2011 Shakespeare Theatre Association of America Conference:

Wild and Whirling Words

The Colorado Shakespeare Festival is pleased to host the 2011 STAA Conference at the University of Colorado at Boulder.  Please visit this site frequently for updated information on registration and schedules for the conference.

For more information about STAA, please visit: www.staaonline.org

Save the Date!

Pre-Conference: January 3-5, 2011

STAA Conference:  January 5-8, 2011

Early Registration for the STAA Conference now available!

Click here for more information or to register.

Click here for lodging information.

Click here for information about Boulder, Colorado.

The central focus of STAA is its annual conference. Once a year, members gather to share information directly relating to the production of Shakespeare’s plays. The format often runs the spectrum from panel discussions, to direct address by notable figures in the field, workshops, performances, small gatherings, receptions, and a closing banquet dinner.

Recent keynote speakers have included Kenneth Adelman, Bill Rauch, Artistic Director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare scholar Alan Dessen, Dana Gioia, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts; Libby Appel, Artistic Director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Ben Cameron, Director of Theatre Communications Group; and Michael Kahn, Artistic Director of Washington D.C.’s Shakespeare Theatre Company. Meetings have included sessions on what we have come to call the “One-Play Focus,” when an individual Shakespeare play is discussed at length, as well as sessions on a variety of topics including rehearsal techniques, dramaturgy, marketing, development, education, outreach, board relations and balancing life and art.

All members participate in sessions, and many sessions have included leaders in the field including: Tina Packer on rhetoric and verse speaking, famous Royal Shakespeare Company actor Tony Church, Gerald Freedman on being the first American director to work at London’s Globe Theatre, and many more.

Generally, conferences are attended by 100 - 125 representatives of the majority of the STAA member theatres. Attendance at the conference is only for members of STAA; please don’t register if you are not a current member. If you have been a member in the past and your membership has lapsed, go to the STAA website first to rejoin. STAA membership is ONLY for theatre companies (Organizational Members) and a very limited number of individuals (Associate Members), whose membership applications must be approved by the Executive Committee. Members of the press may contact us for information on how to cover the event for their media outlet.