Island Shakespeare Festival

What Island Shakespeare Festival does

Island Shakespeare Festival is a small for-profit theatrical organization founded in 2010 and based in Langley, Washington, United States. Its stated mission is to promote accessible classical theater — primarily works from the Shakespearean canon and related classical repertoire — for modern audiences, delivered through what appears to be a seasonal festival model typical of community Shakespeare companies.

The organization operates with a lean team of 1–10 employees, consistent with a community-scale producing entity that relies on a mix of professional artistic staff, contracted performers, and volunteers. Its public-facing presence is centered on its website (islandshakespearefest.org). There is no disclosed product or technology platform beyond event production itself; the core deliverable is live theatrical performance.

Revenue mechanics are not disclosed in the source material, but the presence of small institutional grants — notably an $11,900 award in April 2023 from ArtsFund and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation — indicates a funding model that combines ticket revenue with philanthropic and arts-grant support, typical of regional nonprofit-style theater operations. No parent company, subsidiaries, M&A activity, or senior leadership team details are available in the input data, limiting visibility into corporate structure and governance.

Name

Island Shakespeare Festival

Website

https://islandshakespearefest.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Island Shakespeare Festival is a small for-profit regional theater company founded in 2010 in Langley, Washington, that produces accessible classical — primarily Shakespearean — stage productions for local and visiting audiences through a seasonal festival model supported by ticket sales and arts grants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Live Theater

NAICS

Theater Companies and Dinner Theaters (711110)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Classical & Contemporary Theatre (Plays/Drama) (MPAGABAH)

akta.pro secondary industry

Regional & Repertory Theatre Companies (MPAGABAB)

Keywords

• Classical theater productions
• Live Shakespeare performances
• Outdoor summer theater
• Regional performing arts
• Community theater festivals

Headquarters

HQ city

Langley

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Core offering

Island Shakespeare Festival produces and stages live classical theater, primarily Shakespearean plays, for a general audience. It operates as a regional summer festival on Whidbey Island, Washington, presenting performances that adapt the works of Shakespeare for modern audiences. The festival sells tickets to live performances and supplements earned revenue with grants and philanthropic support from regional arts funders.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Annual Island Shakespeare Festival Season A seasonal series of live Shakespearean and classical theater productions staged for general audiences, residents, and visitors on Whidbey Island. Customers purchase individual or bundled tickets to attend performances held at the festival's outdoor venue.
• Individual Shakespeare Play Productions Standalone live performances of specific Shakespearean plays, presented as part of the festival season for general audiences seeking cultural entertainment. Each production is a discrete ticketed event accessible to individual consumers.

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves1 record

Expansion highlights1 record

Direct peers

• Oregon Shakespeare Festival: One of the largest and oldest Shakespeare-focused regional theater festivals in the U.S., producing a multi-play season on a dedicated campus. Directly comparable as a Shakespeare-forward repertory festival, though at materially larger scale.
• Idaho Shakespeare Festival: Regional summer repertory festival producing Shakespeare alongside other classical works in an outdoor amphitheater. Closely comparable in seasonal repertory format and mid-sized regional festival positioning.
• Utah Shakespeare Festival: Long-running repertory festival in Cedar City producing Shakespeare and other classic plays in rotating repertory. Directly comparable repertory model with a similarly mission-driven, classical-theater orientation.
• Seattle Shakespeare Company: Pacific Northwest theater company producing Shakespeare and classical works, based in Seattle. Closely comparable as a regional classical theater company operating in the same broader Pacific Northwest market.
• San Francisco Shakespeare Festival: Bay Area nonprofit producing an annual free outdoor Shakespeare festival plus educational programming. Directly comparable as a regional Shakespeare festival with a strong education and accessibility mission.
• Colorado Shakespeare Festival: Boulder-based summer repertory festival affiliated with the University of Colorado producing Shakespeare in rotating repertory. Comparable repertory format and regional festival orientation.
• Atlanta Shakespeare Company: Georgia-based theater company focused on Shakespeare and classical works, operating both a playhouse and touring productions. Comparable as a Shakespeare-specialist regional theater.
• Houston Shakespeare Festival: Free annual summer festival in Houston presenting Shakespeare in repertory. Comparable seasonal Shakespeare festival model with strong educational and accessibility components.
• American Players Theatre: Wisconsin outdoor classical theater producing Shakespeare and other classic works in repertory. Comparable repertory format and classical-theater mission in a smaller-market setting.

Broad incumbents

• Shakespeare Theatre Company: Washington, D.C.-based regional theater producing Shakespeare and classical plays at significantly larger scale. Comparable classical-theater focus but operates year-round in a major metro and at a substantially larger budget.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights4 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ShakespeareIsle
• Facebookfacebook.com/islandshakespearefest
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/island-shakespeare-festival

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Island Shakespeare Festival