Leadership
Dr. Sidney Berger (1975-2006)
Founding Artistic Director
Steven W. Wallace (2007-2013)
Executive Director
Jim Johnson (2014–2016)
Executive Director
Dr. Robert Shimko (2016-2023)
Executive Director & Literary Manager
| Houston Shakespeare Festival | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Repertory theatre |
| Begins | April |
| Ends | August |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Location(s) | Houston, Texas, USA |
| Years active | 48 |
| Inaugurated | 1975 |
| Attendance | over 1 million |
| Website | www |
The Houston Shakespeare Festival (HSF) is a regional repertory theatre in Houston, Texas, United States. Each summer, the Houston Shakespeare Festival produces a season of two Shakespeare plays in repertory. Since its inception in 1975, HSF has entertained over a million theatergoers with free performances in Hermann Park's Miller Outdoor Theatre. The Houston Shakespeare Festival has since become one of the major events on Houston's summer entertainment calendar. HSF is a recognized Actors' Equity Association theatre. [1]
In the summer of 1975, Dr. Sidney Berger, the then Director of the University of Houston's School of Theatre and Dance, met with the college's administrators and the Miller Outdoor Theatre Advisory Council to enlist support for a two-production season of Shakespeare's works to be played in repertory on Miller Theatre's bill.
The first year was met with acclaim, with audience size exceeding projections and local citizens writing letter of support to the University of Houston. As years have passed, HSF's budget has increased. The University of Houston provides access to its scenery workshops, office rooms, a rehearsal area and more. In 1989, The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts gifted an endowment for HSF to enter a seasonal agreement with Actors' Equity Association.
Berger, who had started work in Houston in 1969, retired in 2007. The last play he directed at the Festival was Much Ado About Nothing , in 2010. [2]
A repertory theatre, also called repertory, rep, true rep or stock, which are also called producing theatres, is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation.
The Stratford Festival is a theatre festival which runs from April to October in the city of Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Founded by local journalist Tom Patterson in 1952, the festival was formerly known as the Stratford Shakespearean Festival, the Shakespeare Festival and the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. The festival was one of the first arts festivals in Canada and continues to be one of its most prominent. It is recognized worldwide for its productions of Shakespearean plays.
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William Hardy was an American actor and theatre director with a lifelong career on both the stage and screen.
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