Be vigitant! And if you have legs— you will come! To the final production of the 2026 Frederick Shakespeare Festival— Ardeo Theatre Company’s Much Ado About Nothing! Set in the bodacious and totally rad 1980s, this hilarious Shakespearean comedy is directed by Aaron Angello and features a mostly repertory cast from the FSF first main-stage show of 2026, Henry IV Part 1. Witty, humorous, heartfelt, and above all fun,
I will live in thy heart, die in thy lap, and be buried in thy eyes— and moreover, I will go with thee to— the black box at Tatem Arts to crash a rehearsal? Bet Shakespeare didn’t see that one coming! And neither, perhaps did the fantastic four— Beatrice, Benedick, Claudio, and Hero— as they were beset upon by me for a romping jaunt of a round-robin interview! In a TheatreBloom sit down exclusive, we’ve picked the brains of Shakespeare’s living finest…Gillian Shelly,
Is not truth the truth? Instinct is a great matter. And your instincts ought be telling you to get thee to Frederick for the inaugural production of the 2026 Frederick Shakespeare Festival— Henry IV Part 1 as presented by Unstrung Harpist. Directed by Evan Crump, this jam-packed history can turn even the most skeptical of audient into a history appreciator if not wholly an enthusiast. Remarkably well executed, this sword-clashing, heartbreaking, villainously ripe tale doth tread upon the heels of Richard II,
‘Zounds, I will speak of it; and let my soul want mercy, if I do not join with them!
And speak on’t I shall. Borrowing some words in true wordsmith fashion, a call to attend! Attend thyselves upon this festival of merriment, this festival of drawn-daggers and teacups (every family has one) and knavery and bloody history and comedy and tragedy and all! Tis true— tis The Frederick Shakespeare Festival upon which I dote and dare speak (and will be waiting for two of the directors to flounce me round the ears for my bastardization of Shakespeare’s tongue,
For let them be Diana’s foresters, gentlemen of the shade (and indoor air-conditioning!) minions of the moon! Said Falstaff, Act I Scene ii, more or less. In a TheatreBloom sit-down, we’re chit-chatting all around the moon minions— or at least with two of them— Evan Crump, Artistic Director of Unstrung Harpist and director of Henry IV Part I, and Aaron Angello, Co-Artistic Director of Ardeo Theatre Company and director of Much Ado About Nothing— AND they’re both acting in each other’s Shakespeare offerings in the 2026 Frederick Shakespeare Festival!
We all peel labels. The most innocuous, seemingly mundane line to not only land but stick indefinitely from a production that has arguably thousands of lines to choose from or resonate with. Edward Albee and Betty Brevity are not besties (spoiler: neither are she and I!) but there’s a reason his verbose textual structure has garnered him the success and accolades that it has through the decades of his works’ existence. But that one line— “we all peel labels” is the most brutally exacting descriptor for what’s happening in this current production of Who’s Afraid of Virigina Woolf?
You go to the theatre for a little relief, to be a community of people who laugh together. Or perhaps in this case, clutch their hands to their hearts and cry together. God of Vengeance, a real play by Sholem Asch, written in 1906, was surrounded by controversy, and on March 8th 1923, the Broadway production was cut short when the entire cast, producer, and one of the theatre owners were arrested and indicted (and later convicted) on charges of obscenity…of indecency.
Resolved to never belong to anyone but herself, Edna Pontellier controlled her own destiny.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Picture it. A balmy, breezy, almost tropical evening on Grand Isle. Louisiana Gulf. Cottages. 1890’s. Summertime. Can you feel the sea breeze blowing in? Smell the scent of the water? Can you hear the French Creole dialect running thick like Cajun gumbo through the words that get spoken? You’ll picture it a whole lot better if you slip on over to Endangered Species Theatre Project this April to experience their extraordinary production of Rebecca Chace’s The Awakening.
The smartest thing you can ever learn is that you don’t have all the answers. Not to life, not to death, not to love. In a strikingly beautiful and evocative world premier work, playwright Audrey Cefaly debuts her new play Maytag Virgin at Quotidian Theatre Company as a part of the Women’s Voices Theater Festival. Directed by Cefaly, this two-person heartwarming tale explores how fragile human life can be, and how even among the shattered debris of ruined life true beauty can be found.