The Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre

The Experience

Here you will find Shakespeare’s stories told in his own words. The stories are so clear that the language sounds as natural as contemporary speech. This direct effect is achieved by an intense commitment to realizing the playwright’s true meaning.

Always contemporary, always relevant, the productions create the vitality of the play and reflect modern day hopes and fears. “People in the audience were leaning forward attentively, following the argument, waiting to see what happens, as though this were a new play,” wrote Toby Zinman in the City Paper.

History

Carmen Khan founded The Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival in 1996 after leading the Red Heel Theatre Company since 1994. Originally from London, she maintains, “Shakespeare saved me” when she was 14 and living in a frightening neighborhood. Immerse yourself, October through June, in the timeless beauty of Shakespeare at the festival’s 120-seat theater, once a Lutheran church community hall, a few blocks from fashionable Rittenhouse Square.