The Hudson Classical Theater Company, formerly known as Hudson Warehouse is known for presenting outdoor theatre, including Shakespeare. [1] [2] They perform three outdoor plays in the summer months in Riverside Park and fall/winter productions at Goddard Riverside's Bernie Wohl Center. Known as "The Other Shakespeare in the Park," [3] the company was founded in 2004 by Nicholas Martin-Smith, who serves as its artistic director. [4] In 2021 it was renamed as Hudson Classical Theater Company.
Summer performances take place at the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument in Riverside Park, at West 89th Street and Riverside Drive in New York City, along the Hudson River. [5] Hudson Warehouse is the resident theater company of Goddard Riverside Bernie Wohl Center and their fall/winter season consists of two productions.
Summer productions of 2024 are:
Hudson Warehouse's first season in 2004 consisted of a single modest production of The Tempest , performed over two weeks that July. The season has since extended to the whole summer, with three productions that each have a month-long run. [6] Past productions include Hamlet , Midsummer Night's Dream , The Taming of the Shrew , Pericles, Prince of Tyre , MacBeth , Romeo and Juliet , Merry Wives of Windsor , Cyrano and Trojan Women , adapted from the tragedy by Euripides. Hudson Warehouse productions in 2012 were The Comedy of Errors , The Rover , and Richard III . The company also holds readings and workshops throughout the year, including its 'Shakespeare in the Bar' series and the 'Writers-a-Go-Go' (WAGG) contemporary play reading series. [7] [8] [2]
In May 2013 Hudson Warehouse was honored as the recipient of Goddard Riverside's 'Good Neighbor Award' "In Recognition of Your Extraordinary Deeds in Helping Build a Better Community." [9] In the autumn of that year Hudson Warehouse became the Resident Theater Company at Goddard Riverside's Bernie Wohl Arts Center at 647 Columbus Avenue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. In November 2013 they continued their 11th season with a remounting of their June 2013 production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) , by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield, at the Bernie Wohl Center Directed by Susane Lee. The cast included Ian Harkins, Rafe Terrizzi and Nicholas Martin-Smith. This was followed by a production of Julius Caesar in March 2014.
The company's 'Writers A Go-Go' was created by executive director Susane Lee in 2012 to promote the work of contemporary playwrights. It features readings of plays by new and emerging writers in an informal barroom setting. It also co-produces with Goddard Riverside's Community Arts Programs both the Valentines Day Monologue Festival:'The Many Faces of Love,' as well as the annual Veteran's Day commemoration. The series is run by Hudson Warehouse artist in residence Roger Dale Stude.
Since 2010 Hudson Warehouse has also brought its work into the barroom in its Shakespeare in the Bar series, where the acting troupe sit among the bar patrons as if customers themselves as they perform the readings. Regarding the series, John Marshall of the Huffington Post has written, "A natural outgrowth of the Warehouse's critically acclaimed summer productions at the Sailors and Soldiers' Monument, Shakespeare in the Bar seeks to create the same intimate, accessible atmosphere, not just for Shakespeare, but for other classics as well." [10] The 2012/2013 'Shakespeare in the Bar' season included Richard II , Lysistrata by Aristophanes, Othello , The Winter's Tale and Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen. Earlier seasons included productions of The Taming of the Shrew , The Seagull by Anton Chekhov to mark Chekhov's 151st birthday, Henry V , The Merry Wives of Windsor , Richard II , Macbeth , and Tartuffe by Molière.
The Atlantic Theatre Festival (ATF) was a professional theatre company located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada. The Theatre Festival presented a "broad range of critically acclaimed theatre classics" during the summer in Wolfville's Festival Theatre, the former town hockey arena that was converted into a 504 seat, thrust stage theatre and professional production facility by the Atlantic Theatre Festival Society.
Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (CSC) was formed in 1996 by artistic director Steven Maler and associate Joan Moynagh to bring free, outdoor Shakespeare to the people of the city of Boston. Since 1996, CSC has produced one full Shakespeare production each summer starting with A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1996 at Copley Square. All subsequent productions have taken place in Boston Common, first at the Parkman Bandstand and now at the Parade Ground. In addition to the annual Boston Common productions, CSC presents several free play-reading events during the year: Theatre in the Rough, Shakespeare and Law, as well as Shakespeare and Leadership. CSC has actor-training programs for both high school students and pre-professional actors with its Summer Academy. Throughout the year, CSC partners with area high schools and Boys & Girls Clubs to provide in and after-school theater activities to inner-city youth. In 2013, CSC became the theatre in residence at Babson College.
Shakespeare Santa Cruz was an annual professional theatre festival in Santa Cruz, California, which ran from 1981 to 2013. After losing the financial support of the University of California, Santa Cruz, the company was relaunched through crowdfunding as Santa Cruz Shakespeare.
Shakespeare in the Park is a theatrical program that stages productions of Shakespearean plays at the Delacorte Theater, an open-air theater in New York City's Central Park. The theater and the productions are managed by The Public Theater and tickets are distributed free of charge on the day of the performance. Originally branded as the New York Shakespeare Festival (NYSF) under the direction of Joseph Papp, the institution was renamed in 2002 as part of a larger reorganization by the Public Theater.
The Colorado Shakespeare Festival is a professional acting company in association with the University of Colorado at Boulder. It was established in 1958, making it one of the oldest such festivals in the United States, and has roots going back to the early 1900s.
The Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival at the University of Notre Dame is an annual festival that seeks to combine professional productions of the works of William Shakespeare with community engagement and educational programs. The Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival is a part of the University of Notre Dame's Shakespeare initiative entitled "Shakespeare at Notre Dame", a program that recognizes the centrality of the study of Shakespeare in humanistic pedagogy at the University. Its fifteenth season was known as the 15/150, also celebrating the 450th birthday of William Shakespeare, and the 150th anniversary of the first full production of Shakespeare at the university in 1864. The anniversary season consisted of the Professional Company production of Henry IV, the Young Company performance of The Merry Wives of Windsor, and the annual ShakeScenes shows featuring actors of all ages from South Bend and the surrounding community.
The Riverside Shakespeare Company of New York City was founded in 1977 as a professional (AEA) theatre company on the Upper West Side of New York City, by W. Stuart McDowell and Gloria Skurski. Focusing on Shakespeare plays and other classical repertoire, it operated until 1997.
The Aquila Theatre was founded in London in 1991 by Peter Meineck and has been based in New York City since 1999. Aquila's mission is to bring the greatest theatrical works to the greatest number and present a regular season of plays in New York and at international festivals. Education programming is an important component of Aquila's mission. The Shakespeare Leaders is a bold and innovative program in Harlem, through which students learn and perform Shakespeare. Aquila provides access for people in under-served urban and rural communities, touring around seventy American towns and cities a year. Aquila is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organisation.
First Folio Theatre was a not-for-profit theater company affiliated with the Actors' Equity Association. Founded in 1996, First Folio, originally named First Folio Shakespeare Festival, was located on the grounds of the Mayslake Peabody Estate in Oak Brook, Illinois, United States. First Folio utilized the "Folio Method" as developed by Patrick Tucker, who first introduced his approach to American actors, directors and teachers in a series of workshops sponsored by the Riverside Shakespeare Company of New York City at The Shakespeare Center beginning in 1982, which led to an awakened interest in the First Folio.
The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival (HVSF) is a non-profit professional theater company based in Garrison, New York. The festival runs a roughly fourteen-week repertory season each year, operating under a large open-air theater tent. Its productions attract a total audience of about 50,000 from the Hudson Valley, New York City, and 40 US states.
Shakespeare in Delaware Park is one of the largest free outdoor Shakespeare festivals in the country which takes place during summer months in Delaware Park located in the city of Buffalo, New York. The festival attracts about 40,000 audience members each year.
The Nashville Shakespeare Festival is a Shakespeare festival in Nashville, Tennessee.
Shakespeare in the Park is a term for outdoor festivals featuring productions of William Shakespeare's plays. The term originated with the New York Shakespeare Festival in New York City's Central Park, originally created by Joseph Papp. This concept has been adapted by many theatre companies, and over time, this name has expanded to encompass outdoor theatre productions of the playwright's works performed all over the world.
Georgia Shakespeare was a professional, not-for-profit theatre company located in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States on the campus of Oglethorpe University from 1985-2014. Georgia Shakespeare produced three plays annually, primarily between June and November. Twelve educational programs were developed in the history of Georgia Shakespeare. These programs included "The High School Tour", a "High School Acting Competition", "Camp Shakespeare", a "High School Conservatory", a "No Fear Shakespeare" training program for educators, after school residencies, school tours, student matinees, classes for professionals, and in-school workshops. At its peak, it welcomed 60,000 patrons annually to its performances.
Simon Scardifield is a British actor and playwright who trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and with Philippe Gaulier, after reading Modern Languages at St John's College, Cambridge.
Oak Park Festival Theatre (OPFT) is a professional theatre company in Oak Park, Illinois, under contract with Actors' Equity Association. The company was founded in 1975 by Marion Kaczmar, an Oak Park resident and arts patron, and performed Renaissance works, almost exclusively by William Shakespeare, until 2004, when it broadened its scope to classics of other eras. Its outdoor venue has been Austin Gardens, a wooded park near downtown Oak Park within walking distance from restaurants, Frank Lloyd Wright landmarks, and Metra and CTA trains. To attract a greater following, Renaissance, classical, and modern American works were added to the offerings, some being produced indoors in historic Farson-Mills Home and, in the 2010-11 season, in the studio space in the Madison Street Theatre.
Lucy Bailey is a British theatre director, known for productions such as Baby Doll at Britain's National Theatre and a notorious Titus Andronicus, described by a critic as "all eye-catchingly visceral but there’s little depth". Bailey founded the Gogmagogs theatre-music group (1995–2006) and was Artistic Director and joint founder of the Print Room theatre in West London (2010-2012). She has worked extensively with Bunny Christie and other leading stage designers, including her husband William Dudley.
Santa Cruz Shakespeare is an annual professional theatre festival in Santa Cruz, California, founded in 2014. Its predecessor, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, lost the financial support of its host and sponsor, the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2013. Members of the original company and board immediately began fundraising and raised enough money to relaunch the festival as an independent entity.
The Hudson Shakespeare Company is a regional Shakespeare touring festival based in Jersey City in Hudson County, New Jersey, that produces an annual summer Shakespeare in the Park festival and often features lesser done Shakespeare works such as The Two Noble Kinsmen and Timon of Athens. The company also produces several modern-day productions in non theatrical venues such as their courtroom shows of Inherit the Wind and A Few Good Men in the Hoboken Municipal Courtroom. It produce a yearly educational program that ranges from student workshops to full length Shakespeare productions.
Cincinnati Shakespeare Company is a professional ensemble theater located in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, focusing on Shakespearean and other classical works.