SUPPORT Our 2026 Season & YEAR-ROUND PROGRAMMING:
Shakespeare in Forest Park: The Tempest
MAY 27 - JUNE 21, 2026
DIRECTED BY RICK DILDINE
After a violent storm, travelers wash ashore on a mysterious island where nothing is quite as it seems. Ruled by Prospero – a mother and sorcerer haunted by betrayal – the island becomes a place where old wounds resurface. As tensions rise between Prospero, her daughter, and the brother who stole her future, magic, romance, and mischief bloom. The Tempest is a spellbinding story of forgiveness, love, and finding your way home.
TourCo: The Two Gentlemen of Verona
AUGUST 19 - SEPTEMBER 12, 2026
DIRECTED BY REBEKAH SCALLET
TourCo brings a free, abridged production of Shakespeare's classics directly into various community spaces throughout the Missouri/Illinois bi-state region. Actors perform in Shakespeare's original language, not a translation. Before each show, actors lead audiences through a Living Study Guide: a passage from the text is performed in Shakespeare's language and then interpreted in modern vernacular-posing questions and identifying themes.
Shakespeare in the Zoos: Romeo & Zooliet
SEPTEMBER 22 - OCTOBER 11, 2026
IN SHAKESPEARE GLEN
Romeo & Zooliet is a vibrant family comedy filled with laughter, friendship, and larger-than-life puppets. It’s a playful celebration of curiosity, courage, and connection – perfect for audiences of all ages.
The new and improved production features dazzling animal puppetry by world-renowned Michael Curry Design, known for its work on Broadway’s The Lion King and Frozen along with Olympic and Super Bowl ceremonies. It is adapted from the award-winning graphic novel "The Stratford Zoo Midnight Revue Presents: Romeo and Juliet" by Ian Lendler.
Romeo and Zooliet tells the story of zoo animals mounting their own production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. In this animal-centered version, the Montagues are herbivores and the Capulets are carnivores. Can Romeo, a prairie dog, and Juliet, a grizzly bear, cross the biological divide and become best friends?
PROGRAMS BEHIND THE SCENES
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Sumner High School Arts & Activism Residency: Since 2021, the Festival has worked alongside 4theVille and the Sumner Advisory Board to co-lead the Sumner Recovery Plan, an innovative model of community-based public education that is driving academic achievement and restoring Sumner as a beacon of excellence in St. Louis. Together we mobilize and coordinate a consortium of 17 St. Louis cultural institutions that deliver daily, in-school arts instruction to the next generation of trailblazers.
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Confluence Regional Writers Project: This program was developed in 2018 to foster a regional culture of playwriting and to uplift Midwest voices by providing support and inspiration to emerging playwrights in the Missouri-Illinois bistate. Over the course of a year, playwrights workshop brand new scripts in writers' retreats, under the guidance of a nationally-produced program director. Their new plays are presented in staged readings as part of the Confluence New Play Festival each Spring.
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School Residencies & Summer Shakespeare Studio: The Festival’s resident teaching artist partners with schools and their drama programs to deliver a variety of Shakespearean education opportunities, from a one-time seminar to a semester-long workshop that culminates in a full performance. Students can also engage with the techniques and stagecraft of Shakespeare through a two-week summer camp program, preparing an abridged version of one of the Bard’s works to be showcased on the mainstage in Shakespeare Glen!