Georgia Shakespeare Festival

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, Georgia Shakesepare strives to entertain, to ignite the imagination, and to creatively explore the journey of the human spirit with year-round programming. It produces a four-show summer repertory season, including one family classic show, a fall show attracting a significant high school audience, a holiday show, free Shakespeare in the Park in Atlanta’s Piedmont Park, and a full menu of a dozen educational programs for elementary students through adults reaching throughout the entire state of Georgia. Georgia Shakespeare has been a vital part of the Atlanta regional arts community since 1986, with over 500,000 individuals having experienced one of their Shakespeare productions.

As part of Shakespeare for a New Generation, Georgia Shakesepare Festival presented student matinees of Macbeth directed by Raelle Myrick-Hodges. In addition, the company provided workshops, post-performance talkbacks, and study guides. A total of 13 performances and 38educational activities benefitted more than 3,400 middle- and high-school students from 47 schools located in Georgia.

One particularly gratifying experience came when two of our cast members got to visit their alma mater, Tri-Cities High School. Both were treated like royalty upon their return. It is a powerful thing to witness the revelation on the students’ faces when they realized that these actors are no different from themselves, and the same opportunity could be open to them.