Nevada Shakespeare Co.

The Nevada Shakespeare Company is a professional theatre company that offers both performances and educational programs primarily in the Northern Nevada region.  

I.  ORGANIZATIONAL INFORMATION

A. History: 

Nevada Shakespeare Company (NSC) was founded in 1999 by Jeanmarie Simpson, Roderick Dexter, Bob Barsanti and Cameron Crain. NSC would be led by Simpson as Artistic Director and Crain as Managing Director. Our first productions were Arthur Miller’s Elegy for a Lady, at the Nevada Museum of Art and the Nevada State Museum, Sandra Deer’s Sailing Byzantium at Bartley Ranch, the Fourth Ward School Museum and the Eureka Opera House and Hamlet, sponsored by the City of Reno.

During Season 2000 and 2001 we seated thousands more patrons at Piper’s Opera House in Virginia City than had seen the inside of the beautiful old theatre in the entire previous century! Our diverse programming included musicals as well as Shakespeare: Annie Get Your Gun, Hamlet,Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, The Music Man, Twelfth Night, Richard III and Romeo and Juliet. We also presented Hal Holbrook and Leonard Nimoy in conjunction with our Shakespeare In School program.

In 2003, NSC collaborated with University of Nevada Las Vegas on The Road to Mecca, and we produced Emma Sepulveda’s Amigas and King Lear at the Nevada Museum of Art. We kicked off a national tour of Simpson’s original hit play, A Single Woman in 2004. A Single Woman chronicles the life and work of Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress, and it played over 200 performances in Nevada, Montana, South Dakota, Oregon, California, Arizona and New York, including an Off-Broadway run in May 2005 at the Culture Project.

In 2006 Crain lead a fundraising effort to produce A Single Woman as an independent, educational film. Directed by Kamala Lopez of Heroica Films, A Single Woman stars Simpson, co-stars Judd Nelson and features the vocal talents of Peter Coyote, Patricia Arquette, Mimi Kennedy, Margot Kidder and Martin Sheen with music by Joni Mitchell. Pending the entrance into selected film festivals, the film is expected to be released by November 2008. 

In 2007 Founding Artistick Director Jeanmarie Simpson retired. Crain's role expanded to Managing and Director and NSC engaged Mr. Joe Atack from Great Britian as our Company Manager and Michelle Calhoun-Fitts as a guest artist. That spring we expanded our Shakespeare In School program by collaborating with Lakes Tahoe Shakespeare Festival. 

In 2008, the E. L. Wiegand Foundation commissioned NSC to create a fresh, new, relevant interpretation of Shakespeare for rural audiences in Nevada, Oregon and Idaho.

During 2009 we served 13,526 patrons with A Single Woman, Shakespeare In School andShakespeare on the Road. Our touring version of Macbeth opens in mid-October and will journey to Reno, Winnemucca, Dayton, Virginia City and Yerington. To this day, our educational and community outreach programs have served over 120,000 students in every county in Nevada.

NSC has received financial assistance from a diverse funding stream, including Wal Mart, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Atlantis Casino, Wild Oats, Gold Hill Hotel, Cord Foundation, Wiegand Foundation, Mathewson Foundation, Hawkins Foundation, Buck Foundation, DP Foundation, RTO Foundation, Snow Trust, City of Reno, Nevada Arts Council, Nevada Humanities, Nevada Commission on Tourism and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Nevada Shakespeare Company

DP Foundation Grant Proposal

I.  ORGANIZATIONAL INFORMATION, c’td

B. Mission and Goals: 

With Shakespeare as our touchstone, Nevada Shakespeare Company, based in northern Nevada, presents education-driven, humanities-based, language-rich theatre and film works. Our foremost goal is to offer our Shakespeare In School program to every student in northern Nevada. We seek to provide our patrons with the best, most professional theatre experience possible: a great state deserves great art!

C. Purpose: 

Nevada Shakespeare Company’s purpose is to serve our patrons, the families of northern Nevada, with a first-rate artistic and educational experience that entertains, engages and educates. 

D. Geographic Area Served:

We are based in northern Nevada and primarily serve Reno and Sparks; however, our programs extend not only to Washoe, but the Nevada counties of Storey, Carson, Lyon, Douglas, Humboldt, Pershing and Elko.