NEW SWAN SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL

New Swan Shakespeare Festival, a professional Shakespeare festival located on the campus of UC Irvine in Orange County, and produced in collaboration with the University of California, Irvine, the Claire Trevor School of the Arts, and the Department of Drama, typically produces two Shakespearean works in rotating rep under the stars. New Swan features students and professionals working side-by-side in a 135 seat, 15 ton, portable, mini-Elizabethan space. The community, campus, and press have embraced New Swan’s productions, seminar series, and outreach programs.

COUNTERBALANCE THEATRE

Counterbalance Theater is a not-for-profit corporation with its roots in the University of California Irvine Drama Department; its members are a mix of faculty, alumni, and graduate students with a mission to “construct physical theater based on great literature.” In CounterBalance style, 8 performers play multiple characters, and all of the animals, architecture and vehicles in the story.   CounterBalance has developed and presented work in Italy, and at its home in the Grotowski Barn on the UCI campus, sharing performances for the past 7 years with adventurous audiences in the US and Europe.       

REGIONAL THEATRES/FESTIVALS

During the summers, many of our students choose to apply their training outside of UCI.  Due to UCI's reputation and the faculty professional network, students are afforded the opportunity to audition on campus and/or via tape for regional theaters and festivals spanning across the country. While away, students work alongside industry professionals in order to enforce and inform the skills they've applied in the classroom. Various theatres that students have auditioned and/or worked are (and not limited to) the following:

Utah Shakespeare Festival, Chautauqua Theatre Company,Pacific Conservatory Theatre (PCPA), Summer Reperatory Theatre (SRT), Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Arkansas Shakespeare Festival, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Great River Shakespeare, American Players Theatre (APT), Davis Shakespeare, Santa Cruz Shakespeare, Lyric Reperatory, and more!