In 1991 the Shakespeare Theatre Company , under Artistic Director Michael Kahn, initiated its annual Free For All performances in Washington, D.C.'s Rock Creek Park. Each year the Company performed a show free to the public, usually from a previous season. In 2009 the Free For All was moved indoors to Sidney Harman Hall, one of two theatres operated by STC in downtown D.C. This more accessible location allowed STC to perform rain or shine, offer matinees, maintain the artistic excellence of the production and increase the overall number of Free For All performances. Plans for future productions have been put on hold since the COVID pandemic began in 2020.
The first Free For All production in 1991 was The Merry Wives of Windsor, starring Paul Winfield as Falstaff. More recent shows have included Much Ado about Nothing, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Pericles. A Midsummer Night's Dream, the Free For All production for 2005, traveled to the Aspen Institute's Ideas Festival in Colorado that same summer.
The STC received The Washington Post Award for Distinguished Community Service in 1992 and the 1997 Public Humanities Award from the Humanities Council of Washington D.C. for the Free For All.
Bard on the Beach is Western Canada's largest professional Shakespeare festival. The theatre festival runs annually from early June through September in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The festival is produced by Bard on the Beach Theatre Society whose mandate is to provide Vancouver residents and tourists with affordable, accessible Shakespearean productions of the finest quality. In addition to the annual summer festival, the Society runs a number of year-round theatre education and training initiatives for both the artistic community and the general community at large. Bard on the Beach celebrated its 30th anniversary season in 2019.
Brownsea Open Air Theatre is an open-air Shakespearean theatre company based in Poole, Dorset that have performed large theatrical productions since 1964. Annually, performing a play from the extensive works of William Shakespeare for three weeks in July and August, the production is set on the National Trust's Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour with boats transporting patrons to the island from Poole Quay.
The Great River Shakespeare Festival (GRSF) is a professional equity theatre company in Winona, Minnesota, a Mississippi River town in the southeastern part of the state. Starting in 2004, it has produced several simultaneous performances each summer, held at the Winona State University DuFresne Performing Arts Center, with annual audiences of over 10,000. Its 2023 season runs from June 20 to July 30.
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 by the Sea was a summer outdoor event held at Balmoral Beach in Sydney's northern suburbs, using a band rotunda as a backdrop, that ran in summer for twenty-five seasons, from 1987 to 2011.
The Shakespeare Theatre Company is a regional theatre company located in Washington, D.C. The theatre company focuses primarily on plays from the Shakespeare canon, but its seasons include works by other classic playwrights such as Euripides, Ibsen, Wilde, Shaw, Schiller, Coward and Tennessee Williams. The company manages and performs in two spaces: The Michael R. Klein Theatre and Sidney Harman Hall. In cooperation with George Washington University, they run the STC Academy.
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 Complete Works was a festival set up by the Royal Shakespeare Company, running between April 2006 and March 2007 at Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The festival aimed to perform all of Shakespeare's works, including his sonnets, poems and all 37 plays. The RSC claims that this was their largest project in its history.
Wynn Harmon, is an American stage and television actor.
The Baltimore Shakespeare Festival was a small nonprofit theatre that produced plays by or about Shakespeare in Baltimore, Maryland. It also had an educational program that introduced school children to Shakespeare. The company existed, in different forms, from 1994 to 2010.
The Illinois Shakespeare Festival (ISF) is held in Bloomington, Illinois, United States at Ewing Theatre and in Normal, Illinois, United States at the Center for Performing Arts Theatre at Illinois State University. The Festival began in 1978 and celebrated its 45th season in 2023. The Festival has traditionally presented three plays. Although all three may be Shakespeare plays, the Festival has also included different types of theater, such as Restoration comedy, Commedia dell'arte, or works by contemporary playwrights.
The Pendley Open Air Shakespeare Festival is, as the name implies, an annual festival dedicated to the plays of William Shakespeare. It takes place at the beginning of August at Pendley Manor, a hotel in Tring, Hertfordshire.
The Shakespeare Theatre Company is a regional theatre company in Washington, D.C., United States. The theatre company focuses primarily on plays from the Shakespeare canon, but its seasons include works by other classic playwrights such as Euripides, Henrik Ibsen and Oscar Wilde.
The Shakespeare by the Sea Festival is an annual event that runs throughout the months of July and August in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada that presents outdoor productions of the plays of William Shakespeare, as well as pieces related to the province and culture.
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.
The Nashville Shakespeare Festival is a Shakespeare festival in Nashville, Tennessee.
Terrence O’Brien is an American theatre director. O'Brien is a graduate of University of Notre Dame, and received advanced training in acting and directing at American Conservatory Theater, A.C.T. in San Francisco. He is the Founding Artistic Director of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, which began in 1987 with a modest outdoor production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, produced in cooperation with the 29th Street Project. In 1988, the Festival moved to Boscobel, a Hudson River museum estate in Garrison, New York. Once in its new home and under a big tent, the festival grew dramatically, from its first season audience of 230 to 37,000 in 2010. Dedicated to producing the plays of Shakespeare with an economy of style that focuses its energy and resources on script, actors, and audience, the festival draws theater-goers from the tri-state area and beyond.
Shakespeare by the Sea is a nonprofit organization that was launched in 1998 by Producing Artistic Director Lisa Coffi. Shakespeare by the Sea offers a free repertory season that runs for ten weeks throughout Los Angeles and Orange County. All performances are admission free. Each summer, the company tours about 20 cities for as many as 40 performances.
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.
The Bonn University Shakespeare Company e.V. (BUSC) is an independent theatre company based at the University of Bonn, Germany. It was founded by students of the Department of English, American, and Celtic Studies.
