Nashville Shakespeare Festival

In 1988, a group of local actors produced the first free-of-charge Shakespeare in the Park production in Nashville. Inspired by strong support from the community for the first production, the founders followed up with a second free production in the Park in 1989, and the Nashville Shakespeare Festival was born. Over its thirty-seven-year history, the Festival has grown into one of the region’s leading professional theaters. Each summer as many as 15,000 people attend the annual Summer Shakespeare production which is designed to be accessible to people from all cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. Since 1988, over 370,000 Middle Tennesseans have attended, and admission has remained free, with donations welcomed.

Since 2008 The Nashville Shakespeare Festival has produced Winter Shakespeare at Belmont's Troutt Theater and other local venues, serving school groups during the week and the general public on weekends. Over 76,000 have attended Winter Shakespeare.

The mission of the Nashville Shakespeare Festival is to educate and entertain the Mid-South community through professional Shakespearean experiences. The Festival 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.

Click here for more information.