The
Connecticut General Assembly established the American
Shakespeare Festival Theatre as a nonprofit educational
corporation in June of 1951.
Ground
was broken in 1954 and the theater officially opened
in 1955. In addition to classical works, a variety of
performing arts events filled the 1,534-seat auditorium
during the years.
In
1959 the Theater began to serve as an educational forum
for young people and since then, more than 1.5 million
students have been exposed to Shakespearean works.
The
State of Connecticut transferred the theater's deed
to the Town of Stratford on February 8, 2005.
The
theater is presently closed as the Town reorganizes
it's efforts to reopen the theater. A
new developer will be selected by the Town of Stratford
to restore the theater to it's original condition and
to produce performances.
The
Town plans a reopening of the theater in 2008.
StratfordFestival.com
was created in 1998 by a resident based volunteer group.
The
Web site will be posting news, information, videos and
pictures for the residents of Stratford.
