San Francisco Shakespeare Festival

Established in 1983, the mission of The San Francisco Shakespeare Festival is to make professional theater and the words and themes of Shakespeare accessible to everyone, regardless of age, ethnicity, financial status, or level of education. With the incorporation of our two partner organizations, the Oakland-East Bay and Silicon Valley Shakespeare Festivals, the Festival has expanded regionally to meet the increased community demand for its high quality, professional arts and education programs.

The Festival’s flagship offering, Free Shakespeare in the Park, brings professional Shakespearean productions to large, diverse audiences of 50,000 in public parks throughout the Bay Area. In addition to our Mainstage programming, we also partner with over 250 schools and community centers annually to make Shakespeare’s genius accessible to 120,000 young people through extensive arts education programs available in-school (Shakespeare on Tour), after-school (Midnight Shakespeare) and in the summertime (Bay Area Shakespeare Camps).