The Central Coast Shakespeare Festival is close to securing our new home for the 2009 season! After news of our loss of venue hit the press, we received so many wonderful offers of possible venues – 22 to be exact. That’s 22 direct offers of a new space to perform in – not to mention the numerous other locations suggested to us by patrons and supporters. Such an outpouring of support for outdoor classical theatre in SLO County! Festival staff have spent the summer visiting all these potential venues and meeting with lots of wonderful people throughout the county. (plus - we got our storage unit all organized and ready for next year!) We will announce our new home along with the play selection for next summer very, very soon…
The Central Coast Shakespeare Festival has been forced to cancel the 2008 productions because the festival’s home of 5 years, the Bellevue-Santa Fe Charter School, determined that the Shakespeare Festival was an insurance risk.
Though the festival believes its own insurance covered any eventuality, Bellevue-Santa Fe Charter School disagreed. Their notice was given in early May, 2008. The Festival’s current start date was July 11th, 2008. With this short a notice it is impossible to secure a sufficient alternative venue before beginning rehearsals, it is also impossible to market effectively without a known venue, therefore the decision was made to cancel this year’s festival and focus this summer on marketing, fundraising, and securing a venue.
You can help. Sign up for our mailing list, donate money, rent us your barn. Just kidding on that last one, but we do need a space. If you have a plot of land you think might lend itself well to a summer shakespeare festival, please let us know.
And we’re not alone. See this article.
The Central Coast Shakespeare Festival has a newly redesigned website that will allow theatre-goers to purchase their tickets in advance. The old address (or URL), www.ccshakes.org, is also being replaced by www.centralcoastshakespeare.org.
The Central Coast Shakespeare Festival invites you to join us for a summer of sea tales July 11th through August 16th. For 2008 we bring you one of Shakespeare’s most magical tales – The Tempest along with a brand new adaptation of Treasure Island . Grab beach chairs, blankets, family and friends — and pack a picnic basket to enjoy while watching live theatre under the stars!