Doug Schutte, Jon DeSalvo, & Scot Atkinson inside what would shortly become The Bard’s Town, May 2010.
Photo: The Bard’s Town

The Bard’s Town Celebrates 5 Years

By Keith Waits

Entire contents copyright © 2015 by Keith Waits. All rights reserved.

The Bard’s Town has so firmly established itself as a fixture in the Louisville theatre community, it is difficult to believe it has only been there for five years. Not only do owners Doug Schutte and Scot Atkinson produce their own productions, an estimable series of contemporary American plays fresh from Pulitzer and Tony nomination lists, but the tidy and intimate upstairs theatre space is used by several other local companies: Wayward Actors Company, Finnigan Productions, Teatro Tercera Llamada, The Louisville Improvisors, and Damaged Goods to name a few, while the downstairs stage plays host to open mic nights for comedians as well as a full roster of musical acts. Throw in an eclectic menu packed with Shakespearean puns: Midsummer Night’s Greens, or First Folio Fish, and  you pretty much have it all.

And now they are celebrating their anniversary. Five years: the first one that really means something – the one that realizes a sense of permanency. At this point we can’t imagine life without The Bard’s Town, and it has become a nexus of creative energies and varied audiences. Some come for the plays, some come for the music, some come for the comedy, some come for Wednesday Trivia Night, and some come simply for the delicious bill o’ fare; but for whatever reasons, they do come.

When the next production, of Jon Robin Baitz’s Other Desert Cities, opens on July 23rd, it will have been EXACTLY five years since they opened in 2010. The Bard’s Town begins 14 days celebrating the fact that this “ridiculous concept” is still going strong, and they’re doing it the only way that makes sense: shows, shows, and more shows. It’s a two-week party filled to the brim with some of their favorite theatre, comedy, music, and improv. (Plus food and drink specials throughout.)

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Rachel White, Laurene Scalf, Amy Steiger & Victoria Reibel in the 2013 production of Rapture, Blister, Burn.

Highlights include:

Bard Theatre’s Other Desert Cities (July 23 – August 2)

Doug Schutte’s Chasing Ophelia in Central Park with KY Shakespeare
(August 4-7)

A new comedy Roast (August 7-8)

Karaoke with Groucho (Fri/Sat nights at 10 PM)
Star Wars in 60 Minutes or Less
7 ATE 9 Comedy Show
Damaged Goods Improv
Ultra Combo Comedy Show
Improv Anonymous
The Hardware Project

..and more!

http://www.thebardstown.com

 

Keith[box_light]Keith Waits is a native of Louisville who works at Louisville Visual Art during the days, including being one of the hosts of PUBLIC on ARTxFM, but spends most of his evenings indulging his taste for theatre, music and visual arts. His work has appeared in Pure Uncut Candy, TheatreLouisville, and Louisville Mojo. He is now Managing Editor for Arts-Louisville.com.[/box_light]