Season tickets are now on sale for the 2025 Illinois Shakespeare Festival—the first under artistic director Robert Quinlan. The former associate director and frequent director now leads the summer-long festival, following John Stark’s retirement at the end of last season.
Keeping with the tradition of two Shakespeare plays and one of something else, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamlet will run in rotation with a Quinlan-directed production of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest.
University of Illinois theater professor Kim McKean directs the fantastical Midsummer, one of William Shakespeare’s best-known comedies, which opens the festival on June 25. Earnest opens with a June 27 preview. Director Vanessa Stalling, who heads the graduate directing program and University of California – San Diego, tackles the tragedy of Prince Hamlet. Hamlet opens July 12 with a preview the day before.
In addition to the professional productions, which run through Aug. 2, playwright Nancy Steele Brokaw has written an original play based on Shakespeare’s Midsummer focused on youth audiences. Who’s There? is a 40-minute, one-act play performed at 10 a.m. Thursday and Saturdays from July 3-Aug. 2.
The festival will also restore its youth summer camp for students entering grades 6-12, running July 7 – Aug. 1.
Season tickets are $69-$117, on sale now at 309-438-2535 or in person at the Center for Performing Arts box office, 400 Beaufort St. Individual tickets start at $27 and go on sale March 18 at illinoishakes.com. All performances take place at the theater at Ewing Manor.
