Alabama Shakespeare Festival facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Alabama Shakespeare Festival |
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The Carolyn Blount Theatre has been home to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival since 1985.
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| Genre | Shakespeare festival |
| Location(s) | Montgomery, Alabama |
| Years active | 1972–2019, 2021– (51 or 52 years) |
| Founded | 1972 |
| Website | asf.net |
The Alabama Shakespeare Festival (ASF) is one of the largest Shakespeare festivals in the world. It is a special place where plays by William Shakespeare and other writers are performed. The festival has a permanent home in the Carolyn Blount Theatre in Montgomery, Alabama.
Each year, the ASF puts on 6 to 9 plays. This usually includes three plays written by Shakespeare. Other plays can be old or new, and sometimes they focus on stories from the Southern part of America. The festival also has a special project called the Southern Writers Project. This project helps create new plays that tell Southern stories. More than 400 shows are performed each year. Over 300,000 people visit the festival from all over the United States and many other countries.
History of the Festival
The Alabama Shakespeare Festival started in 1972. It began as a summer theater project in Anniston. The very first show was in the Anniston High School auditorium. Only one critic and his wife came to watch. The critic thought the show was not very good. He even said the festival would not last.
But the festival kept going! They put on many creative shows. For example, they once set the play Taming of the Shrew in New York City in the 1950s. Over time, the festival became well-known and received good reviews. However, it did not have enough money to keep going.
In December 1985, the ASF moved to Montgomery. This happened because Mr. and Mrs. Winton Blount gave a huge gift. They donated $21.5 million to build a performing arts center. This center is in a large 250-acre park called the Winton M. Blount Cultural Park. The Carolyn Blount Theatre is part of this center. It has two main stages: the Festival Stage, which seats 792 people, and the Octagon Theatre, which seats 225 people.
The festival did not have a season in 2020.
Learning and Training
Until 2009, the ASF had a special program. This program helped actors train to become professionals. It was a partnership with the University of Alabama Department of Theatre and Dance. Students could earn a M.F.A. degree.
Some famous actors came from this program. Tony Award winner Norbert Leo Butz and Emmy Award winner Michael Emerson are two examples. On April 25, 2008, the ASF announced that its partnership with the University of Alabama would end. The last class graduated in August 2009.
See also
- Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, which is also located in Montgomery's Blount Cultural Park.
