The Illinois Shakespeare Festival (ISF) is located in Bloomington, Illinois, USA. It began in 1978 and it celebrated its 30th season in the summer of 2007. The Festival generally does 3 Bard pieces in revolving rep, though occasionally the third piece is either a Shakespeare contemporary or time period contemporary.
The Festival is produced by the School of Theatre and the College of Fine Arts at Illinois State University. Performances take place at the Theatre at Ewing, on a re-creation Globe stage complete with open air amphitheater. The Festival markets itself as "theatre under the stars!" Prior to each nightly performance (except Mondays), the Festival presents a Green Show in the courtyard of Ewing Manor. This little comedy or demonstration is suitable for all audiences and free. It often offers an abbreviated version of the play to come. The Manor grounds serve as picnicking spots for the audience as madrigal singers stroll the grounds. The Festival runs from the later part of June through the middle of August. In 2008, The Festival began doing a fourth show that is aimed towards younger audiences which would perform on Wednesday and Saturday mornings at 10am. That show (labeled the Shakespeare Alive! performance) then became a part of the next year's season.
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