Touchstone Theatre is debuting a new play festival and a diverse theatrical group kicks off its third year with its second full Shakespeare production.

Touchstone’s “24-Hour Play Festival” is Feb. 6 and Feb. 7 in the South Side Bethlehem theater.

Reclaimed Performing Arts Company opens its 2026 season with “Macbeth,” Feb. 6 and Feb. 7 in the Charles A. Brown Ice House, Bethlehem.

Now in its third year, Reclaimed Performing Arts Company, was founded by 2023 Cedar Crest College graduate Carter Reichard.

After presenting its first fully-produced production of “Hamlet” in March 2024, the troupe is tackling Shakespeare’s dark tragedy, “Macbeth,” that explores themes of power, ambition, guilt and fate.

Reichard is directing the play, assisted by Giovanni Marini.

“Macbeth” follows the titular Scottish general (Raven Whitefawn), whose ambition is fueled by a prophecy from three witches.

Spurred by Lady Macbeth (Alyssa Rismiller), Macbeth murders King Duncan (Anthony Cornatzer) and seizes the throne.

However, Macbeth’s guilt and paranoia leads to more bloodshed and tyrannical rule that ends in Macbeth’s downfall and civil war.

One of Shakespeare’s shortest and most powerful plays, “Macbeth” delves into the corrupting nature of ambition, the psychological effects of guilt, the conflict between fate and free will and the disruption of the natural order.

The cast includes Julisa Trinidad, Kristen Brown, Mia Zappacosta, Zachery Lentz, Emily M. Shaffer, Sam Philipps, Emily Badman, Nic Penn, Jaeden Reppert and Lars Philipps. Zappacosta is the understudy for Macbeth.

The technical staff includes Reese Blaszczyk as stage manager, Caleb Flannery as composer and sound design, Kelsey Snively as intimacy coordinator, Owen Dorlac as fight choreographer, Sofia Barbour as dramaturg and Alyssa Rismiller, Casmeron Kunsman and Sam Philipps as the design team.

“Macbeth,” 7 p.m. Feb. 6, 7, Reclaimed Performing Arts Company, Charles Brown Ice House, 56 River St., Bethlehem. https://www.reclaimedpac.org/

Participate with Touchstone Theatre ensemble members and community artists for a collaborative, creative, chaotic marathon as participants work together to create five original performances in the “24-Hour Play Festival,” Feb. 6, 7.

When you register, you will be asked to select which of the four types of participants you would like to be: playwright, director, performer or technician. The registration for this event is on a “first-come, first-served” basis, and is open to all ages.

Playwrights will be randomly given a genre, a prop and a line they must include, as well as all of their performers. They will then have from 7 p.m. Feb. 6 to 7 a.m. Feb. 7 to write a 10-minute play.

Directors, performers and technicians will then have from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Feb. 7 to produce the plays and get them ready to perform at 8 p.m. Feb. 7 on Touchstone’s stage.

Registration in advance is required. There is a $10 fee, which will fund a pizza party for participants.

“24-hour Play Festival,” 8 p.m. Feb. 7, Touchstone Theatre, 321 E. Fourth St., Bethlehem. 610-867-1689; http://www.touchstone.org/

“Curtain Rises” is a column about the theater, stage shows, the actors in them and the directors and artists who make them happen. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com