No Winter’s Tale: by Gretchen Minton

No Winter’s Tale, an adaptation written by Gretchen Minton, will be performed at the Warren Miller Performing Arts Center on November 5th, and in the Black Box Theatre on the MSU campus on November 7, 2025. Sign up for a free ticket below.

No Winter’s Tale reimagines Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale through a climate-changed Intermountain West—a realm where vanishing winters reshape both landscape and lives. This adaptation preserves the original’s emotional core—jealousy, loss, and eventual reconciliation—while casting these themes into the urgent and fragile context of ecological collapse and renewal. It’s a deep, artistic fusion of Shakespearean drama with environmental science and hope.

This production is made possible by the generous support of Montana State University’s Center for Science, Technology, Ethics, & Society (C-STES). Special thanks also to the Warren Miller Performing Arts Center and the Black Box Theatre.

Tickets to these performances are free, but we do ask that you register your attendance, by clicking on this button:

**Click on the picture above to see short video clips of other adaptations from Minton.**

Gretchen Minton based her adaptation of No Winter’s Tale on William Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. In Shakespeare’s story, a jealous King Leontes falsely accuses his wife Hermione of infidelity with his best friend, and she dies. Leontes exiles his newborn daughter Perdita, who is raised by shepherds for sixteen years and falls in love with the son of Leontes' friend. When Perdita returns home, a statue of Hermione "comes to life", and everyone is reconciled.

Minton, with a background in eco-drama and writing adaptations of other Shakespeare plays, wanted to write a play that illustrated the seriousness of climate change and reflected real-world concerns about what humanity is facing, while at the same time, discarding doom and gloom and holding onto optimism for solutions and happy endings.

Gretchen recorded a great podcast about the writing, staging, and performance of No Winter’s Tale. Here is the link to listen.

In September, a 24 hour, non-stop, round-the-clock international conference on Shakespearean adaptations was held. Gretchen made a ten minute presentation at this conference. To see her 11 minute presentation about No Winter’s Tale, please click here.

No Winter’s Tale Cast and Crew

Click on each of the names below to see their bios. Not all have submitted bios yet, but they will be put up as they come in. Pictures of the cast and crew appear below, in a separate gallery.

Direction: The Cocktail Party (T.S. Eliot), Pass the Butler (Eric Idle). Acting: William Shakespeare in Born With Teeth (Bozeman Actors Theatre), Audrey in As You Like It and Lydia in Pride & Prejudice (Illinois Shakespeare Festival), Imogen in Cymbeline and Stage Manager in Our Town (York Arena), Lady Anne in Richard III (Palo Duro Amphitheatre), Raina in Arms and the Man (Studio 208), Charlotte Bronte in Dear Charlotte (Wortham Theatre), Nurse/Prince in Romeo & Juliet (Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre). MFA, University of Houston.
Joe O'Connor has been acting in community theater productions, mainly in Big Sky, since 2014. He made his stage debut as Joseph of Nazareth as a six year old in Ann Arbor, Michigan. When he's not acting as someone else, he runs the nonprofit environmental magazine Mountain Journal.
Lauren Chavez is a writer fascinated by languages and vocabularies that emerge from the landscapes she encounters. A lover of poetry, music, and nature, Lauren is at her happiest when these three loves coalesce.
Erik Pearson is a Minnesota native who has been active in theater, musicals, opera, Shakespeare, concert music and educational theater for the past 20 years. In between gigs, he spends his time composing works for voice, strings, and various ensembles, along with hiking, skiing, and working in our National Parks.
Gretchen Minton is Professor of English at MSU. She is the author of Shakespeare in Montana and the editor of several early modern plays. Her ecological adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays include Timon of Anaconda, Salt Waves Fresh, and No Winter’s Tale. She's also the dramaturg for Montana Shakespeare in the Parks and the co-founder of Montana InSite Theatre.
Stephanie Burda is a Montana-raised, Chicago-aged writer and performer. Advertising creative by day, Steph has touched several local productions, including: ONCE (Director/Girl), THE LAST FIVE YEARS (Cathy), BONNIE & CLYDE (Bonnie), and the self-produced IASB I & II: 30 ORIGINAL PLAYS IN 60 MINUTES. Please make sure she drinks enough water after the show.
Mikey Gray is thrilled to be on stage again for this iteration of NWT. She's been seen in many productions with Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, other regional theaters, and in films and commercials. Many thanks to Chance Farm (for the real farming experience), this group of expert artists, brilliant scientists, and wonderful supporters that all collaborated to bring this version of Gretchen's vision to life.
Katherine has performed in Henry IV, Part I, The Merry Wives of Windsor (Montana Shakespeare in the Parks); Lungs, Polaroid Stories (Bozeman Actors Theatre). Regional: Guthrie Theater; Arden Theatre Company; Fulton Opera; Theater Latté Da; Ten Thousand Things Theater; Illinois Shakespeare Festival among others. Other: Katherine recently composed music for The Hatmaker’s Wife with Ten Thousand Things Theater in addition to performing as a vocalist for the Lakes Area Music Festival. Training: University of Minnesota / Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training Program
Marc is a poet, theatre artist, and bookseller in Livingston. As an actor, he’s performed in plays by Shakespeare, Chekov, Paula Vogel, Lanford Wilson, and several others. The 10th anniversary edition of his “neo-haibun” memoir, Vagabond Song, is due in December. More at crowvoice.com.
KC Luchsinger has been doing Sound Design & Engineering for theater over 25 years. Working under his sound design company “The Thaumaturge”, he has done productions for The Verge Theatre, Ellen Theatre, Bozeman Actors Theatre, The Players, Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, Random Acts of Silliness, as well as many other productions, most recently Bending Towards the Light, The Humans, The Sound of Music, Ride The Cyclone, Angels in America, & True West.
Sean Hecock is delighted to be working on No Winter's Tale! You may have previously seen his work as the ASM for Opera Montana's Cinderella. Thank you for coming and enjoy the show!!
Nathaniel is thrilled to be a part of No Winter's Tale again this fall! His experience with this play is a wonderful memory and he is happy to be back at it with a new and expanded cast and crew. He is loving the new take with old friends and sharing this story with another audience.
info coming soon