From the Bard on the Beach website:
"Now in its 19th season, Bard on the Beach is one of Canada's largest not-for-profit, professional Shakespeare Festivals. Presented in a magnificent setting on the waterfront in Vancouver's Vanier Park, the Festival offers Shakespeare plays, related dramas, and several special events in two performance tents from June through September.
The 520-seat Mainstage tent offers two productions performed in repertory from early June through late September. The Mainstage tent is open-ended so that the actors perform against a spectacular backdrop of mountains, sea and sky - a highlight of the Bard experience.
The Douglas Campbell Studio Stage tent seats 240 and runs from the end of June through September. This intimate performance space features Shakespeare's lesser-known plays or some of his great classics presented with less traditional stagings.
Bard on the Beach is a registered not-for-profit society with a mandate to present the works of William Shakespeare professionally and with integrity in an annual Festival that is both affordable and accessible to a wide audience, and to nurture and promote a passion and enthusiasm for Shakespeare's work."
In keeping with the last statement, Bard on the Beach also offers educational programs during the festival. Again from the website:
"Bard on the Beach provides opportunities for students, teachers and lifelong learners to enhance their experience of Shakespeare’s plays in dynamic and engaging ways. Through performances, workshops, downloadable resources and special events, our aim is to nurture and promote a passion and enthusiasm for Shakespeare’s moving stories, inspiring characters and unparalleled language.
Programs include: Bard in the Classroom workshops, performances for School Groups, Shakespeare Forum, Resources such as downloadable Study Guides for the plays, and our Young Shakespeareans Workshops for youth 8 to 18."
The history of Bard on the Beach:
"Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival was established in 1990 with a mandate to provide Vancouver residents and tourists with affordable, accessible Shakespearean productions of the finest quality. The Festival began as an Equity Co-op, funded primarily by a Canada Council Explorations grant awarded to Artistic Director and Founder, Christopher Gaze. Bard on the Beach is now a fully professional theatre company and last year engaged thirty actors as well as exceptional directors, designers, and technicians. The productions consistently receive both critical and audience acclaim.
The plays are staged in Vanier Park on Vancouver's waterfront, in open-ended tents with a spectacular backdrop of mountains, sea and sky. The Mainstage tent seats 520 patrons and offers two productions staged in repertory from June through September. The 240-seat Douglas Campbell Studio Stage was added in 1999 as a venue for the lesser-known plays in Shakespeare's canon or innovative stagings of his greater works. In addition to its Shakespeare productions, Bard offers many ancillary activities including Words and Music concerts and specialty workshops and forums.
The tented 'Bard Village' offers a range of patron services including concessions, bar and boutique. Over the years Bard on the Beach attendance has grown significantly from 6,000 patrons in 1990 to more than 86,000 patrons in 2007. In 2003, through a collaboration with Mission Hill Family Estate winery called 'Bard in the Vineyard', Bard on the Beach presented a production in the Okanagan for the month of August.
Through its constantly expanding community outreach, Bard hosts the immensely popular Young Shakespeareans Summer Workshops for youth and teens on site during the summer, and Bard in the Classroom workshops for students and teachers during the school term. Artistic Director Christopher Gaze continually spreads enthusiasm for the magic of Shakespeare's plays through guest appearances at corporate, scholastic and private events."
In 1990, they had 6,000 people attend 34 performances.
Last year, 2007, they had 86,000+ attend 205 performances.
The 2008 Season runs from May 29th to September 27th.