Updates!

It's Shakespeare Time!!!!

We are now open for registration with plenty of seats for each of our Student Matinees for A Midsummer Night's Dream. 

Registration is also open for the all new Bard to Go: Excellent Falsehood   for all tour dates at present. 

The educational programs of the Grand Valley Shakespeare Festival are extensive and long-standing. Over the past two decades, Festival has worked hard to develop and publicize the special opportunities it has offered to Grand Valley students, and to more than 15,000 middle & high school students and their teachers. Our activities are extremely popular and heavily enrolled each season.

Needless to say, the Shakespeare Festival's connection with Grand Valley State University and its Theatre program ensures that all GVSU students enjoy both classical and contemporary theatre in the classroom and onstage. The Festival has become a key partner with the GVSU Theatre program to provide scholarships, plays, workshops and training; and also to offer presentations by internationally acclaimed scholars in the playhouse and in the University's classrooms.

The Shakespeare Festival also enhances middle and high school education in the tri-county area in two ways: by bringing the Bard directly to these schools in the form of its annual touring show, and by offering special midweek schools matinees of its mainstage Shakespearean play on campus. In these ways, GVSF reaches nearly 3,000 students each season, half of whom visit GVSU's Allendale campus for a full-length production, opportunity to meet with the cast and crew, and tour the campus if desired. Moreover, GVSF underwrites most of the cost of this activity. Schools pay only $250 for touring performances regardless of audience size, and $3.00 for the half-day matinee experiences on the Allendale campus.

Add Your School to our Email List

We invite educators and administrators to add their name and the name of their school to our email list. We will use the email list to send information about our Shakespeare Festival offerings, such as our High School matinees and our Bard to Go Tour. We will also use it to contact schools regarding other Theatre productions that would be of interest to secondary schools or home school groups and about our annual theatre day where potential students can audition or present a portfolio for scholarship consideration. Those on the email list will receive our information and updates first. 

Access the Email List form here

Information Letter for Schools about our Fall 2026 Offerings

Here is a PDF of the letter we are emailing out to schools. It is also an example of what schools on our email list would receive. 

Schools Information Letter

A Midsummer Night's Dream

The Mainstage production for Fall 2026 is the beloved romantic comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream. We believe strongly that the best way to augment reading of Shakespeare's work is to see it performed so that the words and characters come alive. 

A Midsummer Night's Dream features three secondary student matinees serving schools and home schools. Performances begin at 10AM, and we will begin seating at 9:30 AM. We ask for students to arrive between 9AM and 9:30 AM. 

• Tuesday, October 6
• Wednesday, October 7
• Thursday, October 8

We regretfully announce that as of Fall 2024, we are not able to provide lunch following the performance, as we have for so many seasons. The cost to do so has become prohibitive. We have enjoyed doing so and having our casts and crews be able to meet with and eat with the student audiences. In trying to retain that experience, we offer this solution. We have reserved our regular lunch area space in the Kirkhof Center. While we cannot provide the meal, we hope to provide the space as well as iced water and a small treat. Schools can bring lunches from their schools with them, or small groups if they wish could purchase food from food service facilities in the Kirkhof Center. We will happily assist schools if they can have lunches packed into boxes or coolers, and we can bring those to our lunch area when schools arrive so that they will be ready for the students to grab following the performance. We do not have refrigeration in the lunch area, but schools can bring lunches in coolers if needed. Our casts and crews will then bring their own lunches as well and still be able to meet with the student audiences. We made this change for our 2024 production of Romeo and Juliet, and it went smoothly and the time still provided great interaction between students and our cast and production staff. Finally, we also plan to send to schools that are attending some play and production materials that we hope can be useful for class discussions before and after the production. 

We have also made a change to our ticket price for this year. The cost will be $3.00 per ticket. We have not raised matinee ticket prices in more than 10 years, and we do not do so lightly. Unfortunately, our production costs continue to rise. If the ticket cost is prohibitive to any schools, please email Jim Bell and we will try to work with your school. 

We will also have a representative from University Admissions at the lunch area with materials about Grand Valley State University who can answer any questions for any students interested in more information about the university. We are also happy to discuss our Theatre program with any students interested in pursuing theatre. 

Online Reservations are open for schools and home schools to use to request tickets for our matinee performances. We encourage you to make your reservations right away as we do anticipate the performances to fill. Additional questions can be addressed to Jim Bell

Bard to Go: Excellent Falsehood

The always popular, energetic, flexible, and entertaining Bard to Go returns ready to travel to West Michigan area schools to perform their 50 minute production that blends different Shakespeare Scenes based on a common theme and tied to a contemporary backstory. This season features the all new Bard to Go: Excellent Falsehood. Shakespeare’s plots often feature elements of disguise, deceit, and trickery, with the characters sharing their plans with the audience while turning false faces to the others on stage. Join the actors for a wild ride to find the truth behind these layers of deception. This program features scenes from such plays as Twelfth Night, Hamlet, Henry IV, and Much Ado About Nothing. Bard to Go is a 50-minute program of scenes from multiple Shakespearean plays, and includes narration that will give your students context to the scenes and characters. The performance can be adapted to a variety of spaces and will introduce students to Shakespearean performance with a variety of scenes from several plays. Bard to Go is especially relevant to Michigan high school performing arts standards 3, 4, and 5, which set the goals of students describing, analyzing, and evaluating works of art in their historical context, as well as analyzing the connections between the arts and everyday life.

Bard to Go: Excellent Falsehood tours on Fridays in October, performing in the mornings or afternoons. School's can also request to book Bard to Go for both performances on a Friday. Tour dates will be:  

October 9, October 16, October 23, and 30. 

Bard to Go is flexible in its use of performance spaces, and can adapt to theatres, cafeterias, gyms, or large classroom spaces. The production will require a space approximately 20 feet wide by 25 feet deep, with ceiling clearance of at least 9 feet. We will also need access to electrical outlets and a separate dressing area for the actors. The cost to bring Bard to Go to your school is $250.00.

Our online reservation form is open for schools to request tour dates. For additional questions about the production and booking information, contact Katherine Mayberry, Bard to Go producer/dramaturg.

Even when we are not performing a Shakespeare production, we still have a full season of interesting and quality productions, many of which might interest high school theatre groups, Thespian troupes, Language Arts classes, or other educational communities. Groups can always contact us about coordinating times to come see a production. We especially encourage juniors and seniors who are interested in theatre to contact us, arrange to come to campus for a visit, and receive complimentary tickets for them and their family to see a production. Any group or student can always email me, as the  Festival’s Managing Director, Jim Bell, at [email protected], or the GVSU Music, Theatre, and Dance Recruitment Coordinator, Bridgett Vanderhoof at [email protected], to arrange a visit.