Sweet Tea Shakespeare is ready to bring the classics to the community with their 2025-26 season. It all begins with Romeo and Juliet on Sept. 18 at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. 

The production will run two weekends, Sept. 18-21 and 25-28, and will be an entirely outdoor event. 

"This will actually be the first time we bring this show to life down here in Fayetteville," said Jessie Wise, executive director and CEO of Sweet Tea Shakespeare. 

"Claudia Warga-Dean directs  as love and violence collide in a gritty, 80s-inspired Romeo and Juliet, set against a backdrop of boardroom battles and rebellious youth. Sweet Tea Shakespeare’s outdoor take on this iconic tragedy features a bold visual style, live pre-show music, and immersive staging that drops you right into the middle of a power struggle gone personal."

Sweet Tea Shakespeare is known for making the classics accessible for everyone. Their style allows for engagement with those who attend their productions, and they encourage those who attend to get involved in the shows. 

"It is my hope that the community walks away feeling just that: That we are a community. You don't just come for the show, you come for the relationships. We're a party where a play breaks out. We don't just want you to come see a show and leave. We encourage you to come early for the pre-show concert, get to know the company, and find your place with us," said Wise. 

The rest of STS's season includes Arthur Miller's The Crucible, the annual christmas folk concert Behold, a new company composition of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, and a company adaptation of the Three Musketeers. 

"We selected this season looking at titles that were familiar, many of which feature on school reading lists, with the hopes to bring these classic stories of love and conflict to new life," said Wise. "Reading is one of my great loves and it is my hope that seeing these stories come to life onstage will encourage others to read the books as well.  I also always look forward to the new relationships that are built during each production, from working with new actors and volunteers, to meeting new audience members."

The announcement for the season was accompanied by the tagline, "Love is the Strongest Choice." Wise said that isn't so much the theme of the season as it is a motto of STS. 

"'Love is the strongest choice' is a motto we have borrowed over time from another Shakespeare theatre group. It embodies our work as artists both in what we bring to our performances and art, as well as how we work with one another," she said. 

"I think because we engrain this in what we do, it organically flowed over into our new season. Love is one of those universal themes we see explored over and over, whether it is romantic or familial, mutual or unrequited, supported or banned. We selected this season looking at titles that were familiar, many of which feature on school reading lists, with the hopes to bring these classic stories of love and conflict to new life."

In addition to their scheduled season line up, STS will be bringing back another LIT play event, an 18 and over production usually held in bars or breweries. This year, the company will be doing Romeo and JuliLIT.

"It takes the classic Shakespeare tragedy, adds some drinking games, improvisation, audience interaction, and a lot of comedic twists. We are adding an extra special twist this time around by incorporating some musical challenges the actors will encounter while trying to put on the play," Wise said. 

Sweet Tea Shakespeare's 2025-26 season is promising to be a special one for the community. To learn more about Sweet Tea Shakespeare and to buy tickets to their productions, visit the website at https://sweetteashakespeare.com/