Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival

The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival (HVSF) is a non-profit professional theater company based at Boscobel in Garrison, New York. The festival runs a roughly twelve-week repertory season each year, operating under a large open-air theater tent. Its productions attract a total audience of about 50,000 from the Hudson Valley, New York City, and 40 US states.
The company has proposed moving to a new permanent location in Garrison, New York in 2022. Its proposal envisions a paradigm shift from a seasonal theater festival to a year-round cultural center. Festival plans call for large-scale development of an 80-acre parcel of land currently occupied by a golf course. Included are a permanent tent on the crest of a ridge line overlooking the Hudson, an indoor theater, housing for theater personnel, an inn, a welcome center, and other structures. HVSF would also acquire a for-profit wedding and event venue and a restaurant, both currently operating on the site. The proposal has generated stiff resistance, with the scale of development, environmental impact, and loss of green space among the community’s concerns.
HVSF also performs William Shakespeare's works and live theater throughout the tri-state area by touring. The company has limited runs of its most popular programs through its "HVSF On The Road" series and brings student-oriented productions and education programs to about 50,000 elementary, middle, and high school students and teachers each year. HVSF's arts education programs also include training for early-career theater artists by way of its Conservatory Company, professional development for educators, and free audience engagement offerings before and after performances throughout the summer.
History.
HVSF was founded by Melissa Stern and Terry O’Brien in September 1987 with an outdoor production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at Manitoga, home of industrial designer Russel Wright, in Garrison, New York. The following year, Boscobel House and Gardens agreed to host HVSF's mainstage season on the estate's expansive grounds, and that summer's production of Shakespeare's "As You Like It" was performed under a tent overlooking the Hudson River.
In 1994, the festival added a second show to its season and began hands-on, performance-driven education programs within area schools. In 2004, HVSF began to tour productions to middle and high schools. In 2006, HVSF acquired a custom-designed, open-air theater tent with seating for 540.
The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival was the subject of a one-hour documentary and two hour film of a performance of "Twelfth Night" which premiered on the PBS affiliate WNET (Channel 13 in New York City) on September 18, 2008. The program also aired on WLIW (Channel 21 on Long Island).
More than 500,000 patrons have been served since HVSF's first season in 1987. Terry O’Brien led the theater for 27 years, directing more than 30 productions, and stepped down as Artistic Director in December 2013. After a search for his successor, HVSF's Board of Directors appointed Davis McCallum as Artistic Director in May 2014.
In 2016, the festival produced a community-driven production of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" with a cast of about 40 citizen actors from the Hudson Valley region, directed by John Christian Plummer.
In 2017, the festival mounted its first new plays: "Pride and Prejudice" by Kate Hamill (adapted from the novel by Jane Austen), and Lauren Gunderson's "The Book of Will".
Location.
With its plays performed in an open-air theater tent on the grounds of the Boscobel, the festival is known for its backdrop. The stage, a rough patch of dirt that is on the same level as the first few rows of the audience, recedes into lawns with a view of the Hudson River and West Point in the distance. The company uses the vast open space behind the stage as scenery for the plays. According to Ben Brantley of "The New York Times", "nature and Shakespeare are the stars" in this festival.
The company received a gift of a land parcel of 50 acres in Garrison in August 2020 and will move to that location permanently in time for the 2022 season. HVSF plans to build a permanent open air structure that will preserve the river views it is famous for at its current Boscobel location.
Recognition.
The festival was named among The New York Times' "50 Essential Summer Festivals" in 2016, was Hudson Valley Magazine's 2016 Editors’ Pick for Best Summer Theater, and was nominated for a Drama League Award for its 2015 production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream".
It produces classic and new works with an economy of style, focusing on script, actors and audience with the Hudson River and Hudson Highlands as its set and setting. The Wall Street Journal hails it as, "The most purely enjoyable summer Shakespeare festival in America," while The New York Times comments, "If anyone wonders about the future of live theater or asks where the audience is, the answer is 'Under that tent."
It is listed as a "Major Festival" in the book "Shakespeare Festivals Around the World" by Marcus D. Gregio (Editor), 2004.
Education programs.
In addition to its summer productions, the festival sponsors year-round education programs to about 50,000 students and teachers annually. These programs include in-school residencies and theater arts workshops for students, resource workshops for educators, a fall touring production for students in grades K-5, a spring touring production for students in grades 6-12, its annual Shakespeare Summer Camp for ages 8–16, and the Teachers' Shakespeare Institute. HVSF's Conservatory Company, a performance based training program for 6 - 8 early career actors, offers on- and off-stage opportunities to work alongside the festival's acting company.