Shakespeare on the Road

From 4 July - 25 August 2014 the Shakespeare on the Road team embarked upon an epic road trip around America and Canada in a unique project to discover and document the untold story of the Bard in the USA in the 450th anniversary of his birth.

The project aimed to capture, for the first time, a comprehensive picture of Shakespeare’s place in contemporary American culture through the voices of artists and audiences across the continent. It was also a reverse pilgrimage, celebrating the USA’s astonishing range of Shakespearian performance in classic road trip / travel writing fashion online.

The team visited the following festivals throughout the tour:

• Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, Kansas City, MO
  
• New Orleans Shakespeare Festival at Tulane, New Orleans, LA
  
• Shakespeare at Winedale, Winedale, TX
  
• Utah Shakespeare Festival, Cedar City, UT
  
• Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum, Topanga, CA
  
• Livermore Shakespeare Festival, Livermore, CA
  
• Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland, OR
  
• Montana Shakespeare Festival, Bozeman, MT
  
• Door Shakespeare Festival, Door, WI
  
• Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Chicago, IL
  
• Harlem Shakespeare Festival, NYC, NY
  
• Shakespeare and Co., Lenox, MA
  
• Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Stratford, ON
  
• Nashville Shakespeare Festival, Nashville, TN
  
• American Shakespeare Center, Staunton, VA
  
• Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington DC

Shakespeare on the Road is a collaborative venture by The University of Warwick and The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, which is based in the playwright’s hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon. Project leaders include Dr Paul Prescott, Associate Professor at the University of Warwick, and Rev. Dr Paul Edmondson, Head of Research and Knowledge at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. 

For photos, podcasts and stories from the trip please visit our Shakespeare on the Road website.