St. Louis Shakespeare Festival

Our 2024 Season presents accessible, high-quality art year-round:

Confluence New Play Festival
APRIL 12 - 14 2024
The Confluence Regional Writers Project was developed in 2018 to foster a regional culture of playwriting by providing support and inspiration to emerging playwrights in the Missouri-Illinois bistate. Over the course of a year, playwrights workshop new scripts in writers' retreats. Their new plays are presented in staged readings as part of the Confluence New Play Festival each Spring.

Shakespeare in the Park: As You Like It
MAY 29 - JUNE 23 2024
Audiences gather in one of the nation's finest public parks to enjoy free Shakespeare under the stars. In this spontaneous romp, the brilliant and resourceful heroine, Rosalind, and her friends, exiled from the confines of city life to the Forest of Arden, are free to explore new identities, friendships, and (of course) love. Directed by Nancy Bell, this production is romantic, lusty, funny and full of heart and longing for a sweeter life.

TourCo: The Tempest
JULY 30 - AUGUST 25 2024
TourCo brings a free 75-min. production of The Tempest directly into 24 community parks throughout the bistate. Actors perform in Shakespeare's original language, not a translation. Before each show, actors lead audiences through a Living Study Guide: a passage from the text is performed in Shakespeare's language and then interpreted in modern vernacular-posing questions and identifying themes. 

Holiday Show: Q Brothers Christmas Carol
NOVEMBER 29 - DECEMBER 22 2024
In this laugh-out-loud hip-hop remix of Dickens’ classic tale, Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the Ghosts of Hip-Hop Past, Present, and Future. As Scrooge is shown the path of rhythm and redemption, will he throw off his selfish chains and get down to the beat? Christmas Carol: The Remix mixes everything from reggae to rock, taking this beloved tale of love, forgiveness, and Christmas spirit to the next level.

Shakespeare in the Streets
RETURNING IN 2025
We work with residents to tell their stories through an immersive, year-long community engagement theater residency. Those stories are incorporated into a new work inspired by a Shakespeare play and performed for free in the City streets. Next year's project honors the historic East St. Louis neighborhood. Known as the City of Champions, it’s home to Olympic Gold Medalist Jackie Joyner-Kerse, jazz legend Miles Davis, global dance phenomenon Katherine Dunham and many more artists, poets, and athletes.

Sumner High School Recovery
ONGOING
Rigorous arts training transforms a historic school that was recommended for closure. Designed to educate 1,100+ students, Sumner was once the cornerstone of North St. Louis' Ville neighborhood: today, just 200 students are enrolled. Ten arts organizations have partnered with Sumner leadership and the St. Louis Public Schools system to deliver daily, in-school residencies in drama, visual art, dance, and music. Courses align with state standards and earn elective credits, and interested seniors can pursue internships with partner organizations. The Festival delivers 90 minutes of in-school drama classes each day and serves as Program Manager, liaising between Sumner and other arts organizations. Audience Goal: 220.