Bard on the Beach



Bard on the Beach is Western Canada's largest professional Shakespeare festival, which is held every year in open-ended tents on the waterfront in Vanier Park in Kitsilano, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival’s 22nd season runs June 2 to September 24, 2011.

History
Bard on the Beach began as an Equity Co-op in the summer of 1990, funded primarily by a Canada Council Explorations grant awarded to Artistic Director Christopher Gaze. With this funding, and with generous help from many supporters in the community, Christopher and a passionate company of actors whom he had directed in Under Milk Wood at the 1989 Vancouver Fringe Festival,staged A Midsummer Night’s Dream as an Equity Co-op production in a rented tent in Vanier Park. More than 6,000 people came and the city was suddenly in love with Shakespeare. This success flagged the need for a more formal not-for-profit theatre company structure, and in the fall of 1990 Bard on the Beach Theatre Society was born.

The site
Bard is located in Vanier Park just at the south end of the Burrard Street Bridge in Vancouver. It consists of two stages: The Mainstage and The Douglas Campbell Studio Stage. There is also a group of tents known as the Bard Village which contains the box office, a gift shop, and a concession.

Mainstage
In 2011, Bard on the Beach designed a custom-built Mainstage tent which offers expanded seating of 742 seats, a redesigned stage and more comfortable seating for patrons. It is open-ended with a backdrop of False Creek, the Coast Mountains and city skyline. The set itself changes year to year to accommodate the performance.

Douglas Campbell Studio Stage
The Douglas Campbell Studio Stage was added in 1999 and is named after the Canadian stage actor, Douglas Campbell. The studio stage now presents two of Shakespeare's plays each year. The tent itself seats 240 people. The stage configuration and set for the studio stage, like the mainstage, changes every year.

Bard education
Bard on the Beach provides opportunities for students, teachers, and lifelong learners to enhance their experience of Shakespeare's plays through:
 * Bard in the Classroom (interactive workshops for students in their classrooms)
 * Young Shakespeareans
 * Bard Unbound (one- to three-day workshops for classroom teachers)
 * Bard Explored (public lecture series)
 * Student Matinees

Young Shakepeareans workshops
The Young Shakespeareans workshops are workshops for youth aged 8 to 18, put on at the festival throughout the summer. They include junior groups and senior groups which last for two weeks at a time, as well as a one week intensive for more experienced actors. The current director of the program is Mike Stack.

Other events
In addition to the four plays, there are a number of events throughout the summer:
 * Chor Leoni Chor Leoni Men's Choir
 * Bard-B-Q and Fireworks
 * Celebrating Red & White
 * Opera and Arias

Chronology of plays

 * 1990
 * A Midsummer Night's Dream
 * 1991
 * A Midsummer Night's Dream
 * As You Like It
 * 1992
 * Twelfth Night
 * The Tempest
 * 1993
 * The Taming of the Shrew
 * Romeo and Juliet
 * 1994
 * The Merry Wives of Windsor
 * King Lear
 * 1995
 * The Comedy of Errors
 * Hamlet
 * 1996
 * Much Ado About Nothing
 * The Merchant of Venice
 * 1997
 * Love's Labour's Lost
 * The Winter's Tale
 * 1998
 * As You Like It
 * Richard III
 * 1999
 * A Midsummer Night's Dream
 * Macbeth
 * Measure for Measure
 * 2000
 * The Tempest
 * Henry IV, part 1
 * All's Well That Ends Well
 * 2001
 * The Taming of the Shrew
 * Antony and Cleopatra
 * The Two Gentlemen of Verona
 * 2002
 * Twelfth Night
 * Henry V
 * Cymbeline
 * 2003
 * The Comedy of Errors
 * The Merchant of Venice
 * Pericles, Prince of Tyre
 * Shylock (a modern play about the character Shylock)
 * Bard in the Vineyard:
 * A Midsummer Night's Dream
 * 2004
 * Much Ado About Nothing
 * The Merry Wives of Windsor
 * Macbeth
 * 2005
 * As You Like It
 * Love's Labour's Lost
 * Hamlet
 * Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (by Tom Stoppard)
 * 2006
 * A Midsummer Night's Dream
 * Measure for Measure
 * The Winter's Tale
 * Troilus and Cressida
 * 2007
 * The Taming of the Shrew
 * Romeo and Juliet
 * Timon of Athens
 * Julius Caesar
 * 2008
 * King Lear
 * Twelfth Night
 * The Tempest
 * Titus Andronicus
 * 2009
 * All's Well That Ends Well (Jun 25 – Sept 19)
 * The Comedy of Errors (Jun 10 – Sept 26)
 * Othello (May 28 – Sept 25)
 * Richard II (Jun 8 – Sept 18)
 * 2010
 * Antony and Cleopatra
 * Falstaff (a combination of Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2)
 * Henry V
 * Much Ado About Nothing
 * 2011
 * As You Like It
 * The Merchant of Venice
 * Henry VI: The Wars of the Roses (a combination of Henry VI Parts 1, 2, and 3)
 * Richard III