| Dear Friends, Welcome back to the park and the 20th Anniversary Season of the new and improved Freewill Shakespeare Festival. To celebrate the past and move forward into the future, the Festival has a new name, a brand new look and an amazingly talented choice for its next Artistic Director. The Festival has had two names in its 20 years - the actors’ co-operative, The Free Will Players and the for the last ten years we have been known as The River City Shakespeare Festival. In celebration of our past and looking toward the future, “Free Will” has been re-instated because it best describes the passion that you and the organization feel about the incredibly special experience we provide in Edmonton’s Cultural life. This company began in 1989 with a budget of $1000.00 and a trove of “free will” and that sense of free will still inspires and guides this festival today and will into the future. Besides, everyone calls us “freewill” anyway! I hope you enjoy the programming for this season – Richard III and As You Like It are two of Shakespeare’s best and we have an amazing group of artists and artisans working tirelessly to bring you some of the best theatre in the country, certainly we are the best outdoor Shakespeare Festival in the country. Edmonton is truly blessed to have such a cache of amazing theatre professionals, and the Freewill Shakespeare Festival boasts the seasonal hiring of some 60 people that all conspire to get you your Shakespearean fix. And now for the maudlin – It has been an incredible honour for me to have been the Artistic Director of a theatre company that has been a part of my life for the last eleven years, 6 years as an actor and 5 as Artistic Director. The trust and faith that this organization has shown in me is something that I can never repay, except through my continued passion and love for this company. This was not an easy decision for me but one I felt was necessary for the future artistic growth of the festival, and you are all in the best of hands with my good friend and long-time collaborator Marianne Copithorne as the new Artistic Director. I thank you for coming along for the ride with me these last five years - of the ten plays I programmed, you embraced 4 lesser known Shakespearean plays and a first-ever musical, you showed up in record numbers for Hamlet (a play thought too introspective for the park), and you have braved wind, rain, snow and popcorn-stealing squirrels – I am humbled by your spirit, faith and trust. I would personally like to thank our amazing Board of Directors, Volunteers, donors (small and large), my partner in crime Glenda Dennis, my friends Annette, Troy and Julien, my mentors James DeFelice, Thomas Peacocke, Stewart Lemoine and Linda Huffman, my collaborators James MacDonald and Marianne Copithorne, the beautifully talented Daniela Vlaskalic, all the amazing artists I have had the opportunity to work with, and most importantly - all of you. – and lest-we-forget, the reason why we all join together each summer– the humanity and brilliance of Mr. William Shakespeare. Cheers, John Kirkpatrick Artistic Director, Freewill Shakespeare Festival |
 Artistic Director, AD@freewillshakespeare.com |
| I will never forget the first time I came down to the park to experience The River City Shakespeare Festival as an audience member. It was 2001, I had just had my second child and was unable to perform that year. The production was As You Like It and it was magical to hear the music and see the gorgeous Edwardian dresses and hair blowing in the breeze, as the sun set on stage and Shakespeare's words were brought to life for myself and hundreds of adoring fans of all ages. There was the smell of popcorn in the air and the distant (at times not so distant) chattering of squirrels and birds. I had always heard from our supporters about what a great Festival we ran, but I had never experienced it first hand since I had started with this company in 1989. What a treat! I understand now why people keep coming back. Likewise, there is nothing I look forward to more than performing in the park in the summer for the River City Shakespeare Festival. |
 Artistic Associate |
| For many years now, doing the shows in the park has been one of my favourite gigs. There is such a sense of history and camaraderie among the core members of the company, as many of us were at theatre school together in the late eighties. And although our lives are now perhaps a little more complicated, with busy work schedules, children, etc., there is still a lingering excitement every time we get together, that goes back, I think, to those heady days when we were all just a bunch of recent grads, trying to make a go of it in the theatre scene in Edmonton. I think the moment on stage that just about sums it all up for me in terms of why the experience in the park can be completely unique and thrilling was during a performance of Julius Caesar one night, when John Wright, one of our veteran actors who was playing Cassuis, was performing the scene in which Cassius is dying, having just lost the battle with Mark Antony's army. Just as he was uttering the lines to the affect of "The sun now sets upon my life" a huge, blood red sun came out from behind a cloud in a sky that was ablaze in a magnificent prairie sunset, and bathed the whole stage in a unearthly orange glow. How can theatre get any better than that? |
 Artistic Associate |
| I've often said that if we had known how much work it was going to be that first year then we all would have probably taken holidays. I'm glad we were ignorant of the truth. After one season we were hooked and it became quickly apparent that our audience was getting hooked as well. It is always greatly satisfying to talk to people who can list the many seasons they have attended in the park and discuss how we have grown up together in our appreciation for the park, Shakespeare, and each other. We have evolved from "the little company that could" to a solid player in both the theatre and festival communities. Now, sixteen years later, there are so many who keep the festival alive with their dedication, hard work, and love. To them and to all those who have preceded, I am grateful. Thank you for keeping the dream of seven ignorant fools alive. |
 Artistic Associate |