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How Like a Dream Is This
“Shakespeare? Is that in English?”
This is an example of the questions Jason and Lauren Morgan, founding directors of Stolen Shakespeare Guild, get every now and then. They’ll tell you this with a good-natured wink and a laugh. But perhaps a better question might be, “Shakespeare? In Fort Worth?” And the answer is (miraculously) “YES.”
Flashback to 2007: Jason and Lauren Morgan first began showcasing the work of their upstart theater company, one that dared to perform Shakespeare, of all things, at the Sanders Theatre, the black-box theater in the late and lamented Fort Worth Community Arts Center (FWCAC). Tenants of the FWCAC received unhappy news in July of 2024: the city was giving tenants five months to vacate. After almost 20 years, the Morgans, along with their friends Hamlet, Cordelia, Puck, and Prospero, would be homeless.
photo credit: Keith Warren
“We were just inundated with questions,” recalls Lauren of the initial flurry of the news. But soon after the die was cast, heroic board members, patrons, volunteers, and artists all jumped in to advocate, raise money, haul supplies, intercede with the city, and champion the herculean task of re-rooting Fort Worth’s only classical theater company. In December of 2024, with only 12 days left to find a home, Stolen Shakespeare Guild (SSG) signed its first-ever mortgage in 20 years of operation.
Fast-forward to now: Lauren and Jason sit under work lights in their new space. She’s wearing painting clothes, her hair up. Jason has been prepping light design. And they are both about to welcome actors for a rehearsal of the first show of the 2026 season in their new theater on Decatur Avenue in Diamond Hill, minutes from the Stockyards.“A lot of things went right for this to happen for us,” says Lauren, who still seems a bit dazed and undeniably grateful.
The Morgans have also been doing right by a lot of other people, too. They managed to remodel the space in only six months — in time to mount and perform their full season’s slate, despite not opening until July 2025 — giving their artists jobs and patrons their fill. The Morgans opened their new space to other displaced theater groups, including the Fringe Festival, which had its highest-grossing year there. They’ve welcomed a Hispanic-heritage theater troupe and a solo artist, both seeking a reasonably priced space in which to showcase their work. “We want to make it really affordable [for these artists],” says Jason, who then jokes, “The only people we might not rent to would be another Shakespeare group!”
But what is perhaps the Morgans’ biggest investment is about to take flight: SSG’s education and outreach programming. “I believe that classical theater lays the foundation for all theater in the future,” says Lauren. “Art can be built upon itself. Classical theater lays the groundwork for modern theater. [Kids] see it in action so they know it’s fun, and moving, and that you can emotionally connect to it. They are the audience of the future.”
photo credit: Bart Stewart
Hundreds of kids each year attend SSG productions at a discounted school rate, some of them encountering theater for the very first time. How do they react to Shakespeare’s English, which so many adults find intimidating? “We try not to put things on a pedestal,” says Jason. “We try to direct so everybody can see themselves onstage — so it’s relatable and easy to understand.” Now with a dedicated theater space all their own, SSG can explore extending runs, putting on more productions, and offering more hands-on classes for students.
They’ve already begun by offering Good Neighbor Scholarships to high school students at nearby Diamond Hill-Jarvis High School to attend their Bard’s Apprentices Workshop. Students compete in a monologue competition for scholarships, then attend camp to learn about classical acting, tackling soliloquies, sonnets, and group scenes. “Those kids are so talented,” says Lauren. “Some do have interest [in acting] but maybe don’t have another outlet to have the experience.”
The Morgans have a mandate from SSG’s mission statement: “Stolen Shakespeare Guild is dedicated to uniting and enriching the community through the preservation and celebration of classic theater.” Which of course begs the question: what IS “classic” theater? The Morgans define it as works that are classics in their genre, including Shakespeare, Ibsen, and Moliere, of course, but also Rodgers and Hammerstein and plays based on the works of Jane Austen or Charles Dickens. Lauren points out that at A Christmas Carol in December, multiple generations of families enjoyed the same show together — the definitive example of “uniting and enriching” the community — even though she hesitates to label SSG shows “family-friendly” in the sanitized sense.
“King Lear may not be for everyone, but everyone has had a chance to see it,” she says. “And the musicals do bring a lot of new people in, and hopefully they will come see some lesser titles.”
photo credit: Delaney Rain Gebhart Photography
This sort of pragmatic, egalitarian sensibility towards audiences is a key reason so many of the Morgans’ diverse patrons have stayed loyal despite the theater moving up north. “A lot have followed us, and we’ve also been able to reach new people,” Lauren says, adding that there is not a lot of live theater available in north Tarrant County — in Keller or River Oaks, for instance. The Morgans are betting, as they always have, that Stolen Shakespeare Guild will have something for everyone in their new digs. And that applies to more than what’s in the season lineup.
“I think we need to figure out what things look like for this organization and what is the best way to expand,” says Lauren. “Are we able to offer classes? Could we do a teen show over the summer? More summer camps? We have more exploring to do.”
In the meantime, they’re busy mounting a Jane Austen classic, followed quickly by perennial favorite Oklahoma, opening April 10th.
When asked to sum up the past year’s tumultuous, miraculous move in a single Shakespeare quote, Jason jumps in with, “To be or NOT to be!” He and Lauren both break out in laughter that feels both deeply ironic and genuinely tender. That joke is still a bit too close to home.
Lauren thinks for a moment, then offers, “This is the stuff that dreams are made on.”
Jason interrupts, “Is that the right play?”
“It IS from The Tempest!” she insists, laughing, but admits, “You’ll have to fact-check that quote.” The line she’s referencing — Prospero’s — has been paraphrased in about a hundred different pop culture references over the past 500 years (“the stuff dreams are made of”, “the stuff of dreams”, etc.), proving even the Shakespeare experts need Google sometimes. (Turns out, she only got a word or two wrong, and you’ll need to look it up to see which.)
Relatable? Inspirational? Against all odds, SSG has managed to be both this year, both on but especially off the stage.
