Kentucky Shakespeare

Audience Event Outlook: Shakespeare in Love Gala & 2024 Season Announcement

The team at Kentucky Shakespeare is gearing up for a big night of fun for their annual Shakespeare in Love Gala that will surely be an evening you won’t want to miss. The gala will be held at 21c Museum and Hotel on Saturday, February 10th and will be the ninth gala Kentucky Shakespeare has hosted.

“We are excited for the gala as it serves as a fundraiser as well as a party!” Commented producing artistic director, Matt Wallace. “We will also announce our 2024 Shakespeare Festival in Central Park lineup, spend time with our amazing staff and raffle various gift baskets and have some great silent auction items including a Chef’s Table dinner experience for eight with Chef Todd Alexander and a Churchill Downs Finish Line Suite. There will be opportunities to donate to Kentucky Shakespeare at the event and people can also always support with tax-deductible donations online at kyshakespeare.com/donate and at Venmo @KYShakes. Funds raised go to support our many programs from free Shakespeare in the Parks to education tours and community outreach!”

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Continuing with the Halloween tradition, Kentucky Shakespeare presents the spine-tingling ghost story that kept London’s West End on the edge of its seat for 33 years! Susan Hill’s acclaimed ghost novel comes dramatically to life in Stephen Mallatratt’s ingenious stage adaptation of The Woman in Black October 4-29, 2023.

A lawyer obsessed with a curse that he believes has been cast over him and his family by a specter engages a skeptical young actor to help him tell his terrifying story and exorcise the fear that grips his soul. It all begins innocently enough, but then, as they reach further into his darkest memories, they find themselves caught up in a world of eerie marshes and moaning winds.

Kentucky Shakespeare Festival in Central Park Returns June 16

Kentucky Shakespeare, the Official Shakespeare Festival of the Commonwealth, is returning to the C. Douglas Ramey Amphitheater in Old Louisville’s Central Park from June 16 to August 15, 2021. “We are beyond excited to finally return to the magical in-person experience of Kentucky Shakespeare Festival in Central Park, after being away from it since the summer of 2019. We look forward to coming together to connect, heal, and again experience the joy together of the free summer festival under the stars,” said Matt Wallace, Producing Artistic Director. “Opening with the stage adaptation of the Oscar-winning Shakespeare in Love is a fitting love letter to Shakespeare and theatre, and it wouldn’t be possible without the presenting sponsor of the production, our partner Churchill Downs. We also return with the epic history Henry V, the culmination of the four-year Henriad tetralogy, Kentucky Shakespeare’s Game of Kings series. What a homecoming this will be – together again in Central Park.”

A Triumphant Return: Kentucky Shakespeare’s Spring Parks Tour Preview

Creative freedom. Magic. Joy. After months of social distancing and isolation, the light at the end of the tunnel is finally growing brighter. Some semblance of normalcy is emerging with the spring, and that includes Kentucky Shakespeare’s return to the parks for the first time in two years.

On Saturday, April 17, at 6:30 p.m., Kentucky Shakespeare kicks off its 2021 Spring Parks Tour at Maples Park with an abridged performance of Romeo and Juliet.

Audience Interview: Kentucky Shakespeare: Matt Wallace, Producing Artistic Director

One of the signs of summer is when the crowds start filtering to Central Park for the annual Kentucky Shakespeare performances. On the brink of their 60^th season, and potentially one of the first groups back on the stage after the COVID-19 crisis diminishes,

Audience publisher, Douglas Dreisbach, caught up with Producing Artistic Director, Matt Wallace, to hear more about this exciting season.

Arts & Entertainment Coronavirus (COVID-19) Closures & Cancellations

We are all saddened about the need to cancel so many events due to situation with COVID-19. However, we also understand that we need to follow the proper protocol of government official to do whatever we can to reduce the further spread of the virus.

Each performance requires so much hard work and dedication from performers, directors, stage crew, volunteers, patrons and more to perform at the highest level. We are don’t like to be the bearer of bad news, but we do want to keep you informed on the status of the upcoming shows and performances around Louisville. Below is a list of news and information about closures and cancellations for upcoming Louisville events, shows and performances.

**This page will be updated regularly.

Pablo Picasso Exhibition Comes to KMAC

LOUISVILLE, KY – Tickets are now on sale for the upcoming exhibition Picasso: From Antibes to Louisville presented by UPS. The show will open at KMAC Museum in downtown Louisville on December 14, 2019.

Picasso: From Antibes to Louisville, running through March 22, 2020, will bring together approximately 50 ceramics and works on paper created by Pablo Picasso between 1931 and 1956. these works are part of the collection of the Musee Picasso in Antibes, France, and the exhibition is one that has never before been seen outside of Europe.

Kentucky Shakespeare presents ‘Night of the Living Dead’

The same creative Kentucky Shakespeare team that brought you last year’s popular THE WAR OF THE WORLDS is back with a unique take on George A. Romero’s cult classic NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.

The 1968 film NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, which has been called the grandfather of the modern zombie film, tells the story of seven people trapped in a rural farmhouse in western Pennsylvania, alternately hiding from and fighting a large and growing group of living dead ghouls. The story has been remade and retold many times, including a 1988 radio drama.

Spend Your Saturdays Learning “The Art Of Stage Combat” with Kentucky Shakespeare

Join Eric Frantz, Teaching Artist/Historical Interpreter at the Frazier History Museum, who leads the research on sword fighting and combat using historical manuals and texts.

