Dear Friends of Kingsmen Shakespeare

It is with great sadness that the Kingsmen Shakespeare Board of Directors and Artistic Leadership regretfully announce that due to the uncertainty of the future of public gatherings this summer, the 2020 Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival is cancelled.

The Kingsmen Shakespeare Company, however, is not going away and remains committed to continuing our mission of “presenting professional programs and performances of the works of William Shakespeare for the education and entertainment of people of all ages.” The Kingsmen Shakespeare artistic staff and extended creative family is in the process of developing alternative programs and performances. The educational team is preparing virtual theatre camps for children who are now being home schooled. Our website, social media outlets, and a newsletter will continue to produce content and provide it to you.

For the last 24 years, we have depended upon the loyal support of our donors, our audiences, and our friends. It is by your attendance, your donations, and your spreading the word about us that the Kingsmen Shakespeare Company has grown and thrived. Our regional and national reputation for producing quality professional theatre has been achieved only with your assistance. In these difficult times for all of us, we ask you to recognize the importance of the arts in helping people to get through this ordeal. Theatre companies like ours, depend upon our audiences to survive. Each year Kingsmen has seen between seven and eight thousand attend the festival. Without those audiences and the donations that come from those audiences, this year, Kingsmen Shakespeare will be restricted in what we will be able to do in the future.

We ask you to consider the following:

1. For those of you who have purchased box seats for the 2020 Festival:
   1. Consider applying your purchase to our 25^th Anniversary season in 2021. (Current box seat purchases that are applied to 2021 will be credited at the 2020 price.) Please email info@kingsmenshakespeare.org  or call (805-493-3184)
   2. You may also choose to receive a refund to the card used for purchase. Call (805-493-3184) or email info@kingsmenshakespeare.org
2. If you were planning to make a donation to Kingsmen Shakespeare Company in 2020, please do so now. All donations help us to continue our mission.
   DONATIONS

Each summer as we have gathered together under the stars in Kingsmen Park on the campus of California Lutheran University, we have become part of a unique family.  It is a family that listens to and watches stories that were written more than 400 years ago but stories that still affect and have impact upon our contemporary lives. On behalf of the entire Kingsmen family, we hope you and your family remain safe and healthy and look forward to the next time we gather whether on our screens or in Kingsmen Park.