The international association of theaters producing Shakespeare’s plays has chosen Baltimore as the site of its annual conference for 2017.
An estimated 200 theater professionals are expected to stay a week in downtown Baltimore to discuss issues of artistic vision and leadership, management and education programming. The Shakespeare conference typically takes place in January, but dates for the 2017 meeting have not yet been set.
The Shakespeare Theatre Association formed in 1991 to serve the artistic, managerial and educational leaders of theaters that produce works by William Shakespeare and related education programming. Its members represent Shakespeare festivals and theater companies in America from Hawaii to Harlem, and across the globe in Great Britain, the Czech Republic, Canada, Australia and beyond.
Chesapeake Shakespeare Company managers have long wished to attract the international conference to Maryland, but did not have their own theater to welcome their professional peers until 2014. Last year, the 12-year-old theater company expanded to Baltimore from Howard County. In September, it opened a 260-seat theater in the historic Mercantile Trust building at 7 South Calvert Street downtown.