Idaho Shakespeare Festival
Encyclopedia
The Idaho Shakespeare Festival is a regional repertory theatre
located in Boise, Idaho
, United States
. Its performances are presented in the summer months, June to September. It has an arrangement to share its repertory cast with the Great Lakes Theater Festival
in Cleveland, Ohio, as well as the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival.
located in Boise, Idaho
, United States
. The Idaho Shakespeare Festival provides quality educational theater for the state of Idaho and its neighboring regions. Its mission is "to produce great theater, entertain, and educate." Each year the festival performs five plays, which consist of a combination of plays by William Shakespeare
as well as a selection of others, both contemporary and classical.
The Festival serves more than 105,000 individuals annually, providing professional performance, arts education, and outreach programs to diverse constituencies in the Idaho area. The Festival, celebrating its 33rd year in 2009, enjoys strong attendance, critical acclaim, and loyal community support. The Festival’s outdoor amphitheater seats 770, and is surrounded by a beautiful habitat reserve home to several plant and animal species such as water birds, deer, hereon, ducks, geese and an occasional fox. In order to maintain this natural habitat, the Festival operates under an agreement with the Idaho Foundation for Parks and Lands and the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation.
A typical season at the outdoor amphitheatre consists of five to six mainstage productions from June through September for audiences exceeding 53,000 in the 2008 season, as well as several performances by the Festival's drama camps and apprentice program.
Before and after performances audience members can enjoy picnicking on the Boise River and gourmet meals from the Café Shakespeare, located in the William Shakespeare Park. The Café serves an assortment of beverages, wines and tablerock beers as well as gourmet deli items, picnic dinners and desserts.
In addition to the plays, a free outdoor "Green Show" precedes the evening plays from June through October often set to Elizabethan music and themes. The Greenhow is essentially a showcase or mini play, based loosely on the evening’s performances.
The festival also brings theater-arts programming to schools in 39 of Idaho's 44 counties. The school tours, Idaho Theater for Youth and Shakespearience, annually reach more than 52,000 K–12 schoolchildren and teachers, including those in remote and rural communities. The drama school provides classes for students of all ages, and apprenticeships and residencies are offered for extended theatrical training. Summer camps offer educational experiences for children aged 3–18. These educational initiatives, in conjunction with the Festival's mainstage productions, allow the festival to serve a variety of audiences.
Idaho Shakespeare Festival is listed as a Major Festival in the book Shakespeare Festivals Around the World by Marcus D. Gregio (Editor
), 2004.
One of the original founders, Dan Peterson, died in 2008.
, Anton Chekhov
's The Seagull
, Charles Dickens
's The Mystery of Edwin Drood
, and A Tuna Christmas
.
In 2005, they obtained a unique grant from the Idaho commission of the arts to tour a production of Dreams of a Bird Woman throughout Idaho.
Shakespeare festivals
Repertory
Repertory or rep, also called stock in the United States, is a term used in Western theatre and opera.A repertory theatre can be a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation...
located in Boise, Idaho
Boise, Idaho
Boise is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho, as well as the county seat of Ada County. Located on the Boise River, it anchors the Boise City-Nampa metropolitan area and is the largest city between Salt Lake City, Utah and Portland, Oregon.As of the 2010 Census Bureau,...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Its performances are presented in the summer months, June to September. It has an arrangement to share its repertory cast with the Great Lakes Theater Festival
Great Lakes Theater Festival
Great Lakes Theater Festival is Cleveland, Ohio's professional classic theater company. Founded in 1962, the Festival is the second-largest regional theater in Northeast Ohio. It specializes in large-cast classic plays with a strong foundation in the works of Shakespeare and features an...
in Cleveland, Ohio, as well as the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival.
Overview
The Idaho Shakespeare Festival is a regional repertory theatreRepertory
Repertory or rep, also called stock in the United States, is a term used in Western theatre and opera.A repertory theatre can be a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation...
located in Boise, Idaho
Boise, Idaho
Boise is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho, as well as the county seat of Ada County. Located on the Boise River, it anchors the Boise City-Nampa metropolitan area and is the largest city between Salt Lake City, Utah and Portland, Oregon.As of the 2010 Census Bureau,...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The Idaho Shakespeare Festival provides quality educational theater for the state of Idaho and its neighboring regions. Its mission is "to produce great theater, entertain, and educate." Each year the festival performs five plays, which consist of a combination of plays by William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
as well as a selection of others, both contemporary and classical.
