Matthew Andersen of Ann Arbor and Sarah Leahy of Dearborn, have been cast in the title roles of the Michigan Shakespeare Festival's 2011 ShortShakes Touring production of "The Tragedy of Romeo & Juliet."

The ShortShakes Tour, now in its second season, is being offered to high schools in Hillsdale, Ingham, Jackson, Lenawee, Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, Washtenaw, and Wayne counties, from February 7 through May 27.

"The goal of the tour is for high school students to see why we're still doing these shows 400 years after their original writing," MSF artistic director Janice L. Blixt said in a press release. "While Shakespeare as literature is fascinating and important, seeing Shakespeare performed live is a completely different experience - we want students to see that Shakespeare is about love and life and laughter and, yes, death."

The show is trimmed down to about 95 minutes in order to better fit within the school day and is set as Shakespeare's own company would have performed it: without a set and with a mixture of "period" props and costumes with modern pieces. A highlight of the show will be the fights, choreographed by MSF resident fight director, David Blixt.

"Romeo and Juliet is a fun show to design the violence for as it runs the fight-gambit from absurd playfulness to deadly cut and thrusts - from swashbuckling fun to real violence," said David Blixt (also via a press release).

In addition to Andersen and Leahy, who are in the title roles for a second season, the 2011 cast includes Jay Donley of St. Joseph (Mercutio), Rick Eva of Canton (Peter/Montague), Dennis Kleinsmith of Lathrup Village (Capulet), Ramona Lucius of Detroit (Nurse), Ty Mitchell of Ann Arbor (Benvolio), Allyson Ortwein of Sterling Heights (Lady Capulet), Jeffrey Booth Stringer of Jackson (the Friar), and Torrey Wigfield of Ann Arbor (Tybalt). Tour understudies include Brooklyn Dimitrie, Stephanie VanAlstine, and Jamie Weeder of Ann Arbor; and Joseph Fournier, Michael Powers, and Chris Sweet of Ypsilanti. The company is rounded out by Stefanie Din of Romeo as the tour's technical director, with Stringer serving as the tour coordinator.

"We have an incredibly talented group from all over southeast and south central Michigan," Stringer said. "I'm proud to be bringing this show on the road."

In addition to the school tour, an open-to-all performance of the show will be held at 8 p.m. Friday, February 4 at the Jackson Symphony Orchestra Hall, 215 W. Michigan Ave., Jackson. Tickets are $10 at the door.

More information is available at www.MichiganShakespeareFestival.com