Our Mission

The Michigan Shakespeare Festival inspires, attracts, educates and entertains a broad-based audience while developing and furthering an appreciation for live theatre through professional performances of Shakespeare's works and other classic plays.

Our  History  
The Michigan Shakespeare Festival is a nonprofit professional theatre founded in 1995. Originally named the Jackson Shakespeare Festival, the event was held outdoors in the summer at Jackson's Ella Sharp Park until 2004, when it moved indoors to the Potter Center at Jackson Community College. Since its inception, the summer festival has entertained more than 50,000 people of all ages. Now in its 18th season, the festival has grown from two performances to 37 performances, from one week to a four week season during July and August and performances in the spring and summer in high schools, libraries, and youth camps.

In 1997 the festival was renamed the Michigan Shakespeare Festival to reflect its ever-increasing popularity and affiliation with the University of Michigan Department of Theatre and Drama. Members of the Actor's Equity Association were added in 1999, making the event the only fully professional Shakespeare company in the state.

The festival's growing reputation as a regional classical theatre led Governor Jennifer Granholm and the Michigan Senate to designate it The Official Shakespeare Festival of the State of Michigan in 2003.

Festival organizers added a non-Shakespeare production to its schedule beginning in 2009, and expanded its educational outreach program in 2010 to include performances of Romeo & Juliet. Also in 2010, a production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was featured at elementary schools, libraries, recreation centers, and the University of Michigan's C.S. Mott Childrens Hospital.