Last updated March 13, 2020 at 10:00 AM
Your safety is of the highest priority to us.
This is an extremely difficult announcement for us. In the face of the public health crisis, we have decided to cancel our spring shows: Troilus and Cressida, Macbeth, and the public performances of our Hamlet tour. After reviewing Governor Inslee’s proclamation on Wednesday, and the Seattle and King County Public Health directives that followed, including the requirement of social distancing, we are considering the safety of patrons, artists, staff, volunteers, students, and everyone who makes up Seattle Shakespeare. After observing responses from our patrons and noting the broader impacts of COVID-19, we believe that the best path forward is cancelling these two shows.
Sadly, due to the nature of the calendar booking in our facility, we do not have the ability to postpone to later in the spring. We will look at the potential of bringing these productions back in a future season.
We are in a crisis – as a theatre, a community, a region, a country, a planet. A major purpose of what we do as a theatre, with our colleagues in the performing arts, is bring people together. Regardless of differences, we gather. That gathering—as audiences, as artists—is utterly impossible in the face of the current crisis.
More than 30% of Seattle Shakespeare Company’s annual revenues are generated between March 17th and May 17th. After 29 years, we are now questioning how we survive as a non-profit theatre company. Seattle Shakespeare is not an impersonal entity. It is a community of people committed to bringing Shakespeare’s works and classical theatre to audiences, students, and teachers – to you – with a variety of performances and programs.
What can you do?
- If you currently hold tickets to a cancelled performance, you will receive a notice soon about your options of making a fully tax-deductible donation or requesting a credit towards a performance next season.
- Make a special gift! A donation today is an investment in the future of this valuable work and this community.
- Whether it’s us or not – donate to one of the performing arts organizations that make our region so incredibly special. This is a devastating time for all – and now we need your support more than ever.
We are looking forward to special programming opportunities when this passes. We’re already looking at plans for our free parks productions of Othello and The Comedy of Errors this summer. We are rescheduling some of our work in the schools to late May and June. With your help, we will move forward.
Thank you!
John Bradshaw
Managing Director
George Mount
Artistic Director