MEASURE U SPOTLIGHT: SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL
Two of Mammoth Lakes Recreation’s Measure U partners are collaborating for the 5th time to produce the Mammoth Shakespeare Festival. Read on to learn more about Mammoth Lakes Repertory Theatre and Sierra Classic Theatre as they join forces to bring us Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream this month at Eagle Lodge.
Tell us a little about the Mammoth Shakespeare Festival.
The Mammoth Shakespeare Festival running Aug 5-24th 2025, is a collaboration between Sierra Classic Theatre and Mammoth Lakes Repertory Theatre. The two groups decided to collaborate to expand the existing Shakespeare in the Woods program that had been running for 10 years. The Mammoth Shakespeare Festival includes two productions performed in repertory. The actors are mostly community members though sometimes we add a guest artist. This year we are presenting Romeo & Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Eagle Lodge. Mammoth Lakes Repertory Theatre also provides a Shakespeare Camp for kids that is the last 2 weeks in July for young thespians aged 7-17. They rehearse and perform a Shakespeare play over 2 weeks. Anyone can get more information about either program at MammothShakes.com.
How does the Festival impact the lives of people in Mammoth Lakes?
Theater is, simply, entertainment, but it’s also much, much more. For example, the first year of the Mammoth Shakespeare Festival was the first live community event in Mammoth to happen after the pandemic lockdown. Theater provides community. People who have just moved here, who know no one do a show with us, volunteer backstage for us, and they immediately have a community. People gather to laugh and cry under the stars and hear stories that have been performed all over the world for 400 years. We offer these productions free of charge and our community is better for it by being exposed to live theatre.
The Festival is a Measure U grant recipient, can you tell us what you use that funding for in your program/organization?
The Measure U funding has helped us immeasurably. Ticket sales alone do not pay for all the cost of our productions. Measure U helps pay for the costs for set building, costumes, and props. Our sets, and sound have gotten so much better because of Measure U.
Did the Measure U grant funding make it possible for you to offer programming that would not have been available otherwise?
Absolutely. We would never be able to do two shows in repertory, which is what the festival is all about. Performing outside in Mammoth, even in summer, is always risky. One year it was 30 degrees, which kept audiences away.
How did the Measure U grant funding help your program/organization to provide opportunities for locals to engage with arts/culture/mobility/recreation?
We hold auditions locally where all community members are encouraged to audition. We also sent out a call for volunteers. All shows need a minimum of at least 50-75 volunteers to make the shows happen. This year we were able to cast every actor that came out for Shakespeare this year. We have 34 actors in the Mammoth Shakespeare Festival this year, from ages 9 to 78. Many of the cast in Romeo and Juliet are teenagers. Their parents have said that without this they would be milling about, doing very little besides working part time. Instead, they are playing lead roles in Shakespeare. My Romeo and Juliet are 17 years old. We have cast brand new residents and long-term residents. It’s super exciting to watch them excel as artists and people. We have volunteer opportunities for front of house and for costumers, set designers, and sound designers. We welcome everyone who wants to get involved.
What is the next big thing happening with your organization/program?
We open the 5th Annual Mammoth Shakespeare festival on August 5th with Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. These are two of the most famous Shakespeare plays and we are very excited by the choices and hope audiences will come in droves. Tim Casey built Juliet a beautiful balcony. We are hoping to find a permanent home for the festival and a place to do shows year-round until the McCoy Arts and Cultural Center is built.
Do you have any words of advice for other programs/organizations that might be looking at applying for Measure U funding?
Just do it! And try to make programs that are either free to the public or affordable. We keep Shakespeare donation-based only so anybody and everybody can come. Everything is too expensive right now and it divides us if we let it.
About Mammoth Lakes Recreation
Formed in 2014, Mammoth Lakes Recreation’s mission is to deliver cutting edge sustainable recreation, mobility, and arts & culture opportunities and infrastructure for the benefit of the community and natural environment of Mammoth Lakes. For more information, go to www.mammothlakesrecreation.org.