The Festival serves more than 105,000 individuals annually, providing professional performance, arts education, and outreach programs to diverse constituencies in the Idaho area. The Festival, celebrating its 33rd year in 2009, enjoys strong attendance, critical acclaim, and loyal community support. The Festival’s outdoor amphitheater seats 770, and is surrounded by a beautiful habitat reserve home to several plant and animal species such as water birds, deer, hereon, ducks, geese and an occasional fox. In order to maintain this natural habitat, the Festival operates under an agreement with the Idaho Foundation for Parks and Lands and the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation.
A typical season at the outdoor amphitheatre consists of five to six mainstage productions from June through September for audiences exceeding 53,000 in the 2008 season, as well as several performances by the Festival's drama camps and apprentice program.
Before and after performances audience members can enjoy picnicking on the Boise River and gourmet meals from the Café Shakespeare, located in the William Shakespeare Park. The Café serves an assortment of beverages, wines and tablerock beers as well as gourmet deli items, picnic dinners and desserts.
In addition to the plays, a free outdoor "Green Show" precedes the evening plays from June through October often set to Elizabethan music and themes. The Greenhow is essentially a showcase or mini play, based loosely on the evening’s performances.
The festival also brings theater-arts programming to schools in 39 of Idaho's 44 counties. The school tours, Idaho Theater for Youth and Shakespearience, annually reach more than 52,000 K–12 schoolchildren and teachers, including those in remote and rural communities. The drama school provides classes for students of all ages, and apprenticeships and residencies are offered for extended theatrical training. Summer camps offer educational experiences for children aged 3–18. These educational initiatives, in conjunction with the Festival's mainstage productions, allow the festival to serve a variety of audiences.
Idaho Shakespeare Festival is listed as a Major Festival in the book Shakespeare Festivals Around the World by Marcus D. Gregio (Editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
), 2004.
History
From its inception in 1976, the Idaho Shakespeare Festival has provided the Boise, Idaho area with a unique art and theater experience.One of the original founders, Dan Peterson, died in 2008.
Location
The Idaho Shakespeare Festival Amphitheater and Habitat Reserve is located in a small natural amphitheater along the Boise River, adjacent to the Idaho Department of Parks & Recreation offices. Performances are in a state-of-the-art 770 seat facility that was built specifically to feature the human voice is nestled in a unique habitat that is home to an astonishing variety of plant and animal species. The Festival operates under an agreement with the Idaho Foundation for Parks & Lands, and the Idaho Department of Parks & Recreation.Organization
The festival is governed by a volunteer 44-member board of trustees; managed by 12 permanent staff members; serves as an artistic home for 180-plus artists, technicians, and service personnel; and hosts hundreds of community volunteers each year.Productions
The 2009 season is scheduled to feature Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and The Comedy of ErrorsThe Comedy of Errors
The Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare's earliest plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. The Comedy of Errors is one of only two of Shakespeare's...
, Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
's The Seagull
The Seagull
The Seagull is the first of what are generally considered to be the four major plays by the Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov. The Seagull was written in 1895 and first produced in 1896...
, Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
's The Mystery of Edwin Drood
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
The Mystery of Edwin Drood is the final novel by Charles Dickens. The novel was left unfinished at the time of Dickens' death, and his intended ending for it remains unknown. Though the novel is named after the character Edwin Drood, the story focuses on Drood's uncle, choirmaster John Jasper, who...
, and A Tuna Christmas
A Tuna Christmas
A Tuna Christmas is the second in a series of comedic plays , each set the fictional town of Tuna, Texas, the "third-smallest" town in the state. The trilogy was written by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears, and Ed Howard...
.
In 2005, they obtained a unique grant from the Idaho commission of the arts to tour a production of Dreams of a Bird Woman throughout Idaho.
See also
- William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
- Boise, IdahoBoise, IdahoBoise is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho, as well as the county seat of Ada County. Located on the Boise River, it anchors the Boise City-Nampa metropolitan area and is the largest city between Salt Lake City, Utah and Portland, Oregon.As of the 2010 Census Bureau,...
Shakespeare festivals