CANTON -- Eben Holden Conference Center will flash back to the 17th century with American Shakespeare Center beginning Thursday Oct. 8.

The Virginia–based performance group will offer hands-on weekday workshops and five separate performances over the weekend as part of their Dangerous Dreams Tour.

Now in its 23rd year at St. Lawrence, the residency will begin with “The Life of King Henry the Fifth” performed at 7:30 p.m. on both Thursday and Friday, Oct. 9. A one-time showing of “Julius Caesar” is set to follow at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 10. Then at midnight and again at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 11, the series will wrap up with “The Importance of Being Earnest.” All plays are presented in Eben Holden with 30 minutes of live music scheduled prior to each performance. Tickets are available for free to the public in Sullivan Student Center and Brewer Bookstore.

“This is one of the few opportunities to see live Shakespeare in the area,” said Sarah Barber, assistant professor of poetry and early modern literature at St. Lawrence. “But, it’s not just performance; it’s education too, and that’s something that you can’t get from any other Shakespeare company in the area. We have people come from as far as Ottawa to see these shows.”

In addition to these live performances, American Shakespeare Center will offer a series of show-specific workshops in the local community and in the University’s classrooms. Based on a tradition established in 1992, St. Lawrence is among only three universities with a longstanding partnership with the American Shakespeare Center.

“That’s why we’re able to have them for several performances,” Barber said. “The midnight show is unique to only St. Lawrence.”

Due to the ongoing support at St. Lawrence, the troupe has also partnered with local grade schools for classroom workshops and will visit Canton and Potsdam high schools as well as the Little River School throughout the week. Topics will range from era-specific costuming to stage combat.

New this year, the American Shakespeare Center will join a panel focused on the Economics of Production and Performance. Representatives from Liberty Fund, American Shakespeare Center and St. Lawrence’s Department of Performance and Communication Arts will discuss their experiences with acting as a career path, Elizabethan circumstances and planning a professional theater residency.

“We’ve been trying to use this visit to reach new audiences and new portions of the SLU community,” Barber said. “This is our year to think about Shakespeare and economics. We are hoping that, in the future, we can reach out to different communities on campus by thinking about Shakespeare and sociology, or Shakespeare and environmental studies for example.”

The Economics of Production and Performance panel, which is free and open to the public, will take place from noon until 1 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 8, in Eben Holden.

For more performance or workshop information contact Sarah Barber at 315-229-5083 or visit www.stlawu.edu/english.