Last updated Hudson Valley Shakespeare's theater tent
Hudson Valley Shakespeare (HVS) is a non-profit professional theater company based in Garrison, New York. The festival runs a roughly fourteen-week[1] 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. The company was known by the name "Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival" until 2024, when they began constructing their first-ever permanent home, and removed the word "Festival" from their name.
HVS also performs William Shakespeare's works and live theater throughout the tri-state area by touring. The company has limited runs of its most popular programs through its "HVS On The Road" series and brings student-oriented productions and education programs to about 50,000 elementary, middle, and high school students and teachers each year. HVS's arts education programs also include training for early-career theater artists by way of its Conservatory Company, professional development for educators, and free audience engagement offerings before and after performances throughout the summer.
History
HVS was founded by Melissa Stern and Terry O’Brien in September 1987 with an outdoor production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Manitoga, home of industrial designer Russel Wright, in Garrison, New York. The following year, Boscobel House and Gardens agreed to host HVS's mainstage season on the estate's expansive grounds, and that summer's production of Shakespeare's As You Like It was performed under a tent overlooking the Hudson River.
In 1994, the festival added a second show to its season and began hands-on, performance-driven education programs within area schools. In 2004, HVS began to tour productions to middle and high schools. In 2006, HVS acquired a custom-designed, open-air theater tent with seating for 540.
Hudson Valley Shakespeare was the subject of a one-hour documentary and two hour film of a performance of Twelfth Night which premiered on the PBS affiliate WNET on September 18, 2008. The program also aired on WLIW.[2][3]
More than 500,000 patrons have been served since HVS's first season in 1987. Terry O’Brien led the theater for 27 years, directing more than 30 productions, and stepped down as Artistic Director in December 2013. After a search for his successor, HVS's Board of Directors appointed Davis McCallum as Artistic Director in May 2014.
In 2016, HVS produced a community-driven production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town with a cast of about 40 citizen actors from the Hudson Valley region, directed by John Christian Plummer.
In 2021, HVS mounted the 2013 James Ijames play The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington.[4]
Location
HVS known for its scenic backdrop, overlooking the Hudson River, Storm King Mountain, and Breakneck Ridge.[5][6] According to Ben Brantley of The New York Times, "nature and Shakespeare are the stars" in this festival.[7]
From 1988 to 2021, excluding 2020 due to COVID, plays were performed in an open-air theater tent on the grounds of Boscobel Mansion. The stage, a rough patch of dirt that was on the same level as the first few rows of the audience, receding into lawns with a view of the Hudson River and West Point in the distance.[8][5] The company used the vast open space behind the stage as scenery for the plays.[6]
In August 2020, the company received a gift of a land parcel of 50 acres in Garrison and moved to that location for the 2022 season. In September 2024, HVSF broke ground on the Samuel H. Scripps Theater Center, a summer performance space with open sides that is scheduled to be completed by June 2026.[9]
Recognition
HVS was named among The New York Times' "50 Essential Summer Festivals" in 2016, was Hudson Valley Magazine's 2016 Editors’ Pick for Best Summer Theater, and was nominated for a Drama League Award for its 2015 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
It produces classic and new works with an economy of style, focusing on script, actors and audience with the Hudson River and Hudson Highlands as its set and setting.[10]The Wall Street Journal hails it as, "The most purely enjoyable summer Shakespeare festival in America," while The New York Times comments, "If anyone wonders about the future of live theater or asks where the audience is, the answer is 'Under that tent."[11]
It is listed as a "Major Festival" in the book Shakespeare Festivals Around the World by Marcus D. Gregio (Editor), 2004.
Education programs
In addition to its summer productions, HVS sponsors year-round education programs to about 50,000 students and teachers annually. These programs include in-school residencies and theater arts workshops for students, resource workshops for educators, a fall touring production for students in grades K-5, a spring touring production for students in grades 6-12, its annual Shakespeare Summer Camp for ages 8–16, and the Teachers' Shakespeare Institute. HVS's Conservatory Company, a performance based training program for 6 to 8 early career actors, offers on- and off-stage opportunities to work alongside HVS's acting company.
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