WEST LIBERTY — The Rustic Mechanicals, West Virginia’s only touring Shakespeare company, return to West Liberty University on Sunday, Sept. 28, 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 said he 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,” Warren said. “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 and 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.

“After being blown away by ‘Julius Caesar’ last year, we couldn’t wait to have the Mechanicals back,” Michael Aulick, director of theatre at West Liberty, stated. “This season, they’ll bring the dark and gripping world of ‘Macbeth’ to our campus and our community.”

Doors for the performance at West Liberty University’s Kelly Theatre open at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 28, and show time is 3 p.m.

Tickets are $13 at 304tix.com and are free for WLU students, faculty and staff with identification.

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.