What is Shoestring?

The SHOESTRING PLAYERS, a creation of Professor Joseph Hart of the Mason Gross School of the Arts (Rutgers University), use the tradition of storytelling and the concept of the folktale to engage the imaginations of their audiences. Without elaborate sets or props, eight actors use their bodies, voices and actions to become the forest, a river, a castle, the wind, or whatever is needed to tell the story. A percussionist adds drama or punctuation to the activity on-stage.

The SHOESTRING PLAYERS present over 200 performances of international folktales each year, including engagements in all twenty-one counties of New Jersey. Since the company’s formation in 1985, the SHOESTRING PLAYERS have performed for over one and a half million children and adults. They have gained national and international attention for their work.

The SHOESTRING PLAYERS were recently honored as the first children’s theater company ever to win a Fringe First at the Edinburgh Scotland Festival Fringe. The company has performed regularly at festivals in Scotland and England, and this past summer was invited to perform at the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta GA.

“This is children’s theater at its finest: never condescending, often witty, always inventive.” Roberta Mock, The Independent, Edinburgh Scotland.

“....a captivating combination of skill, artistry and humor, brimming with good will.” Backstage

"Animated and captivating. My students were transfixed." Deidre De Rossett, Yardville Elementary, Yardville NJ

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