Kentucky Shakespeare

The Official Shakespeare Festival of the Commonwealth as designated by the Kentucky legislature, we are a professional theatre company and the most comprehensive in-school arts provider in the state.

Mission

Grounded in the works of Shakespeare, we enrich communities through accessible, inclusive, professional theatre experiences that educate, inspire, and entertain diverse audiences.

Vision

To use Shakespeare’s truths and the power of the arts to transform lives.Shakespeare belongs to everyone.

About Us

Kentucky Shakespeare serves communities through the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival in Central Park, education programs for schools, public performances, and community outreach programs. Entering its 65th season, the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival in Central Park is the longest-running free, non-ticketed Shakespeare festival in the United States. As the most comprehensive in-school arts education provider in the Commonwealth, Kentucky Shakespeare serves schools throughout the region with interactive educational programming directly tied to academic standards, helping impact student achievement. Our many community programs explore conflict resolution, empathy building, and communication, in a range of settings from preschools to senior centers.

What we do:

• PERFORMANCES: Kentucky Shakespeare Festival in Central Park, Shakespeare in the Parks tour, Shakespeare in the Libraries tour, Indoor productions during the year
• EDUCATION PERFORMANCE AND WORKSHOP TOUR 23-24:  Two-Actor Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare Alive!, A Midsummer Night’s Dream Spring Tour, Voice of Social Change: Ira Aldridge, Living History: We the People, Living History: Kentucky History, Bard Buddies, Fairy Tales from Around the World, Hip-Hop Shakespeare, Conflict Resolution and Anti-Bullying, Acting Fundamentals, Stage Combat, Staging Shakespeare, Renaissance Dance, Discovering Shakespeare, Mathematics of Shakespearean Design, and Voices of Young Women 
• CAMPS AND CLASSES: Camp Shakespeare, Shakespeare Off the Page, Stage Combat, Improv
• COMMUNITY PROGRAMS: Shakespeare with Veterans, Juvenile Justice Arts Program, Shakespeare with Immigrants and Refugees, Survivorship Shakespeare with those impacted by cancer, Community Creates: Brave Spirits program for LGBTQ+ teens, Community Creates: Down Syndrome of Louisville, and other community residencies

Kentucky Shakespeare has been recognized by the Folger Library and the Kentucky Humanities Council for exemplary programming, is a multiyear recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Shakespeare in American Communities program and is a past recipient of the Kentucky Governor’s Award in the Arts. Kentucky Shakespeare has been awarded multiple LEO Weekly Reader’s Choice Awards, Broadway World Louisville Regional Awards, the 2015 Center for Nonprofit Excellence’s Art of Vision Pyramid Award, the 2017 Louisville Awards in the Arts Bobby Petrino Family Foundation Arts Impact Award, and the 2019 Arts for All Kentucky Community Partner Award for arts inclusion work with people with disabilities.