MICHIGAN SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL INC

The Michigan Shakespeare Festival strives to be the strongest possible example of why classical theatre is produced hundreds of years later. Our diverse company of professional artists breath life into texts that express the love, hate, comedy, tragedy, romance, betrayal, and redemptive so integral to the human condition.

Each year our MainStage Productions change from different productions, creating a wider range of exposure to the classics of Shakespeare and other playwrights. These performances run in repertory fashion, rotating productions for our audience members to see all three MainStage Productions.

Our Tour shows, which are in performance from January to June, offer two separate plays for students across Michigan, which are required readings for Michigan students, looking to expand these offerings to add another production.

We further our market awareness through a reading series called "Lend Me Your Ears", which offers plays of all styles, from Shakespeare to contemporary, in spaces outside of our homes of Jackson and Canton, and by creating opportunities for community enrichment, like donating coats to those in need.

Seeking to ensure a talented and knowledge base of actors, we offer workshops in technical approaches to Shakespeare.

Each year our Producing Artistic Director, Jan Blixt, accompanied by our guest director, audition and cast the company of actors and coordinate with our Artistic Associates to create our Technical Crews for our MainStage Season. Separately, Ms. Blixt auditions and casts the company for the Michigan Shakespeare Festival Tour.

Our Board actively works with Ms. Blixt to find new ways of expanding our market awareness through brochure printing and delivering to ideas for new events into areas where our exposure is limited.

We have continued to increase our audience size by 60% since 2010, and our number of performances by our Tour has increased.

We are still attempting to advance our visibility in the Metro Detroit area, which would allow us to expand the MainStage Performances to more productions and events to continue exposure and discussion.