Enjoy the Shakespeare Festival in Southern, UT Are you a fan of literature and theatre? Perhaps you thoroughly enjoyed reading the works of Shakespeare throughout your schooling? The Shakespeare Festival takes place every summer/fall in Cedar City in partnership with Southern Utah University, and it is a spectacle not to be missed.
Utah History Founded in 1961, the Shakespeare Festival emerged in Cedar City due to a desire for more events by the many tourists visiting the surrounding National Parks. Professors of the theatre and the arts department at the college (now university) decided to create the Shakespeare Festival knowing it would be a success due to the newly planned Interstate passing through Cedar City. Many of the cast members would go downtown and visit cafes dressed in character to lure people to come to the show later that evening, and it quickly became a hit.
Shows and Plays The festival takes place in southern Utah each summer (June-October) and features a variety of Shakespeare plays including Othello, The Merchant of Venice, The Merry Wives Of Windsor and many more. The on-campus Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts is home to the festival and boasts three theaters, some open-air and some indoors. Students and faculty band together to create these unforgettable plays each year.
Awards Shows Not only is the Shakespeare Festival recognized on a local scale, but on a national level as well with having received many prestigious awards. This once small festival has received a Tony Award in 2000, a National Governors Association Award in 2001 and an Emmy Award in 2011. These nationally recognized awards have put the festival on the map and it has quickly become one of the largest tourist destinations in Utah.
The Shakespeare Festival is an event not to be missed in Southern Utah beginning each summer. If you are planning to pass through or visit Cedar City, consider checking out the schedule of plays and making a night out of it. Want to learn more about the festival? Click here. Want to learn more about our beautiful communities located just a quick driving distance away from the festivities? Contact us.