{"id":273,"date":"2016-09-14T10:04:04","date_gmt":"2016-09-14T10:04:04","guid":{"rendered":"\/?page_id=273"},"modified":"2023-10-26T10:27:50","modified_gmt":"2023-10-26T14:27:50","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.shawfest.com\/about\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Shaw Festival celebrates the life and spirit of Bernard Shaw by creating theatre that is as entertaining and provocative as Shaw himself.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"height: 600px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shawfest.com\/timeline\/index.shtml\" width=\"600\" height=\"650\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>A singular act of passion for theatre by Brian Doherty of Niagara-on-the-Lake and Calvin G Rand of Buffalo inspired the Shaw Festival into being. Its first season in 1962, held in the Assembly Room of the historic Court House, featured four performances each of <em>Don Juan in Hell<\/em> and <em>Candida<\/em>. The following year, the Shaw Festival Theatre Foundation was established as a non-profit organization.<\/p>\n<p>In its first decade, the Shaw Festival company toured extensively in the United States and Canada while experiencing explosive audience growth. On June 28, 1973 in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, the Festival Theatre was officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Designed by renowned Canadian architect Ronald Thom, the Festival Theatre enabled The Shaw to mount large-scale productions, drawing national and international acclaim.<\/p>\n<p>In 1980, a new era began under Artistic Director Christopher Newton\u2019s leadership. The company grew steadily and built a solid reputation for its exceptional ensemble acting and innovative theatrical designs. The repertory theatre also became known for reviving plays that other companies were unwilling or unable to produce: seminal works such as <em>Cavalcade<\/em> and <em>Lulu<\/em>; once-popular genres such as operettas and stage mysteries; and neglected gems such as <em>Waste<\/em> and <em>The Return of the Prodigal<\/em>. In 2000, the Festival began producing new plays written about Shaw\u2019s lifetime (1856-1950).<\/p>\n<p>Succeeding Mr Newton in 2003, Jackie Maxwell enriched the programming by: including works written by largely forgotten female playwrights from Shaw\u2019s period; commissioning new adaptations by some of Canada\u2019s most respected playwrights; presenting Canadian classics; and initiating enormous growth in new play development. During Ms Maxwell\u2019s first season, The Shaw embarked on its largest construction and renovation project since the Festival Theatre opened thirty years earlier. Officially opened in 2009, the Donald and Elaine Triggs Production Centre houses three rehearsal halls, the largest of which also serves as the Jackie Maxwell Studio Theatre. During Ms Maxwell\u2019s tenure she began producing works by modern writers who embody the spirit of the Festival\u2019s namesake \u2013 writers whose work continues to question the status quo in new and different ways.<\/p>\n<p>Helmed by Artistic Director Tim Carroll (TC),\u00a0The Shaw\u2019s\u00a062nd\u00a0Season runs from\u00a0April 6\u00a0to December 22, including the\u00a0most charming of musical\u2019s Lerner and Loewe\u2019s\u00a0<i>My Fair Lady<\/i>. The Festival stage will also see the staging of the hilarious farce\u00a0<i>One Man, Two Guvnors<\/i>\u00a0and the return of the most famous consulting detective in\u00a0<i>Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the Human Heart<\/i>. The Studio Theatre will play host to Marcus Gardley\u2019s steamy\u00a0<i>The House That Will Not Stand<\/i>\u00a0and a modern update on a classical Chinese drama called\u00a0<i>Snow in Midsummer<\/i>. Over at the Royal George Theatre,\u00a0<i>The Secret Garden<\/i>,\u00a0<i>The Orphan of Chao<\/i>\u00a0and Shaw\u2019s ever-popular\u00a0<i>Candida<\/i>\u00a0will entertain audiences along with Agatha Christie\u2019s thrilling courtroom drama\u00a0<i>Witness for the Prosecution<\/i>. The magical Spiegeltent will feature a variety of cabaret\u2019s, improv and original Ensemble performances. Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins continue on into the holiday season joined by the perennial favourite\u00a0<i>A Christmas Carol<\/i>. Don\u2019t miss what promises to be a loverly season.\u00a0Join us!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Shaw Festival celebrates the life and spirit of Bernard Shaw by creating theatre that is as entertaining and provocative as Shaw himself. A singular act of passion for theatre by Brian Doherty of Niagara-on-the-Lake and Calvin G Rand of Buffalo inspired the Shaw Festival into being. Its first season in 1962, held in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":265,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>History - Shaw Festival Theatre<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"\/about\/history\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"History - Shaw Festival Theatre\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Shaw Festival celebrates the life and spirit of Bernard Shaw by creating theatre that is as entertaining and provocative as Shaw himself. 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