Shaping Shakespeare: How American Shakespeare Festivals Adapt Shakespeare’s Texts in the Twenty-First Century
Shakespeare’s continued importance in American festival settings stems from adaptive and collaborative processes. In this study, adaptation refers to any reinterpretation of Shakespeare's works for contemporary contexts, while collaboration refers to the combined creative efforts among artists and institutions. These processes, including reinterpretation, modernization, and partnership, propel performance and underpin Shakespeare festivals. Such festivals play a central role, balancing cultural prestige with institutional sustainability by prioritizing long-term viability and financial health. At the same time, festivals respond to local audiences' beliefs and interests. Instead of presenting static versions, these institutions continually interpret, revise, and adapt the canon, the authoritative collection of Shakespeare's works, with leadership and public discussion guiding these choices. Examining these processes shows how Shakespeare remains a dynamic and living presence in modern American festivals. This dissertation contends that adaptive choices at American Shakespeare festivals over the last twenty-five years are primarily shaped by the interaction of institutional stewardship and cultural discussion. It specifically argues that collaborative script editing, guided by both artistic leaders and community values, is the key mechanism through which these parties influence interpretive outcomes. By documenting how festival stakeholders, including artistic directors, dramaturgs, directors, actors, and designers, negotiate artistic, operational, and communal priorities in the script review and revision process, this study demonstrates that these negotiations are the decisive driver of the production’s final interpretation. This study argues that Shakespearean adaptation in the US is primarily shaped by collective institutional editing, rather than by individual vision or textual changes. Here, collective editing refers to the formal and informal negotiation processes among festivals, leaders, and stakeholders to align artistic, ethical, and financial priorities. Shakespeare festivals exist as collaborations in which artistic authority and creative responsibility are shared among artistic directors, actors, board members, and donors. These participants play key roles in interpreting Shakespeare and in addressing textual clarity, production ethics, audience accessibility, and financial sustainability. By examining institutional dynamics, the organizational structures and processes, this dissertation expands models of adaptation and emphasizes the impact of nonprofit governance, particularly the influence of board-led decision-making and accountability on contemporary Shakespeare staging. This project examines nine American Shakespeare festivals through production analysis, institutional research, and practitioner interviews. These selected case studies explore the participating festivals across diverse regions and organizational models. The studies show how editorial decisions at both the production and programming levels relate to broader issues. For example, choices about casting, textual cuts, translations, and staging reinterpret Shakespeare’s work on gender, race, and cultural identity. Programming sometimes creates thematic season pairings, clustering plays around themes such as patriotism, resistance, and civic identity. The dissertation also describes how festivals, through digital performances, alternative formats, and new audience models, responded to COVID-19. Collectively, the case studies reveal how institutional structures both guide and constrain interpretive choices in Shakespearean performance. This study illustrates institutional negotiations in practice. Several chapters examine how production-level editorial decisions, alterations to text, casting, or staging for modern needs, reshape plays through casting, dramaturgical framing, and textual revision. Other chapters survey festival programming and public initiatives of the planned slate of performances and events. These chapters examine how festivals place Shakespeare in civic discussions while upholding his literary status and reinforcing his enduring cultural authority. The study also explores how disruptions, such as the murder of George Floyd and the rise of the MeToo movement, led to new adaptations and stagings of lesser-staged texts, strategies that expand access, community discussion, and challenge traditional festival models. This dissertation argues that adapted performance in American Shakespeare festivals is fundamentally determined by the exchange between institutional and cultural elements. It furthers the central claim that adaptation is an ongoing, collaborative, and institutionally managed process rather than a static act of preservation. By highlighting organizational guardianship and cultural participation as the primary factors shaping textual adaptation, this study offers new insights into Shakespeare’s continued relevance in American festivals and contributes directly to adaptation scholarship. The dissertation will show that Shakespeare’s relevance in American festivals depends on collaborative editing. Shared adaptation, institutional stewardship, and continuous engagement connect early modern literature to modern culture through Shakespeare festivals. These collaborative systems keep the canon historically grounded, while supporting adaptations for contemporary life and sustaining Shakespeare’s vitality.
American Shakespeare festivals, Collaborative script editing, Cultural mediation, Performance studies, Shakespeare Adaptation, Shakespeare in performance
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