The Idaho Shakespeare Festival is a regional repertory theatre located in

Boise, Idaho Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown are ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. 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, originally known as the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival, is a professional classic theater company in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1962, Great Lakes is the second-largest Regional theater in the United States, ...

in Cleveland, Ohio, as well as the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival.

Overview

The Idaho Shakespeare Festival is a regional repertory theatre located in

, United States. Each year the festival performs five plays, which consist of a combination of plays by

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

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’s outdoor amphitheater seats 770/ 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. In addition to the plays, a free outdoor "Green Show" precedes the evening plays from June through October often set to

Elizabethan music During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603), English art and high culture reached a pinnacle known as the height of the English Renaissance. Elizabethan music experienced a shift in popularity from sacred to secular music and the rise of ...

and themes. The Greenshow 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 2004 book ''Shakespeare Festivals Around the World''

History

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 and Recreation The Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation (IDPR) is a state-level government agency of Idaho that manages state parks throughout Idaho as well as the registration programs for boats, snowmobiles and other off-highway vehicles. History Idaho' ...

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 and Lands Idaho ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Monta ...

and the Idaho Department of Parks and 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

Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the 2020 season which was set to include ''Much Ado About Nothing, Ain't Misbehavin', Henry V, Emma,'' and ''Sleuth'' has been cancelled. 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.

References