Orlando Shakespeare Theater

Orlando Shakespeare Theater is a performing-arts organization based in Orlando, Florida. The company began as the Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival and presented its first productions in 1989. Its identity was initially centered on Shakespeare and other canonical works, but its programming has developed into a broader theatrical portfolio that includes classical drama, contemporary plays, productions for children and families, new-play development, youth performance, camps, classes, and school-based education. The organization operates from the John and Rita Lowndes Shakespeare Center in Loch Haven Park, Orlando’s cultural district. The center is part of a broader arts and science campus that includes the Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando Science Center, Mennello Museum, and Orlando Family Stage. The venue provides multiple performance and production spaces rather than a single auditorium. Facilities identified with the organization include the 324-seat Ken and Trisha Margeson Theater, the 118-seat Marilyn and Sig Goldman Theater, the 70-seat Santos-Dantin Theater, and the 99-seat Mandell Studio Theater, together with rehearsal, administrative, scenic, costume, prop, patron, catering, retail, and outdoor spaces. The company’s principal season offering is a Subscription Series of seven productions featuring Actors’ Equity Association professional performers recruited from across the United States. Alongside that series, the organization presents a three-production Children’s Series and PlayFest, a weekend event devoted to new plays. Its youth work includes The Young Company, a summer Shakespeare production performed by local high-school students, as well as summer camps and classes for children and community participants. The company also conducts professional and community education and extensive teaching programs in kindergarten-through-twelfth-grade schools. A long-term professional partnership with the University of Central Florida is central to the organization’s institutional identity and history. The relationship connects the company’s theater production work with a major university in its home region while retaining a public-facing role within Orlando’s cultural infrastructure. The organization’s programming therefore spans professional theater, artistic development, youth participation, arts education, and community engagement. The theater has also had a connection to local popular culture: the 1988 Disney film Ernest Saves Christmas used the site on location, presenting it in the film as the fictional Orlando Children’s Museum. Orlando Shakespeare Theater remains an active Orlando-based theater institution whose work combines Shakespearean heritage with contemporary, family, educational, and new-play programming.

Orlando Shakespeare Theater traces its origins to the Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival, which staged its first productions in 1989. From the beginning, the organization was associated with Shakespearean performance and with the University of Central Florida, establishing a professional theater presence in Orlando while drawing on the region’s educational and cultural networks. The company’s later identity reflects an expansion beyond a narrowly Shakespeare-focused repertoire. Its work encompasses classical theater, contemporary plays, productions for children and families, new-play development, youth performance, and arts education. This breadth is visible in the structure of its season and related programs: a subscription series of professional productions, a dedicated children’s series, PlayFest for new plays, and The Young Company, a summer Shakespeare production performed by local high-school students. Camps, classes, and teaching in K-12 schools extend the organization’s activities beyond ticketed performances. The company is based at the John and Rita Lowndes Shakespeare Center in Loch Haven Park. The center is situated within Orlando’s cultural campus and includes several venues of different sizes, enabling the organization to stage productions and events in spaces suited to varying artistic and audience needs. The building also contains production workshops, administrative facilities, patron amenities, and an outdoor courtyard, supporting the operational requirements of a producing theater rather than functioning only as a presentation venue. Its partnership with the University of Central Florida has remained an important part of the company’s institutional framework. The relationship links professional theater production with higher education and helps distinguish the organization within Orlando’s performing-arts landscape. At the same time, the theater serves audiences and participants throughout the broader community through family programming, youth opportunities, public classes, and school-based instruction. The organization also has a documented connection with film history in Orlando. The building was used as a location for the 1988 Disney film Ernest Saves Christmas, in which it was represented as the fictional Orlando Children’s Museum. This predates the company’s first productions but forms part of the venue’s cultural and local-media history. Taken together, the available record presents Orlando Shakespeare Theater as an active regional theater institution whose development moved from a Shakespeare festival model toward a multi-program organization. Its continuing identity rests on professional production, Shakespearean and classical repertoire, contemporary work, youth and family theater, new-play activity, and education. The supplied reference material does not identify individual founders, artistic leaders, executive staff, financial figures, or specific production-by-production milestones.

• 1989

  First productions presented

  [1]Orlando Shakespeare Theateren.wikipedia.org

  The organization, then known as the Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival, staged its first productions.

• 1988

  Venue appears in Ernest Saves Christmas

  [1]Orlando Shakespeare Theateren.wikipedia.org

  The future home associated with Orlando Shakespeare Theater was used as a filming location for the Disney film Ernest Saves Christmas, where it was presented as the fictional Orlando Children’s Museum.

• Expansion into a multi-program theater organization

  [2]Orlando Shakespeare Theater official websiteorlandoshakes.org

  The company developed programming beyond Shakespeare to include professional subscription theater, children’s productions, new-play development, youth performance, camps, classes, and K-12 education.

A professionally staffed regional theater company that combines Shakespearean and classical repertoire with contemporary drama, children’s theater, new-play development, youth performance, and broad arts education.

• Professional theater season

  Subscription Series

  The company’s principal professional season consists of seven productions. It presents classical and contemporary theater with professional Actors’ Equity Association performers drawn from across the United States.

• Children’s theater

  Children’s Series

  A three-production program designed for children and family audiences. It forms a distinct part of the organization’s regular programming alongside its professional subscription offerings.

• New-play development

  PlayFest

  A weekend festival focused on new plays. The program gives the organization a role in presenting and developing contemporary dramatic work in addition to producing established classical and modern plays.

• Youth theater

  The Young Company

  A summer Shakespeare production performed by local high-school students. The program combines performance opportunities for young people with the company’s Shakespearean artistic heritage.

• Arts education

  Education, camps, and classes

  The organization offers summer camps for children, community and professional classes, and extensive theater teaching in K-12 schools. These activities extend its role from producing performances to building participation and theater skills.

1. 1Orlando Shakespeare Theateren.wikipedia.org
2. 2Orlando Shakespeare Theater official websiteorlandoshakes.org