voice themselves, we’re still severely restricted in schools in what we can do and what we can say.”

Many of the students participating in the small-group discussion spoke positively about how 91¶ĚĘÓƵ embraced who they are. 

Riley Quezada, a senior on the leadership team for the 91¶ĚĘÓƵ Queer Student Alliance, said they did not come out until their first year on campus. But once they did and expressed their preferred pronouns, they felt like a different person.

“I wasn’t someone who was closed-off and unapproachable,” Quezada said. “I am now more approachable and I am now more of myself.”

Dawn Neil, coordinator for the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, celebrated the event’s success.

“The support that we got from the community, from our students, from faculty and staff that were here, it was very inspiring,” she said. 

Neil reached out to Cooper about a year ago and explained how 91¶ĚĘÓƵ supported its students. Hearing about that support convinced her to speak, Neil said.

“Tori was impressed with how students’ voices are listened to on campus and with what was going on with the transition from Safe Space to QSA,” Neil said.

The 91¶ĚĘÓƵ QSA, recently renamed from Safe Space, is a group for empowering queer voices and LGBTQ+ activism on campus. This is the second time the office of DEI and QSA has hosted a keynote speaker in recognition of October as LGBTQ+ History Month. 

“This is our first big event with the new name and new leadership, but with the same spirit,” Quezada said.