Dates: Saturdays 1:00-5:00
Long Sword (Double Session) on March 30 and April 6
Dueling Sword on April 20

Price, includes equipment rental:
Long Sword $75
Dueling Sword $60

Kentucky Shakespeare Kicks Off 6th annual SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARKS tour – April 6 – May 25, 2019

Kentucky Shakespeare announces the 2019 SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARKS tour.Their 6-actor, 90-minute production of MACBETH will tour to 28 parks in Louisville, Indiana, and other Kentucky cities this spring, bringing free Shakespeare to neighborhoods April 6-May 25, 2019.
“We couldn’t be happier to be able to serve so many parks and neighborhoods with this tour. In 2014 we started with nine parks and this spring we’ll triple that number! This season, we branch out even further, bringing free Shakespeare in the Parks to Mt. Washington in Bullitt County and Bowling Green plus serving some local neighborhoods for the first time including Smoketown and Klondike Park. We’ll again have backup rain spaces for each location too, so you can join us rain or shine. We’re grateful for the opportunity to bring this special free family event to neighborhoods across the area!” says Producing Artistic Director Matt Wallace.

59th Annual Kentucky Shakespeare Festival in Central Park Featuring As You Like It, Henry IV Part II, and King Lear

Kentucky Shakespeare kicks off its 59th annual free Kentucky Shakespeare Festival in Central Park with a comedy, a history, and a tragedy. The season begins with their professional productions of As You Like It May 29th, then Henry IV, Part II June 13th, followed by King Lear on June 27th. July 9th-21st all three performances will be presented in repertory. The season will be dedicated to the late Bekki Jo Schneider, former Producer of Kentucky Shakespeare and founder Doug Ramey’s immediate successor. “Last year we lost our dear friend Bekki Jo. She was instrumental in helping make the company what it is today, not only during her tenure here as an actor and leader but for years after as a mentor to me and to so many others in our community. We dedicate this season to her as we celebrate her life and legacy,” said Matt Wallace, Producing Artistic Director.

Join Kentucky Shakespeare for its 6th annual “Shakespeare in Love” Gala at 21C Hotel. The evening features live music from the Jerry Tolson Jazz Trio, Brown-Forman cocktails, hors d’oeuvres by Proof, desserts, raffle, pop-up performances, tarot reading, DJ, dancing, 59th season announcement and more surprises!

Tickets are $125 per person and $200 per couple, with cocktail
attire: https://kyshakespeare.com/season/gala/

Bourbon Classic Announces Returns to Louisville in 2019 – Tickets Available Now!

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Audience502 partner, the Bourbon Classic, is excited to announce their return to Louisville to celebrate the best of Bourbon at its seventh annual event, February 20 – 23, 2019.

Highlights will include Top Shelf, a tasting event featuring Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon, Cocktail and Culinary Challenge, showcasing classic and contemporary Bourbon cocktails paired with a chef’s Bourbon-themed culinary complement, Bourbon University, breakout classes focused on a variety of bourbon-themed topics; and TASTE, which will provide ample opportunities for the public to sample top brands of Bourbon, food pairings from featured restaurants and Bourbon-inspired products.

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Only a Couple Weeks Left to Enjoy the Enchanting (and FREE) KY Shakespeare in the Park Festival

Overview: If you have not yet had the chance to do so, Shakespeare fans are encouraged to attend Louisville’s Central Park through Aug. 5 for the 58th season of the free Kentucky Shakespeare Festival. This year, seven productions are being performed on the main stage, featuring the Louisville Ballet, Cincinnati Shakespeare, Louisville Improvisors, and the festival’s own Globe Players student troupe. Shows begin at 7 p.m. central time. Performances are free and no tickets are required to enter.
There is truly nothing like experiencing a professional Shakespeare production outdoors in the oldest Victorian-era preservation district in the US. These professional productions for free to the public, and they also added amenities including a wireless microphone sound system, making the words accessible.There are new benches, restrooms, and they have added nightly food trucks, gift shop, and a full service bar. It all makes for an enjoyable summer evening with friends and family.

The Comedy of Errors – June 5 – July 22 – Central Park, Louisville

Overview: “We came into the world like brother and brother, And now let’s go hand in hand, not one before another.” Kentucky Shakespeare presents the original situation comedy, THE COMEDY OF ERRORS directed by Matt Wallace at the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival in Central Park. The Comedy of Errors is a zany farce full of physical comedy, mistaken identities, and hijinks galore.

Henry IV, Part One – June 14 – July 22 – Central Park, Louisville

Overview: “The better part of valor is discretion.” Kentucky Shakespeare presents the thrilling, funny, and moving history play HENRY IV, PART ONE at the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival in Central Park. Set in the politically unstable and violent world of 1400s England, the play explores honor, nobility, and power in our “Game of Kings” series.Amphitheater Opens at 6:30 with Food Trucks from the Louisville Food Truck Association, Will’s Tavern opens at 7:00 serving Brown-Forman, West Sixth and 502 Winery products, Pre-Show begins at 7:15 and the main stage production opens at 8:00. directed by Amy Attaway

Othello – June 28 – July 21 – Central Park, Louisville

Overview: “O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-ey’d monster.” Kentucky Shakespeare presents the classic and timeless tragedy of love, jealousy and deceit at the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival in Central Park. Set in a contemporary military world, the production stars Kentucky Shakespeare favorites Jon Huffman as Iago and Dathan Hooper as Othello. Amphitheater Opens at 6:30 with Food Trucks from the Louisville Food Truck Association, Will’s Tavern opens at 7:00 serving Brown-Forman, West Sixth and 502 Winery products, Pre-Show begins at 7:15 and the main stage production opens at 8:00. directed by Matt Wallace

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