Photo Flash: Richmond Shakespeare Festival Presents THE TEMPEST And HAMLET

The Richmond Shakespeare Festival is a professional Actor's Equity theatre performing in the birthplace of recorded jazz, near downtown Richmond, Indiana. For this summer's season, the Richmond Shakespeare Festival presents The Tempest and Hamlet in rotating repertory, now through July 6 in the Whitewater Gorge State Park in Richmond, Indiana. Performing in a covered outdoor venue in the Whitewater Gorge Park, this year's Festival is part of a growing trend of new Shakespeare Festivals popping up all over the country.

The Acting Company is comprised of a mix of union and non-union professionals, college-age interns (including students from Cincinnati's College Conservatory of Music, and Ball State University to name just two), and volunteers sourced from as far away as New York, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and points in between. Directors, designers and crew come from right here in Indiana to all the way from Chicago, Florida, and beyond.

It's all a part of Producing Artistic Director Patrick Flick's plan to bring the best talent possible to the heartland city of Richmond. "We want this to be a destination theatre," says Flick, "and the best way to do that is to develop a reputation for nothing but the finest quality in our productions - from the acting, to the directing, to the costumes, to the scenery, the lighting, and best of all, our unique Elizabethan Stage - you'll find nothing but the best Shakespeare the world has to offer right here in Indiana."

The Festival, now in its sixth season, is a member of the Shakespeare Theatre Association (STA) and operates under an agreement with Actors' Equity Association (AEA), the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.

The Festival performs in the Starr-Gennett Pavilion in the Whitewater Gorge Park at 201 S. First Street in Richmond Indiana weekends from June 21st to the July 6th. Tickets are available online at www.richmondshakes.org, or by calling 765.373.9022.