Despite the darkness of its themes, Macbeth carries a special weight of nostalgia for me: it was the first Shakespeare production (and second play) I did in a children’s program with the Stone Soup Theatre (shoutout to the good ol’ Thane of Ross and Murderer #2), it was the play and role that turned heads in our 6thGrade English class “Shake Hands with Shakespeare” performance, and it was, fittingly, the capstone of my time in the Seattle Children’s Theatre’s summer stage program.

Even in a cut-for-time children’s theatre production, the title role is a demanding one.  Macbeth was, undoubtedly, the most demanding role I had played at the point, and it pushed me to mix the fun I had doing theatre with a new sincerity for the work of acting.