Georgia Shakespeare

About Us

Mission: Georgia Shakespeare creates thoughtful, bold and passionate interpretations of a diverse body of work rooted in Shakespeare and branching out to embrace the best writers and ideas of all eras. On the stage and through educational programming, we strive to entertain, to ignite the imagination and to creatively explore the journey of the human spirit.

Vision: To make Georgia Shakespeare a national model for establishing a welcoming creative home where artists and audiences unite in a shared discovery of the power of adventurous classic theatre.

History

Georgia Shakespeare was co-founded in 1985 by Kirby McLain (Lane) Anderson, Richard Garner and Robert Watson. After a year of planning, fundraising and researching other Shakespeare companies around the country, Georgia Shakespeare (then called Georgia Shakespeare Festival) opened its first season on July 10, 1986, and featured The Taming of the Shrew and King Lear in rotating repertory. Over 6,000 people attended the twenty-five performances that season, held in a 60’ X 90’ white tent located on the Oglethorpe University front athletic field.

Three underlying principles were established in that first season that have shaped Georgia Shakespeare’s identity over the years. Georgia Shakespeare committed to hiring a professional company of artists who were supported by student interns, the shows were presented in rotating repertory and a commitment was made to hire and nurture local artists.

Three different field locations on the Oglethorpe campus hosted three different versions of the tent theatre in the first eleven years. The rectangular 60’ X 90” tent in the inaugural season had a seating capacity of 300 and was replaced the second season with a 90’ diameter circular tent seating 350. Four years later a 110” diameter circular tent, seating 400, became the home until 1996. Planning began in 1995 to work with Oglethorpe Universityto build a permanent performance home for Georgia Shakespeare and to serve as the OU performing arts center. In the summer of 1997, the $5.7 million John A. and Miriam H.Conant Performing Center opened with Georgia Shakespeare’s production of The Tempest. The 509-seat modified thrust stage is Georgia Shakespeare's official home.

Over the years, more than 12 different educational programs were developed serving an audience from elementary aged students to adults. Touring productions, Camp Shakespeare, High School Conservatory, No Fear Shakespeare Teacher Development, after school residencies, in-school workshops, student matinees and classes for professionals and the public combine to make up an active education department. Georgia Shakespeare received the 2002 ABBY Award for Outstanding Arts Education.

In 2001, Georgia Shakespeare became only the second theater in Georgia to be a member of the League of Resident Theaters (LORT). Georgia Shakespeare is a proud memeber of Theatre Communications Group, Shakespeare Theatre Association of America, Southeastern Theatre Conference, and Atlanta Coalition of Performing Arts.

Production History

1986
The Taming of the Shrew
King Lear

1987
Much Ado About Nothing
Romeo & Juliet

1988
A Midsummer Night's Dream
The Winter's Tale

1989
Twelfth Night
The Comedy of Errors

1990
Macbeth
As You Like It

1991
The Three Musketeers
Richard III
The Two Gentlemen of Verona

1992
Love's Labour's Lost
The Tempest
Hamlet: Godfather Of Brooklyn

1993
Cyrano de Bergerac
SHREW: The Musical
Henry V

1994
A Midsummer Night's Dream
The Merchant of Venice
The Imaginary Invalid

1995
Much Ado About Nothing
The Country Wife
Booth, Brother Booth
King Lear

1996
Twelfth Night: A New Musical
The Bourgeois Gentleman
Troilus and Cressida
Booth, Brother Booth

1997
The Tempest
The School for Scandal
Othello

1998
Henry IV, Part 1
The Miser
Measure for Measure
Macbeth

1999
Hamlet
The Comedy of Errors
St. Joan
Romeo & Juliet
SHREW: The Holiday Musical

2000
Twelfth Night
Tartuffe
Richard II
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Readings:
Epicoene (Ben Johnson)
The Changeling (Thomas Middleton/William Rowley)
The History of King Lear (Nathum Tate)

2001
Amadeus
As You Like It
The Winter's Tale
Julius Ceaser
Readings:
The Inland Sea (Naomi Wallace)
Thyestes (Seneca)
Mandragola (Machiavelli)
A Mad World My Masters (Thomas Middleton)
The Revenger's Tragedy (Thomas Middleton)
The Widow (Thomas Middleton)

2002

The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Death of a Salesman
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Booth, Brother Booth
The Gospel of John
The Taming of the Shrew

2003
Much Ado About Nothing
The School for Wives
The Tale of Cymbeline
The Tempest

2004
Shake at the Lake: A Midsummer Night's Dream
Cyrano de Bergerac
What the Butler Saw
Coriolanus
Macbeth

2005
Shake at the Lake: Macbeth
Comedy of Errors
A Streetcar Named Desire
The Cherry Orchard
The Gospel of John
Romeo & Juliet

2006
Shake at the Lake: Comedy of Errors
Hamlet
Twelfth Night
Treasure Island
Metamorphoses
Othello

2007
Shake at the Lake: Twelfth Night
Metamorphoses
The Servant of Two Masters
Pericles
Robin Hood
Loot
Richard III

2008
Shake at the Lake: The Servant of Two Masters
As You Like It
The Merchant of Venice
All's Well That Ends Well
Tom Thumb the Great
Antigone

2009
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Titus Andronicus
Alice in Wonderland
Julius Caesar

2010
Shake at the Lake: A Midsummer Night's Dream
Shrew: The Musical
Love's Labour's Lost
King Lear
The Legend of the Sword in the Stone
The Odyssey: a Journey Home
A Christmas Story
The Gospel of John
Prophets

2011
The Tempest
Antony & Cleopatra
Noises Off
The Jungle Book
The Glass Menagerie
Paul Robeson

2012
Shakespeare in the Park: The Tempest
Ilyria: A Twelfth Night Musical
Much Ado About Nothing
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Emperor and the Nightingale
Macbeth

Pictured above: Michael Dalto, Alex Cole, Park Krausen, Chris Kayser, J.C. Long and Joe Knezevich in Pericles. (Bill DeLoach)

Current Box Office Hours:
Monday through Friday
10 AM to 2 PM
404.504.1473