Shakespeare & Company received $25,000 from The Shubert Foundation
LENOX — The Shubert Foundation, an independent New York-based foundation that supports the performing arts, has recently awarded Shakespeare & Company $25,000.This marks the 11th consecutive year the foundation has generously supported the company, with its total grant awards reaching more than $200,000. This year's award represents an increase of 25 percent from last year's grant.
The Shubert Foundation is dedicated to sustaining and advancing the performing arts in the United States, with a particular emphasis on theater and a secondary focus on dance. The foundation does not earmark its awards; all allocations are unrestricted, so as to encourage the artistic process by providing the general operating support that is necessary to lay the groundwork for growth. The foundation gave more than $16 million in grant monies in 2007.
The Shubert Foundation was established in 1945 by Lee and J.J. Shubert in memory of their brother Sam, and is the sole shareholder of the Shubert Organization Inc., which currently owns/operates 20 theaters — 16 on Broadway, one Off-Broadway theatre (the Little Shubert), and one each in Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. In addition, the company has a half interest in Broadway's Music Box Theatre. the Shubert Archive, a working repository of more than six million theatrical documents and related items, operates under the Shubert Foundation aegis.
"This has been a remarkable year for Shakespeare & Company. We enjoyed the soft opening of our new Production and Performing Arts Center, including the beautiful Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre," said Ute DeFarlo, the company's director of development. "Our ongoing $10 million capital campaign has surged past the $8 million mark, an encouraging milestone as we enter the final stretch of the campaign. The generous support of friends like the Shubert Foundation is essential as we improve our facility, grow our programming, and progress on our goal of becoming the first American Center for Shakespeare Performance and Studies."
Shakespeare & Company is in the midst of the longest season in its 31-year history, with an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's "The Canterville Ghost" currently playing in the new Bernstein Theatre until Nov. 9, and a winter run of Theresa Rebeck's "Bad Dates" coming up in January and playing until early March.
Both the 20th anniversary of the Fall Festival of Shakespeare and the second year of the Conservatory at Shakespeare & Company, part of the company's Center For Actor Training, are also currently under way.
For tickets and more information: 413-637-3353 or www.shakespeare.org.
