About WSF
MISSION STATEMENT
The Woodward Shakespeare Festival's Mission is to present live theatre productions for the cultural education, entertainment, and inspiration of our community, and to make our contribution to the arts of California's Central Valley accessible to everyone. All Shakespeare performances in Fresno's Woodward Park are free of charge.
STATEMENT OF VISION
A Shakespeare festival is always a popular and successful way to promote the arts in any community. Shakespeare endures because he defines our need to explore the limits of our creativity, our need to understand our foibles, our follies, and our miraculous feats of extraordinarily simple life; in short, he defines our very humanity.
Shakespeare brings out the best of everyone involved. Those who perform him find themselves reaching above their perceived limitations. Those in attendance reach outside themselves to share the wonder they have experienced. Too many people are denied this profound linking of community either through economics or lack of opportunity. Shakespeare belongs to everyone, no matter their race, their nationality, and their prejudices: We all bleed when we are pricked. That Shakespeare wrote in England, in English, and primarily about English characters signifies nothing: he wrote in the world and he wrote about humanity as a whole.
It is in this spirit that we of the Woodward Shakespeare Festival seek to unite the community in and around Fresno through the human need of a common experience. It is in this spirit that we wish to make our contribution to the culture of California's Central Valley free to the entire community. It is in this spirit that we seek to create not only performances but also a Festival to strengthen and build that community through the deeper understanding and celebration of our common human understanding and the paradox that what makes us unique also makes us the same.
This is the spirit of the Woodward Shakespeare Festival: we will take you from the page to the stage, building our community through culture.
FESTIVAL VALUES
- We value the classical principles of performance, meaning the highest truths are told in a universally accessible form that has an ennobling impact on the individual and society.
- We value the synthesis of performance, mentoring, learning, and management that creates clarity and a healthy company experience.
- We value transparent communication, constructive feedback, and open decision making, even when it is difficult or unpleasant.
- We value community participation and strive to be good neighbors.
- We value diversity, curiosity, and the greater good.
- We value wit, humor, compassion and the generosity that leads to playfulness and grace in our actions.
- We value the pursuit of excellence and take pride in the interaction between our company and the community in our work.
FESTIVAL HISTORY
The 2009 productions of As You Like It and Richard III will mark the Woodward Shakespeare Festival’s fifth season of producing the works of William Shakespeare.
The Woodward Shakespeare Festival began as the conception of S. Eric Day and Brandon Weis, two local actors who, in the fall of 2001, saw the potential for a season of plays produced outdoors in a festival environment, and which would be free and accessible to all.
By 2004, Christien Sweeney had come aboard and Day and Sweeney helmed the productions of the first two seasons, Much Ado About Nothing & Romeo and Juliet (2005), and then A Midsummer Night's Dream & Macbeth (2006). By 2007, the organization had become a non-profit organization in the public trust and the summer festival averaged 10,000 patrons each year.
Since its inaugural season, The Woodward Shakespeare Festival has been committed to that original conception, producing two of Shakespeare’s plays each year in Fresno’s Woodward Park:
2005: Much Ado About Nothing & Romeo and Juliet
2006: A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream & Macbeth
2007: Othello & Taming of the Shrew
2008: Twelfth Night & Hamlet
Now in its fifth year, The Woodward Shakespeare Festival has grown into a grassroots civic organization of great recognition. Now, with an expanded board, an Artistic Director hired, and Program Manager on staff, the Festival has set its trajectory for tremendous growth in the next decade.
The Festival thanks the many people who have made our first four seasons successful: the casts and crews, the audiences, our patrons, the critics, the corporate sponsors and community partners. Your enthusiasm for our labors and your passion for our mission are the inspiration for all that we do and that which we dream to do.
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