SHAKESPEARE AT WINEDALE
The best way to study Shakespeare’s plays is to perform them
Founded by Professor James B. Ayres on the belief that the best way to study Shakespeare’s plays is to perform them, Shakespeare at Winedale offers a unique opportunity to explore these rich and complex texts through the creative act of play. Shakespeare at Winedale is a program of the Department of English in the College of Liberal Arts, but many of its activities are centered on the Winedale Historical Center near Round Top, Texas, where for more than fifty years students and audiences have come to encounter Shakespeare’s living art.
University Program
The Shakespeare at Winedale Spring and Summer Classes are dedicated to the study of Shakespeare's plays through performance. These courses offer an educational and theatrical experience of great intensity, as well as a unique opportunity for group interaction and self-exploration, to students from any discipline. At Winedale, students live and work in a peaceful pastoral setting and perform in a century-old hay barn that has been converted into an Elizabethan-style theatre. The wooded landscape provides a special kind of magic and a uniquely focused intensity for the exploration of Shakespeare's plays.
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Camp Shakespeare
Camp Shakespeare is a two-week residential summer camp for young people, ages 11-16, dedicated to exploring Shakespeare through performance. “Exploring” and “performance” are key words here. They suggest that we are finding our way not through rehearsals but performances. Every moment is performance. Campers are challenged to play out their interpretative discoveries on stage.
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Kate Taylor
Outreach
Shakespeare at Winedale Outreach is a Language Arts enrichment program that provides opportunities for meaningful learning and academic excellence for Texas schoolchildren in grades K-12, with a special focus on both emerging and advanced readers in grades 3 through 8, and on students in low-income communities.
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SPRING
Actors from the London Stage will present Hamlet on February 13th-15th at 7pm at the Texas Spirit Theater at the Bullock Museum. Tickets will be available on our website in January.
The Spring Class will present A Comedy of Errors on April 25th and 26th at 7pm.
Shakespeare at Winedale Outreach's Festival of Play will take place on April 26th.
SUMMER
Camp Shakespeare sessions will take place June 8th - 22nd and June 29th - July 13th.
Shakespeare at Winedale's 55th Summer Season will be July 17th - August 10th.
55th ANNIVERSARY FESTIVITIES
Saturday, August 2nd (the third Saturday of Summer performances) will mark Shakespeare at Winedale's official celebration of 55 years of Shakespeare at Winedale. More information about anniversary tickets will be available on our Eventbrite and social media when tickets go live. There will also be informal gatherings this spring to meet with Doc and help build the archive on March 28 - 30 (Friday to Sunday) and April 24 - 27 (Thursday to Sunday) which coincides with the Winedale Spring performance and Outreach performances. If you are interested in participating, please reach out to Kathryn Blackbird.
Tickets can be purchased online or in-person at the Box Office before performances. All tickets are $10.
At the Box Office, tickets can be purchased with cash, credit card, or check.
To learn more, visit our Performances and Tickets page.
Winedale is located approximately halfway between Austin and Houston. Winedale Historical Center is just down the road from Round Top, a town full of artists, antique shops, and bed & breakfast inns.
For more detailed directions and to plan your visit, visit our Plan Your Visit page.
Visit our Accessibility page to learn more about accessibility at Shakespeare at Winedale performances.
We invite interested students, teachers and audience members—of all ages and backgrounds—to learn more about Shakespeare at Winedale by exploring this site. You can find out more about what we're up to by following us on Facebook and Instagram. If you still have questions, please feel free to contact us!