Idaho Shakespeare Festival grows from small downtown production to world-class theatrical showcase

This story is an excerpt from the forthcoming ebook Boise: Metropolis of Timber, due out this fall from David R. Day and the BoiseDev staff. You’ll be able to pre-order now.

Every summer time because the Nineteen Seventies, Boiseans have packed a picnic, a bottle of wine, and possibly a low-back chair and headed out to see dwell theater within the nice open air.

In 1977, The Idaho Shakespeare Competition first began producing goals on midsummer nights with — nicely, A Midsummer Night time’s Dream.

From that first play carried out on a grassy hillside subsequent to a downtown workplace constructing to at this time, thespians have carried out greater than 200 totally different productions. From all of Shakespeare’s nice works to performs as various as Little Store of Horrors, The Crucible, Metal Magnolias, and Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the pageant is a spotlight of summer time evenings in Boise.

After transferring from downtown to a Backyard Metropolis golf course to ParkCenter Blvd., the pageant settled into its present house — a novel amphitheater in Boise’s Barber Valley. The Idaho Shakespeare Competition Amphitheater and Reserve is anchored by an outside theater mentioned to pay homage to Shakespeare’s personal Globe Theater in London. It sits only a stone’s throw from the Boise River, surrounded by cottonwood timber, chirping crickets, and possibly even a passing fox.

The 770-seat amphitheater is surrounded by lush grounds managed by the Idaho Basis for Parks & Lands and the Idaho Division of Parks and Recreation. Although nonetheless inside Boise’s metropolis limits, watching a play on this setting feels a bit like being transported to a far-off place, having fun with dwell efficiency artwork whereas experiencing Idaho’s nice open air.

Shakespeare wrote, “all of the world’s a stage” – and on the amphitheater, you are feeling such as you may simply be at top-of-the-line phases on the planet.

You’ll be able to pre-order Boise: Metropolis of Timber, due out this fall.