Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival adds roving Shakespeare experience

Author: Erin Blasko

Shakespeare Around The Bend
Shakespeare Around The Bend

The Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival will host “Shakespeare Around the Bend,” an extension of “Shakespeare at Fremont Park,” from July 31 to Aug. 24.

A collaboration with South Bend Venues Parks and Arts, the roving Shakespeare experience will feature local actors performing scenes from the “Shakespeare at Fremont Park” production of “Shakespeare at the Park with George” at local parks as well as The History Museum.

Three of the four performances will take place aboard “Boomer,” SBVPA’s new “mobile experiential vehicle” featuring a stage, sound system and video screen.

The fourth will coincide with the opening of “Full Circle: Shakespearean Culture at Notre Dame” at The History Museum.

A collaboration with Shakespeare at Notre Dame, “Full Circle” explores Shakespeare performance, analysis and culture at Notre Dame through interactive exhibits, costume and set displays, special on-site performances and more.

The special exhibit will run from Aug. 24 to Sept. 7, 2021, in the Ernestine M. Raclin Gallery of Notre Dame History at The History Museum.

Supported, in part, by a Community Impact Grant from Notre Dame's Center for Social Concerns, all four performances are free, family friendly and open to the public.

“This is one of the most exciting efforts on which we’ve ever embarked,” said Grant Mudge, the Ryan Producing Artistic Director of the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival. “Creating performances of Shakespeare, and inspired by Shakespeare, with our neighbors all around South Bend in a new play based on the lives of South Bend residents is an absolute thrill. We can’t wait for audiences to see the shows.”

The schedule is as follows:

• Pulaski Park, 1308 Huron St., South Bend (4:30 p.m. July 31)

• Marshall Park, 1507 Byron Drive, South Bend (4:30 p.m. Aug. 7)

• Southeast Park, Fellows Street at Wenger Street, South Bend (3 p.m. Aug. 10).

• The History Museum, 808 W. Washington St., South Bend (noon to 4 p.m. Aug. 24)

Now in its 20th year, the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival is dedicated to exploring the works of William Shakespeare and other classical authors through performance for the educational, social and cultural enrichment of the community.

For more information, visit shakespeare.nd.edu.

Contact: Erin Blasko, assistant director of media relations, 574-631-4127, eblasko@nd.edu