THE JOURNEY
The Bard's Town Theatre (aka BARD THEATRE) is a 501c3 nonprofit theatre located on Bardstown Road in the Louisville, KY artistic borough known as "The Highlands."
From its very first season in 2011, Bard Theatre was being hailed as "a force to be reckoned with", earning a "Best Theatrical Production" award for its production of "Chasing Ophelia," and a "Best Live Theatre" nod for its work overall.
Since first turning the stage lights on, Bard Theatre has produced world premieres of full-length plays Chasing Ophelia, Misses Strata, The Kings of Christmas, Just Like Life, Strike Zone, The Snowflake Theory, Reduction in Force, Drinking Perfume, a host of plays via our Derby City Playwrights Festival, and more than 65 ten-minute plays via The Ten-Tucky Festival.
Where Bard Theatre has really earned its reputation, though, is as THE theatre to serve as the regional premiere (and typically 2nd or 3rd production in the country) of works by the best playwrights working today. These plays have included Samuel D Hunter's A Bright New Boise and his A Permanent Image, Gina Gionfriddo's Rapture Blister Burn, Madeleine George's The (Curious Case of the) Watson Intelligence, William Missouri Downs' Mad Gravity and The Exit Interview, Lauren Yee's In a Word, Chisa Hutchinson's This is Not the Play, and more. Bard Theatre also took part in the largest election year theatre festival in history with 44 Plays for 44 Presidents.
The Bard's Town Theatre occupies the 2nd level of The Bard's Town Restaurant and Pub, a Shakespearean-themed restaurant known for its artistically delicious food, a menu filled with Shakespearean puns, and support of local artists...from visual artists to musicians, comedians to poets.
The Bard's Town Theatre takes its name quite seriously..."Bard." Rather than being a Shakespearean theatre (as the name seems to suggest), The Bard's Town Theatre actually looks to do what Shakespeare did in his day: focus on the creation of new work. While we love Shakespeare (perhaps more than most), and we love Beckett, Stoppard, Coward, Simon, Kushner, and so on, our goal is to produce the works that haven't been performed over and over again. With this NEW work, our audiences come to us with no expectation--except that they will experience phenomenal new theatre. The best writers going today. An ensemble of directors, actors, and technicians that rivals any in the region. All coming together to tell the human stories that embrace--and create--our mythology as human beings, and doing so by telling A HUMAN'S story,
When not producing its own 24 weeks of theatre annually, Bard Theatre also serves as a home to dozens of Louisville theatre companies, improv artists, comedians, and visual artists...resulting in roughly 47 weeks of live theatre annually.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT BARD THEATRE:
From its very first season in 2011, Bard Theatre was being hailed as "a force to be reckoned with", earning a "Best Theatrical Production" award for its production of "Chasing Ophelia," and a "Best Live Theatre" nod for its work overall.
Since first turning the stage lights on, Bard Theatre has produced world premieres of full-length plays Chasing Ophelia, Misses Strata, The Kings of Christmas, Just Like Life, Strike Zone, The Snowflake Theory, Reduction in Force, Drinking Perfume, a host of plays via our Derby City Playwrights Festival, and more than 65 ten-minute plays via The Ten-Tucky Festival.
Where Bard Theatre has really earned its reputation, though, is as THE theatre to serve as the regional premiere (and typically 2nd or 3rd production in the country) of works by the best playwrights working today. These plays have included Samuel D Hunter's A Bright New Boise and his A Permanent Image, Gina Gionfriddo's Rapture Blister Burn, Madeleine George's The (Curious Case of the) Watson Intelligence, William Missouri Downs' Mad Gravity and The Exit Interview, Lauren Yee's In a Word, Chisa Hutchinson's This is Not the Play, and more. Bard Theatre also took part in the largest election year theatre festival in history with 44 Plays for 44 Presidents.
The Bard's Town Theatre occupies the 2nd level of The Bard's Town Restaurant and Pub, a Shakespearean-themed restaurant known for its artistically delicious food, a menu filled with Shakespearean puns, and support of local artists...from visual artists to musicians, comedians to poets.
The Bard's Town Theatre takes its name quite seriously..."Bard." Rather than being a Shakespearean theatre (as the name seems to suggest), The Bard's Town Theatre actually looks to do what Shakespeare did in his day: focus on the creation of new work. While we love Shakespeare (perhaps more than most), and we love Beckett, Stoppard, Coward, Simon, Kushner, and so on, our goal is to produce the works that haven't been performed over and over again. With this NEW work, our audiences come to us with no expectation--except that they will experience phenomenal new theatre. The best writers going today. An ensemble of directors, actors, and technicians that rivals any in the region. All coming together to tell the human stories that embrace--and create--our mythology as human beings, and doing so by telling A HUMAN'S story,
When not producing its own 24 weeks of theatre annually, Bard Theatre also serves as a home to dozens of Louisville theatre companies, improv artists, comedians, and visual artists...resulting in roughly 47 weeks of live theatre annually.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT BARD THEATRE:
- “A force to be reckoned with” – Arts Louisville
- “A vital voice” – Theatre Louisville
- “Inspired work” – Arts Louisville
- “Producer of excellent contemporary plays. Period.” – WFPL
- “The center of the universe for local playwrights.” – Arts Louisville
- “A cornerstone of an artistically vibrant community….Bravo, Bard’s Town!” - Arts Louisville
- “One of Louisville’s best-kept secrets.” – LEO Weekly
- "The Bard's Town ensemble is quickly building into one of the more reliable wells of on-stage talent in the city." -WFPL