City-Wide Seattle Shakespeare Festival Will Take Place in Spring 2018

As arts organizations across Seattle throw their energy into selecting programming for the 2017/18 season, several are joining forces to mount a city-wide Shakespeare festival: Seattle Celebrates Shakespeare. With nearly two dozen festival participants, spring of 2018 promises to be an exciting and vibrant time in the Emerald City, showcasing a world class cultural landscape while celebrating one of history's greatest writers.

This will be the second iteration of the "Seattle Celebrates" festivals. The first was Seattle Celebrates Bernstein in 2010, a festival in honor of the great works of Leonard Bernstein. The festival series is designed to honor shared cultural touchstones that transcend the boundaries of artistic mediums and draw a local and national spotlight on the superb quality of Seattle's arts organizations.

Participating organizations in Seattle Celebrates Shakespeare include ACT - A Contemporary Theatre, ArtsWest Playhouse and Gallery, Book-It Repertory Theatre, Centerstage Theatre, Early Music Guild of Seattle, New Century Theatre Company, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle Chamber Music Society, Seattle Children's Theatre, Seattle Opera, Seattle Pro Musica, Seattle Public Theater, Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Seattle Shakespeare Company, Seattle Symphony, Showtunes Theatre Company, SIFF, Sound Theatre Company, Spectrum Dance Theatre, Taproot Theatre Company, Theater Schmeater, The 5th Avenue Theatre, The Horse in Motion, University of Washington School of Drama and Village Theatre, with more organizations expressing interest in participating every day. Companies will begin announcing their 2017/18 seasons over the course of the next several months. A full program lineup for the festival will be shared at a later date.