Shakespeare & Company (Massachusetts)

Shakespeare & Company is an American theatre company located in Lenox, Massachusetts in the Berkshire region of western Massachusetts. It was founded in 1978 by Artistic Director Tina Packer, who stepped down in 2009. Tony Simotes is the current Artistic Director. A co-founder was Kristin Linklater, who developed the Linklater vocal technique and left the company in the mid-1990s. The company performs Shakespeare and new plays of "social and political significance", reaching over 75,000 patrons annually, and it conducts training programs for professional classical actors as well as education programs for elementary through high school students, the latter reaching over 50,000 students annually.

Shakespeare & Company is listed as a Major Festival in the book Shakespeare Festivals Around the World by Marcus D. Gregio (Editor), 2004.

The Fall Festival of Shakespeare
Each fall, the education department of Shakespeare & Company hosts a program called "The Fall Festival of Shakespeare". 10 local high schools in the general vicinity of Shakespeare & Co. participate in this program. Actors from the company come into the schools and direct 90 minute cuts of plays by Shakespeare, which are all performed the weekend before Thanksgiving at Shakespeare & Co. The festival just finished its twenty-third year.

Notable actors and alumni

 * Karen Allen
 * Lauren Ambrose
 * Gillian Barge
 * Alicia Coppola
 * Rebecca DeMornay
 * Richard Dreyfuss
 * Peter Firth
 * Christine Lahti
 * Andie MacDowell
 * Fred Melamed
 * Joe Morton
 * Bill Murray
 * Jeffrey Pierce
 * Bronson Pinchot
 * Oliver Platt
 * Diana Quick
 * Keanu Reeves
 * Jennifer Rubin
 * Alicia Silverstone
 * Anna Deavere Smith
 * Courtney Vance
 * Sigourney Weaver