History of the Houston Shakespeare Festival
Prior to the establishment of the Festival, the fully equipped, city-supported Miller Outdoor Theatre boasted an impressive list of classical and jazz concerts, ballets, and operas in its schedule of free entertainment.
Spoken drama was conspicuously missing.
In 1975, Sidney Berger, then Director of the School of Theatre at the University of Houston , met with university administrators and the Miller Theatre Advisory Council to enlist support for a two-production season of Shakespeare's works to be played in repertory on Miller Theatre's bill.
The trial season was greeted with enthusiasm. Audience sizes exceeded expectations, and letters of appreciation from private citizens and city officials were sent to the University's administration. In this unique collaboration between a city and a university, the works of the greatest playwright in our civilization's history could be produced on a sustained and professional basis.
Funding sources and audiences have grown in successive seasons. In addition to a budget appropriation, the University of Houston provides rehearsal space, offices, scenery and costume shops, as well as personnel in the areas of administration and development. There is now a Festivals Company Board of Directors whose interests also include the Children's Theatre Festival.
For many seasons, HSF engaged a number of Actors' Equity Association Guest Artists. In 1989, the Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts awarded a special grant so that HSF could enter into a seasonal agreement with AEA.
Associations with other related organizations continue. Sidney Berger is co-founder and a past president of the Shakespeare Theatre Association of America, an organization uniting all Shakespearean theatres in North America. Its mission is to act as a forum for the exchange of ideas and resources relating to the production of Shakespeare's plays. Also active is HSF's affiliation with Shakespeare Globe. One of this organization's goals was to reconstruct the Globe Theatre as close to its original site as possible in London, an objective that is now realized. HSF also sponsors Shakespeare Outreach, which presents programs and residencies free to schools and other institutions throughout the city.
Season History, with Directors
2008
Julius Casear - Sidney Berger
Cymbeline - Carolyn Houston Boone
2007
Romeo and Juliet - Carolyn Houston Boone
Love's Labor's Lost - Sidney Berger
2006
Titus Andronicus - Carolyn Houston Boone
The Tempest - Sidney Berger
2005
Hamlet - Carolyn Houston Boone
As You Like It - Sidney Berger
2004
Macbeth - Rob Bundy
The Taming of the Shrew - Sidney Berger
2003
The Winter's Tale - Sidney Berger
Much Ado About Nothing - Rob Bundy
2002
A Midsummer Night's Dream - Sidney Berger
Measure For Measure - Rutherford Cravens
2001
Romeo and Juliet - Sidney Berger
King John - Rutherford Cravens
2000
The Merry Wives of Windsor - Rutherford Cravens
Othello - Sidney Berger
1999
Twelfth Night - Sidney Berger
The Taming of the Shrew - Beth Sandford
1998
The Two Gentlemen of Verona - Rutherford Cravens
King Lear - Sidney Berger
1997
The Tempest - Carolyn Houston Boone
The Comedy of Errors - Sidney Berger
1996
The Winter's Tale - Beth Sandford
Macbeth - Sidney Berger
1995
Pericles - Carolyn Houston Boone
As You Like It - Sidney Berger
1994
Hamlet - Sidney Berger
Love's Labor's Lost - Carolyn Houston Boone
1993
Henry V - Sidney Berger
A Midsummer Night's Dream - Carolyn Houston Boone
1992
Romeo and Juliet - Carolyn Houston Boone
Much Ado About Nothing - Sidney Berger
1991
The Merchant of Venice - Sidney Berger
The Merry Wives of Windsor - Rutherford Cravens
1990
Troilus and Cressida - Rutherford Cravens
The Tempest - Sidney Berger
1989
Coriolanus - Sidney Berger
As You Like It - Greg Leaming
1988
Richard II - Kate Pogue
Twelfth Night - Sidney Berger
1987
Julius Caesar - Kate Pogue
The Taming of the Shrew - Sidney Berger
1986
Othello - Sidney Berger
All's Well That Ends Well - Charles Krohn
1985
Richard III - Sidney Berger
Measure For Measure - Charles Krohn
1984
Hamlet - Sidney Berger
The Two Gentlemen of Verona - Charles Krohn
1983
The Winter's Tale - Charles Krohn
The Comedy of Errors - Sidney Berger
1982
The Tempest - Cecil Pickett
Love's Labor's Lost - Sidney Berger
1981
A Midsummer Night's Dream - Sidney Berger
The Merchant of Venice - Cecil Pickett
1980
King Lear - Sidney Berger
As You Like It - Cecil Pickett
1979
Much Ado About Nothing - Sidney Berger
Twelfth Night - Cecil Pickett
1978
The Merry Wives of Windsor - Cecil Pickett
Macbeth - Sidney Berger
1977
Hamlet - Signey Berger
The Comedy of Errors - Cecil Pickett
1976
The Tempest - Cecil Pickett
Romeo and Juliet - Sidney Berger
1975
The Taming of the Shrew - Sidney Berger
A Midsummer Night's Dream - Cecil Pickett
