Shakespeare in the Park festivals
Shakespeare in the Park started as an idea to make theatre available to people of all walks of life, so that it would be as readily available as library books.
Many festivals incorporate workshops, food, and other additions to the performances making this type of theatre experience an interactive community event.
[2] The Montford Park Players, a community theater company, has been staging free Shakespeare productions in Asheville, North Carolina since 1973.
The productions were first staged at a municipal park on Montford Avenue and, in 1993, moved to its current location, the Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre.
The first production was in 1996 at Copley Square; a year later the program was moved to the Common, first at the Parkman Bandstand and more recently at the Parade Ground.
[6] The Foothills Theatre Company has been staging Shakespeare productions every summer since 2014 in Clement Park, located in Littleton, a suburb SW of Denver.
Besides Shakespeare standards such as Hamlet and A Midsummer Night's Dream, they often produce one to two lesser done productions a season such as The Two Noble Kinsmen, Cardenio and Henry VIII.
Based in Jersey City, NJ, they also tour as part of their summer season to other New Jersey locations such as Fort Lee, Hackensack, Kenilworth, Hoboken, West Milford and also to Stratford, CT. [7] The Heart of America Shakespeare Festival was founded by Tony winning Broadway producer Marilyn Strauss in 1993 at the urging of Joe Papp[8] with a production of The Tempest in Southmoreland Park.
The main productions offered are the annual summer series of plays presented free to the public at Central Park.
Noted for their educational programming and public outreach, the FST fulfills their mission of providing open and equal access to classical theater.
Classical Actors Ensemble has performed free outdoor Shakespeare in metro parks each summer since 2014 as well as touring educational productions into secondary schools each spring.
MSIP produces the largest and longest-running Shakespeare in the Park production each year, with free shows in more than 65 communities across Montana, Idaho, Washington, North Dakota, and Wyoming.
Founded in 1988, NSF has focused on making Shakespeare accessible to all communities through free and reduced-price tickets and rich educational offerings.
Shakespeare in Clark Park was formed in the fall of 2005 by Marla Burkholder, Maria Möller, Tom Reing and Whitney Estrin.
In their inaugural season, Shakespeare in Clark Park presented four performances of Twelfth Night, drawing an audience of over 2,000 people.
[21] Since the initial two-week run that attracted 33,000 audience members, the Festival has grown into a year-round institution producing over 250 public performances annually for nearly 100,000 patrons and students.
[24] In 1994, a theater company called the Wooden O started annual summer Shakespeare performances at the Luther Burbank Amphitheater on Mercer Island, Washington.
Among the shows they have produced are The Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night, Henry IV Part One, Julius Caesar, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Richard 2, The Taming of the Shrew, King Lear, Waiting For Godot, and Endgame.
[33] Shakespeare by the Lakes is a summer festival of free Shakespeare plays, produced by theatre company Lakespeare & Co. (established by Founder and Executive Producer Taimus Werner-Gibbings and collaborators Duncan Driver, Lexi Sekuless and Paul Leverenz), and attracting over 5,000 patrons to ACT public parks.
[34] The Annual Shakespeare Under the Stars in North Queensland first began in 1992, spearheaded by world renowned theatrical director Jean-Pierre Voos.
The large-scale, large-cast productions have taken place in a variety of settings including the Dell in the Wellington Botanic Gardens, Civic Square, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, onsite at Victoria University and at Gladstone Vineyard in the Wairarapa.
The Dream in High Park is the oldest annual outdoor theatre event in Canada, currently entering its 41st season in 2024.
The new company launched in 2012 focuses on creating unique contemporary adaptations of Shakespeare's work and providing opportunities for emerging artists.
Since 1993, the Shakespeare by the Sea Festival has been performing the works of the famous Bard all around the St. John's area – from the cliff-top meadows of Logy Bay to the historic World War II bunkers at Cape Spear – from the cobblestoned courtyard of the Murray Premises to the lush landscapes of Bowring Park.
Repercussion Theatre has been touring parks throughout Montreal for over 30 years, bringing the classics to people where they live, for free (with donations graciously accepted).
[41] In 1990, Margo MacDonald and Heather Jopling, rooted in the belief that Shakespeare should be seen and not read, recruited almost a dozen young performers and took to the streets.
They derived inspiration from the rogue Elizabethan players that once entertained audiences outdoors at the Globe theatre, named themselves A Company of Fools, and began performing for crowds on the streets of Ottawa.
The plays are staged in tents with a seating capacity of approximately 275 on the banks of the Saskatchewan River, and take place from early July to mid-August.
Performances at Bremen's Bürgerpark are a cultural attraction each year, and the festival also lets guests participate in The Dramatikerwerkstatt – a playwright workshop.
It is one of the largest auditoria in London and the oldest outdoor theatre in all of Britain hosting over 130,000 people annually in its sixteen-week season.
