Company's 20-Year Milestone Launches Name Change, Endowment and Expanded Programming; Under New Banner, 'Georgia Shakespeare' Celebrates the Past and Builds for the Future.

ATLANTA -- The largest Shakespeare festival in Georgia and one of the most active Shakespeare festivals in the Southeast is, in fact, much more than a festival. In celebration of its extended artistic vision, Atlanta's Georgia Shakespeare Festival raises the 2005 curtain on a new moniker, "Georgia Shakespeare," reflecting a professional theater company, which, over the last 19 years, has evolved beyond its original inception to become one of Georgia's most extensive arts organizations.

"We will continue to celebrate the work of Shakespeare and other enduring authors through our main stage programming at Atlanta's Conant Performing Arts Center," said Co-founder Richard Garner, the company's producing artistic director who has guided the theater's artistic vision for two decades. "We will also expand our company's award-winning educational outreach programs, which have reached more than 500,000 students since 1988, adding a regional touring production geared towards elementary schools throughout the Southeast.

"To ensure the company's ongoing stability and continuing advancement, we are preparing to launch a five-year endowment campaign," says Garner. This endowment would be the first such campaign in Georgia Shakespeare's history.

"The 2005 season marks a new era," says Robert A. Fass, managing director. "We're moving forward by enabling Georgia Shakespeare to present bold, exciting and stimulating theater throughout the year, not only on the Oglethorpe campus, but also in public parks and regional schools. We're expanding our presence in the community to reach new audiences."

Allen O'Reilly, former artistic director for Young Audiences, has been named Georgia Shakespeare's Director of Education overseeing one of the company's most significant anniversary initiatives: launching the new elementary tour in the fall of '05. O'Reilly will extend Georgia Shakespeare's reach, introducing students to Shakespeare and important playwrights from Latin American, African and Asian cultures. "By exposing young children to the world's great classics, we are nurturing their minds and souls and providing a practical foundation so that they may carry on their education with curiosity and open minds," says O'Reilly.

Georgia Shakespeare hopes to build on last spring's inaugural Shake at the Lake, which brought free Shakespeare to more than 5,000 patrons in Piedmont Park. Its 20th anniversary season begins June 10 with its Summer Festival at the Conant Performing Arts Center, culminating August 8. The 2005 Summer Festival includes Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors, directed by Garner; and expands it's definition of "classics" with Tennessee Williams' sultry American classic A Streetcar Named Desire; and Anton Chekhov's buoyant comedy, The Cherry Orchard. The 2005 Fall Favorite is Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, running October 14 through November 6 at the Conant Performing Arts Center. In addition to public performances, Georgia Shakespeare estimates that more than 7,000 students throughout the Southeast will see the production through the company's student matinee series.

Information regarding performances and education programs are available at www.gashakespeare.org or by calling 404-264-0020.