Performances June 24 – August 15

Chautauqua Theater Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Andrew Borba and Managing Director Sarah Clare Corporandy, announces the launch of Free Will: Chautauqua Shakespeare in the Park, a new program that will bring free, public Shakespeare performances to Chautauqua Institution and venues across Chautauqua County in partnership with the City of Jamestown (as part of the Summer Performance Series at Allen Park), the Mayville / Chautauqua Community Chamber of Commerce (as part of the Summer Concert Series at Lakeside Park) and Southern Tier Brewing Company. Borba will direct the program’s inaugural production, As You Like It . Tickets are free and performances are open to the public.

“We work with some of the best young actors in the country and we can’t wait to share their special talents with the surrounding community,” Borba said. “It’s the perfect summer evening event for the entire family. Fun, funny, free and outside watching the young, the old and the foolish fall in love. We are honored to partner with these organizations around Chautauqua County and look forward to bringing the communities together.”

A full schedule of the performances for Free Will: Chautauqua Shakespeare in the Park is included below. The performance will run 90 minutes. Audience members are encouraged to bring their own blankets and chairs. Seating will be handled on a first-come, first-serve basis.

About As You Like It : Journey through the Forest of Arden with rag-tag rebels, lovesick poets, witty clowns, spunky heroines and young lovers. As You Like It is one of Shakespeare’s funniest comedies, perfect for a summer evening outdoors.

Performance Schedule

5 p.m. Sunday, June 24 on Bestor Plaza, Chautauqua Institution
7 p.m. Thursday, June 28 at Allen Park, 2018 Summer Performance Series, sponsored by the City of Jamestown
6:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 18 at Southern Tier Brewing Company
6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 1 at Southern Tier Brewing Company
6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 2 at Lakeside Park, sponsored by the Mayville/Chautauqua Community Chamber of Commerce
7 p.m. Wednesday Aug. 15 at Allen Park, 2018 Summer Performance Series, sponsored by the City of Jamestown

About Chautauqua Theater Company

Entering its 35th Season, Chautauqua Theater Company is the resident professional theater and Conservatory of Chautauqua Institution. Internationally known actors, directors, designers and writers join 20 emerging artists drawn from the nation’s top training programs to form a unique company that produces a vibrant summer of work in the historic Bratton Theater. Dedicated to the next generation of theater artists, the development of new work, first-rate productions of modern and contemporary classics, and fresh insight into Shakespeare’s canon, CTC produces the best of a year-round regional theater within eight weeks of Chautauqua’s nine-week summer season.

About Chautauqua Institution

The pre-eminent expression of lifelong learning in the United States, Chautauqua Institution comes alive each summer with a unique mix of fine and performing arts, lectures, interfaith worship and programs, and recreational activities. Over the course of nine weeks, more than 100,000 people visit Chautauqua and participate in programs, classes and community events for all ages — all within the beautiful setting of a historic lakeside village. As a community, we celebrate, encourage and study the arts and treat them as integral to all of learning, and we convene the critical conversations of the day to advance understanding through civil dialogue.