West Liberty, W.Va., September 25, 2025 – The Rustic Mechanicals, West Virginia’s only touring Shakespeare company, return to West Liberty University on Sunday, September 28, 2025, with their Vaulting Ambition tour production of Macbeth. The troupe last appeared at West Liberty with Julius Caesar in 2024, and they are excited to make their annual return.
Founded in 2014 by Celi Oliveto, the Mechanicals tour Shakespeare’s works across the state, using original staging conditions and bold casting to make the classics accessible for modern audiences. This season, real-life couple Jason A. Young and Sarah Young star as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, the power-hungry pair whose vaulting ambition unravels both their love and their lives.
Director Jim Warren is ecstatic to bring the magic of a tragedy to life in a new, unique way. “What an awesome challenge we have in carrying the torch (so to speak!) of doing Macbeth using Shakespeare’s Staging Conditions to gross-out, freak-out, surprise, delight, and scare our audiences without light boards, sound boards, or electric fog machines. We will create a live, acoustic soundtrack: creepy sounds/voices that will help an audience imagine the heath, the castles, the backdrop for the battles in ways that Shakespeare’s company did for the play’s first audiences… and underneath it all has to be love! If our production is not filled with big love, the story, the tragedy doesn’t work. I am completely bored by and intolerant of theatre, TV, and film where I don’t care about characters.”
The production team includes Bridget Rue Esterhuizen (Voice & Text), Millie Omps (Fight Choreography), John S. Shirley (Dramaturgy), Jason A. Young (Production Design), Niki DeWitt (Production/Tour Management), and Seret Cole (Technical Direction). The ensemble features Jason A Young, Sarah Young, Joshua Brooks, Stephen Phillips, Sinead Tobin, Aaron Harris, Seret Cole, Asa Krinov, and Len Batson.
Michael Aulick, Director of Theatre at West Liberty, stated, “After being blown away by Julius Caesar last year, we couldn’t wait to have the Mechanicals back. This season, they’ll bring the dark and gripping world of Macbeth to our campus and our community.”
Performance Details
Sunday, September 28, 2025
Doors 2:30 PM (pre-show music jam) | Show 3:00 PM
Kelly Theatre, West Liberty University
Tickets: $13 at 304tix
Free for WLU students, faculty, and staff with ID
Founded in 1837, West Liberty University is West Virginia’s oldest institution of higher education. Its Department of Theatre provides professional-level training in performance, directing, and design while enriching the Ohio Valley region with dynamic productions and guest artists.
The Rustic Mechanicals will continue touring Macbeth throughout the fall. For more information or to book a performance, contact vtcrusticmechanicals@gmail.com. Follow the troupe on Facebook: Rustic Mechanicals.
West Liberty University blends a small-town environment with a comprehensive college experience, fostering students’ aspirations through hands-on learning, personalized support, and unique academic programs at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Learn more at westliberty.edu.
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Media Contact
Theresa Gretchen
West Liberty University
tgretchen1@westliberty.edu
