Great River Shakespeare Festival

Creation of art: in the 2023 season, grsf created three theatrical productions for a live in-person audience: Shakespeare's as you like it & the winter's tale, and the world premiere of imbroglio written by melissa maxwell. In order to improve audience and artist connection, all audience seating was moved onto the stage and surrounded the playing space on three sides. This new configuration was met with Great enthusiasm by the audiences with many responding that they better understood the language and the intentions of the characters as they could more clearly read their faces. Attendance grew 14% over the prior year but still remained at 70% of pre-pandemic averages. Due to maintenance issues at winona state university and the acquisition of new office space for the Festival, the costume department was moved into the administrative offices. This change allowed the department greater access to costume storage and improved the communications between the production and administration departments. Anticipating a sharp decline in government support, overall expenses of the Festival were cut 25%. Those cuts were not enough to offset both the decrease in giving from government, foundation, and corporate entities.

Education: for the summer of 2023, the professional actor training program was put on hiatus due to staffing changes and a new exploration of combining our program with several universities' mfa acting programs. The technical theater and management apprentice programs provided practical learning for 21 college students and early-career artists. These included a group of young professional artists who understudied mainstage roles and created a daily green show to introduce audiences to Shakespeare text and the plot and themes of the mainstage shows. The technical and management apprentices helped create and maintain the mainstage productions alongside the professional staff. Additionally, 5 courses of youth instruction were offered to the general public in the areas of acting and design. Each youth program culminated in a public performance/presentation/screening. Seventy-five students participated in 2023. Additionally, grsf offered a series of workshops during the summer for after-school programs in la crosse, wi and winona, mn. These workshops focused on fight choreography, consent, improvisation, costume design, and teamwork.

Audience engagement: numerous programs strengthened the community's connection to the art and the artists of the Festival. These included a 10-week collegium program for adult learners studying the two Shakespeare plays. Weekly company conversations featuring members of the acting and production teams were held during the Festival, and weekly post-show talk-backs were held so audiences could connect directly with the artists. Every friday and saturday evening performance was followed by a free ice cream social where the audience could informally visit with the performers and discuss the show. Thirty-six youth participated in weekly pre-show workshops and then enjoyed a free performance. The macbeth podcast continues to be strongly received averaging 332 downloads per month with most traffic being from the usa, uk, and australia. The new romeo and juliet podcast is averaging 156 downloads per month with most of its reach into the usa, uk, and canada.