Guthrie’s “King Lear” production relays strong messages of empathy while catering to all audiences.

Guthrie Theater Director of Marketing and Audience Development Trisha Kirk said students can relate to King Lear by studying the relationship between the children and their parents.

“At the very beginning of (“King Lear”), Lear, the father, asks his daughters to tell him how much they love him and those answers are what sets in motion the entire rest of the play,” Kirk said.

Junior Lindsey Prestholdt said she has never been to the Guthrie theater before, but would love to attend a play because she thinks the arts are very important.

“It’s very good to know about the programs that are happening in our city and it would be very educational and interesting to see a Shakespeare play,” Prestholdt said.

Theater director Jodi Hatzenbeller said she saw “King Lear” and thought students could appreciate the plot and the lessons it teaches.

“It’s an interesting piece of dynamics and looking at what’s more important, being sincere and telling the truth or giving what people want to hear,” Hatzenbeller said. “Even as teenagers, I think you have these moments where you have to (decide) ‘do I say what mom wants to hear or do I tell her what I mean.’ There’s a universal message in that.”

Prestholdt said she thinks theater allows students make news friends and helps people get out of their shell.

“Theater is important because it allows people to explore acting through a creative outlet and helps people be imaginative,” Prestholdt said.

Kirk said being a part of theater makes students a part of someones else’s story and teaches people how to be more empathetic.

“Hearing those other stories makes you relate to people in a different way and can built empathy. It makes you a better person. So right now I think that’s why theater is important. We need to be more empathic to those in our lives, those (who) aren’t in our lives who we think we have nothing in common with we need to find that common ground I think that makes us better people,” Kirk said.

Hatzenbeller said “King Lear” contains many timely connections with its audience and can help students become more understanding.

“I think it’s a great way to explore the human experience and it’s a great way of empathizing with characters who may be nothing like you in their situations in life but have commonalities in those inherent experiences and emotions,” Hatzenbeller said.

Kirk said the Guthrie theater performs many types of works by Shakespeare and other playwrights throughout the year.  

“We have a really wide variety of programing that we do partly because we have three different stages and you can see a lot of different work and partly because it’s in our nature to program different works,” Kirk said.

“King Lear” will show through April 2 at the Guthrie theater. Ticket prices range from $29 to $77 depending on the section.