Each June, Southmoreland Park fills with picnic blankets, families and the world’s greatest playwright: the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival has presented free professional Shakespeare under the Kansas City sky since 1993.
Productions on the park stage — steps from the Nelson-Atkins — pair Equity actors with community programs: pre-show talks, parody previews for kids, and Camp Shakespeare, where young performers learn to make the Bard their own. The festival’s year-round education work reaches classrooms across the metro.
Free admission is the founding promise, sustained by donations from the audiences who pass the hat after each performance.
Mark next June’s calendar now: bring a blanket, a picnic and someone who thinks Shakespeare is homework. The festival will fix that in one magical evening.
