Alabama Shakespeare Festival Announces 2023-24 Season

World premiere of Southern play among six productions, including Shakespeare, A Christmas Carol, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Alabama Shakespeare Festival has announced its 2023-2024 season featuring a world premiere among its six productions. In its 52nd season, ASF continues its mission of building community by engaging, entertaining, and inspiring people with transformative theatrical performances and compelling educational and community programs. “This upcoming season is filled with celebration and joy. In putting together this lineup of shows, I wanted to create something that would serve a multigenerational audience,” said ASF Artistic Director Rick Dildine. Opening the season is Shakespeare’s fantastical comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. A full-scale production of A Christmas Carol takes over the Festival Stage in a tremendous celebration of the holiday season. The new year brings a celebration of Blues music with Blues in the Night, a musical revue. Then everyone’s favorite detective stalks the boards in Ken Ludwig’s comic thriller, Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery. From the 2022 Southern Writers Festival emerges the world premiere of Zelda In the Backyard by Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder. Our season ends in summer with a musical of biblical proportions when Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s spectacle, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, takes the Festival Stage. “We so appreciate the dedication of our subscribers and patrons, especially over these past two seasons.” said ASF Executive Director Todd Schmidt. “We hope to see them all back in Season 52 — joined by even more theatre lovers — for the exceptional work ASF is known for.”

Season 52 Productions

William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream | September 14 – October 1, 2023

ASF Artistic Director Rick Dildine brings Shakespeare’s classic comedy to life with a dazzling production. Four young lovers facing the prospect of an unhappy marriage escape into a magical forest. Nearby, a fairy king and queen are engaged in a war of wills, and a crew of amateur actors is rehearsing for a royal wedding. One wily sprite intent on mischief has orders to intervene. What could possibly go wrong? Set within a child’s attic, this production fosters wild imagination and uses live music throughout.

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol | November 16 – December 24, 2023

ASF returns to a full production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol on the Festival Stage. When miserly Ebenezer Scrooge receives an unwanted visit from the ghost of his former business partner on Christmas Eve, an overnight voyage of epic proportions begins. Journey with Scrooge as he learns from his ghosts (and Bob, Tiny Tim, and the Cratchits) a heartwarming lesson in forgiveness and the change we can make around us. This play is a joyful Christmas tradition for the entire family!

Blues in the Night | February 8 – March 3, 2024

The soul of the blues wails out full and strong in Blues in the Night, a scorching, Tony-nominated musical! The 26 hot and torchy numbers tell of the sweet, sexy, and sorrowful experiences three women have with the lying, cheating snake of a man who does them wrong. Glorious songs from Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington, Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen, Alberta Hunter, Jimmy Cox, Ida Cox, and more tell of the pain and misery of life and love — and the dogged determination to get through it all — that is the essence of the blues.

Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery | April 18 – May 12, 2024

Get your deerstalker cap on — the play’s afoot! Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson must crack the mystery of “The Hound of the Baskervilles” before a family curse dooms its newest heir. Does a wild hellhound prowl the moors of Devonshire? Can our heroes discover the truth in time? Join the fun as Holmes and Watson face a dizzying web of clues, silly accents, disguises, and deceit as five actors deftly portray more than 40 characters. You’ll enjoy the perfect mix of slapstick and thrills.

Zelda In the Backyard | June 13 – June 30, 2024

When Libby inherits a wrecked 1961 Rolls Royce, she sets off on a journey to reassemble the car and pieces of the past her father left behind. In honor of her Alabama roots, she names the car after Zelda Fitzgerald. A little broken herself, Libby finds herself with a new understanding of marriage and family. From the playwright of Gee’s Bend and White Lightning, Zelda in the Backyard is a story of love and loss, and all the roads in between. *World Premiere: This play was developed through ASF’s 2022 Southern Writers Festival of New Plays.

Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat | July 11 – August 11, 2024

One of the most enduring shows of all time, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is a humorous retelling of the Biblical story of Joseph, his 11 brothers, his father Jacob, and the coat of many colors. Follow Joseph’s journey from bondage to becoming Pharaoh’s right-hand man to his ultimate reunion with his family. This delightful and merry musical — embracing country-western, calypso, and Elvis-style rock — will have you singing in your seat and long after you leave the theatre!

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