BANGOR – Penobscot Theatre has received a gift of $2,500 from Bangor Savings Bank to benefit its matching grant program to support educational outreach into Maine schools. The matching grant program will allow schools that are not able to pay the full fee for workshops to apply for up to 50 percent of the fee to be paid from the fund.

“We are delighted to have the partnership of Bangor Savings Bank in bringing Shakespeare’s work to Maine schoolchildren,” said Mark Torres, producing artistic director of Penobscot Theatre.

Between Feb. 26 and June 1, 24 Maine schools will be visited by Shakespeare in the Schools workshops.

Penobscot Theatre’s educational outreach program, established in 1997, is now the largest of its kind of any cultural arts organization in Maine.

“In the spring of this year, 3,099 Maine schoolchildren will be given the opportunity to speak Shakespeare’s words, play out his scenes and enact his wonderful characters,” said Torres.

Many schools said that without matching support, they would not be able to bring the theater’s cultural arts program to their students.

Workshop fees range from $220 for one 80-minute workshop, $440 for a day of workshops, and $1,800 for a one-week residency. Matching funds may cover up to one-half of the workshop fees. Without those funds, 836 students at 10 schools would have had to forgo the workshops.

John T. Cyr & Sons and Sappi Fine Paper also are participants in the theater’s matching fund program.