Illinois Shakespeare Festival
| Illinois Shakespeare Festival | |
|---|---|
| Location(s) | Bloomington, Illinois |
| Artistic director | Kevin Rich |
| Foundation | 1978 |
| Date(s) | Annually in July and August |
| Website | |
The Illinois Shakespeare Festival (ISF) is held in Bloomington, Illinois, United States. It began in 1978 and it celebrated its 30th season in the summer of 2007. The Festival generally does 3 Bard pieces in revolving rep, though occasionally the third piece is either a Shakespeare contemporary or time period contemporary.
The Festival is produced by the School of Theatre and Dance and the College of Fine Arts at Illinois State University. Performances take place at the Theatre at Ewing, on a re-creation Globe Stage complete with open air amphitheater. The Festival markets itself as "theatre under the stars!" Before each nightly performance (except Mondays), the Festival presents a Green Show in the courtyard of Ewing Manor. This little comedy or demonstration is suitable for all audiences and free. It often offers an abbreviated version of the play to come. The Manor grounds serve as picnicking spots for the audience. The Festival runs from the later part of June through the middle of August. In 2008, The Festival began a fourth show aimed towards younger audiences which is performed on Wednesday and Saturday mornings at 10am.
Production history
Unless otherwise noted, the plays are written by William Shakespeare.[1]
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
- Much Ado About Nothing
- Measure for Measure
- The Falcon's Pitch, an adaptation by Jeffrey Sweet of Shakespeare's Henry VI plays
1999
2000
- The Taming of the Shrew
- King John
- The Three Musketeers adapted by Eberle Thomas and Barbara Redmond
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
- The Taming of the Shrew
- Titus Andronicus
- The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield
- A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare Alive!)
2009
- A Midsummer Night's Dream
- Richard III
- Scapin adapted by Bill Irwin and Mark O’Donnell
- The Tempest (Shakespeare Alive!)
2010
- The Tempest
- The Three Musketeers adapted by Robert Kauzlaric
- The Merry Wives of Windsor
- As You Like It (Shakespeare Alive!)
2011
- The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield
- The Winter's Tale
- Romeo and Juliet
- Twelfth Night (TYA)
2012
2013
- The Comedy of Errors
- Macbeth
- Failure: A Love Story by Philip Dawkins
- The Magical Mind of Billy Shakespeare (TYA) by Kevin Rich
2014
2015
- Love's Labour's Lost
- Q Gents — an adaptation of The Two Gentlemen of Verona by The Q Brothers
- Richard II
- Love's Labor's Won by Scott Kaiser
Such publications as the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times have given the Festival positive reviews.
References
- ↑ "2013 ISF Annual Report" (PDF). Archived from the original on December 12, 2014. Retrieved 2 July 2016.