Ohio Shakespeare Festival is expanding from a summer series to year-round.
Ohio Shakespeare Festival has spent the past 15 summers at Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens in Akron. But on Oct. 1, the festival will move into Greystone Hall -- the space that’s been home to Actors' Summit Theater since 1999 – to become a year-round company.
Actress-producer Tess Burgler has been with Ohio Shakespeare Festival almost since the beginning -- her parents are the artistic directors -- and she'll now take over day-to-day operations with her husband, actor-producer Joe Pine.
Burgler calls it their dream job, and says there will be a great deal of educational programming at the new facility.
"We want to make shows available for students, so Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet and Julius Caesar. Just making sure you can see Shakespeare rather than being forced to read it when you don't have another option.
“We deeply believe that if you just see it, and experience it in a way that he meant you to, that it’s really accessible and exciting and engaging, and that’s the reason we still love him 400 years later.”
Burgler says they plan to announce their first production in the next two months, and they’re planning a Kickstarter campaign to help fund their expansion. Ohio Shakespeare Festival still plans to make its summer home at Stan Hywet.
