Director of Communications
Amanda.Murphy@tn.gov
615-741-9010
Senior Communications Manager
Jill.Kilgore@tn.gov
615-927-1320
Communications Manager
Chelsea.Trott@tn.gov
629-395-8941
Nashville Shakespeare Festival Winter Shakes Replaced with Touring Shakespeare & Education Experience
Nashville, TN (November 8, 2021) — This past summer, The Nashville Shakespeare Festival (NSF) emerged from the pandemic shutdown to triumphantly present the annual Summer Shakespeare Festival with a return to oneC1TY near Centennial Park. The return celebrated a collaboration with Kennie Playhouse Theatre to present JITNEY by American playwright August Wilson in addition to TWELFTH NIGHT by the British Bard. The six-week long Festival filled the void left by 2020 and created a safe and engaging space for a much-needed community event offering professional theater, world-class live music, scholar talks, food and beverage trucks, and elf & fairy camp.
However, uncertainty surrounding COVID protocols for school field trips and public gathering places has forced the decision to cancel NSF’s Winter Shakes production of Richard III at Belmont University.
Rising to the challenge, the NSF’s Touring Shakespeare company is currently preparing an interactive and playful Shakespeare Education Experience (SEE) featuring MACBETH • ROMEO & JULIET • A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. All three abbreviated productions will be introduced at a local theater (TBA) over two nights on one weekend in January 2022. Each of the two nights will feature the diverse theatrics of the 30-minute A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM and either ROMEO & JULIET, or MACBETH. This “Public Preview” weekend is a “pay what you can” event and open to all. Educators and administrators are encouraged to attend this event as a guest of The Nashville Shakespeare Festival.
The NSF is now booking the trio of plays in addition to workshops, including Elf & Fairy Camp, as part of the Shakespeare Education Experience at schools, community centers, and other welcoming theatrical venues — starting in January 2022 through March 2022. The show must go on...the road!
Auditions for the Shakespeare Education Experience are open now through November 12, 2021. Details and applications at https://www.nashvilleshakes.org/audition
About The Nashville Shakespeare Festival:
The mission of Nashville Shakespeare Festival (NSF) is to educate and entertain the Mid-South community through professional Shakespearean experiences. The NSF enriches and unifies our community with bold, innovative and relevant productions along with empowering, participatory educational programs, setting the community standard of excellence in educational outreach and performances of Shakespeare’s plays. For more than 33 years, the NSF has provided free, accessible, outdoor theatre each summer that has served audiences from all economic backgrounds. In 2021, the NSF partnered with Kennie Playhouse Theatre (KPT) to produce August Wilson’s JITNEY alongside the production of Shakespeare’s TWELFTH NIGHT. The mission of the KPT is to provide a platform for underserved African-American artists to perform for diverse audiences. This collaboration uses the medium of theater to bridge the gap between traditionally separate audiences. The Nashville Shakespeare Festival’s programs are funded in part by the Tennessee Arts Commission and Metro Arts.
More at https://www.nashvilleshakes.org
MEDIA CONTACT:
Mary Sack
Marketing & Sponsorship
The Nashville Shakespeare Festival
http://www.nashvilleshakes.org
P: 615.275.7225