Pennsylvania Shakes Fest Succeeds in 2010; Prepares for 20th Anniversary in 2011

The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival finished its season in the black for the fifth consecutive year, with help from individual patrons stepping in to fill gaps due to recession-related funding shifts.

"This Shakespeare festival is a part of the fabric of this community. Our patrons are our neighbors and our friends. We rise and fall together, and difficult times make our work of providing inspiration and renewal all the more important," says Patrick Mulcahy, producing artistic director. "Our patrons' extraordinary support reinforces this point, and underscores the value of the arts in a community's quality of life."

The 2010 summer season offered more productions than ever before, with one week in July including twenty performances of seven different shows. The Festival generated the second highest revenues from ticket income in the company's history.

Ticket sales to subscribers increased modestly over 2009, while sales to single ticket and group ticket buyers declined slightly from the previous year, in part, a result of more single ticket buyers opting for the savings of a subscription.

The annual membership drive - necessary to keep ticket prices affordable and to offset the costs of production - generated the highest number of contributions and the greatest revenues from contributed income in the company's history. "The effort was Herculean, and the result was deeply gratifying," according to Mulcahy. "And despite the economy, we did not lose a single sponsor, a further demonstration of faith that the arts are not optional."

As a professional company, PSF engages a corps of professional actors who are members of the Actors Equity Association (AEA), and one measure of the Festival's quality is the total number of AEA contracts. The 2010 season proffered a total of 31 AEA contracts - the second highest number ever.

The 2010 Festival featured Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet and The Merry Wives of Windsor, the Irish classic The Playboy of the Western World, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and for children: Robin Hood and Shakespeare for Kids.

Three shows were performed one night only: The Screwtape Letters, Underneath the Lintel, and Finale Cabaret.

A free outdoor Green Show was performed 45 minutes prior to each evening performance.

The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival is the Official Shakespeare Festival of The Commonwealth and a professional, not-for-profit theatre company in residence at DeSales University. An independent 501 c 3 organization, PSF receives support from DeSales University and relies on contributions from individuals, government agencies, corporations and foundations. PSF is a constituent of the Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre, and a member of the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, the Shakespeare Theatre Association of America, the Lehigh Valley Arts Council, and Discover Lehigh Valley.