1987
Hudson Valley Shakespeare is founded by Terry O’Brien and Melissa Stern, and launches with a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream on the grounds of Manitoga.
1988
First summer at Boscobel House and Gardens featured As You Like It.
1994
Summer season expands to two productions running in rotating rep.
2006
HVS acquires a custom-designed, open-air theater tent with seating for 500.
2008
A third play is added into the summer rep season.
2013
Founding Artistic Director,
Terry O’Brien retires.
2014
Davis McCallum is appointed
Artistic Director.
2015
First annual Community Bake-Off - a community-wide playwriting initiative.
2016
HVStories is established and a citizen-driven production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town is performed with eight workshops drawing 231 participants from the local community.
2019
Produce our first musical, Sondheim’s Into the Woods.
2020
Launch Tent Pole Commissions, a commissioning program that provides creative time for artists to explore ideas and develop work.
2021
HVS is one of the first theaters in NY to return to live performance following the Covid-19 shutdown, with a production of The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington, by James Ijames.
2022
Inaugural Highland Lights.
2022
Move to our new campus in Garrison, NY.
2024
Break ground on the new theater.
2026
Opening of the Samuel H. Scripps Theater Center.
Hudson Valley Shakespeare (originally, the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival) was founded by Melissa Stern and Terry O’Brien in September 1987 with an outdoor production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Manitoga, home of industrial designer Russell Wright, in Garrison, NY. The following year, Boscobel House and Gardens agreed to host our mainstage season on the estate’s expansive grounds, and that summer’s production of Shakespeare’s As You Like It was performed under a tent overlooking the Hudson River.
Early Production
Under O’Brien’s leadership, the fledgling organization grew dramatically. In 1994, we added a second show to our season, and soon thereafter, we began to present multiple plays in rotating repertory, with a shared company of actors. This allowed the company to expand our programming beyond the canon of Shakesepare, including other classic plays and adaptations in the mix.
Arts Education
Additionally, we deepened our impact on the region by offering hands-on, performance-driven education programs to area schools. In 2006, we acquired a custom-designed, open-air theatre tent with seating for 500. This was a signal event in the history of the theater, and the aesthetic and energy of the tent had a profound impact on the artistic trajectory of the company.
Leadership Change
O’Brien led the company for 27 years, directing over 30 productions. He stepped down as Artistic Director in 2013, and after a nationwide search for his successor, the theater’s Board of Directors appointed Davis McCallum as Artistic Director in 2014.
Under McCallum’s leadership, Hudson Valley Shakespeare continued to grow. McCallum established HVStories, a multi-year exploration of the people, history, and culture of the Hudson Valley; and Full Circle, a community engagement program inspired by 2016’s citizen-driven production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. He also further expanded the repertoire to include new plays by living writers such as Heidi Armbruster, Lauren Gunderson, Kate Hamill, James Ijames, Luis Quintero, and Whitney White.
In 2019, HVS produced our first musical, Sondheim’s Into the Woods, and has since continued to include musicals in the programming mix, alongside Shakespeare, adaptations of classics, and new work.
In 2022, Hudson Valley Shakespeare moved from Boscobel to a spectacular 98-acre campus conveyed to the company by philanthropist Chris Davis. With a focus on ecological restoration and climate-smart investment in green design, Hudson Valley Shakespeare’s campus is unique in the wider cultural landscape of the American Theater, bringing together cultural placemaking, community engagement, and environmental sustainability. From 2022 to 2025, we continued to perform in the tent at a temporary location on the new campus during the planning, design, and construction of a new permanent open-air theater, overlooking the Hudson River.
In 2026, we welcome audiences to the brand-new Samuel H. Scripps Theater Center for the first time. Designed by the renowned architecture firm Studio Gang, featuring an organic form inspired by the landscape of the Hudson Highlands, and timber-frame construction that echoes Shakespeare’s own Globe Theater, the Samuel H. Scripps Theater Center is a model of green building and design, making HVS the first theater in the United States to build a new home that is certified LEED-Platinum.
Commissioned Artists
Banana Bag and Bodice, Eric Berryman, Heather Christian, Carl Cofield, Raz Golden, Marti Lyons, Jared Mezzochi, Orlando Pabotoy, Will Power, Ryan Quinn, Luis Quintero, Kholoud Sawaf, Madeleine Sayet, Emma Went, Laura Marks, Zack Fine.