New Swan Shakespeare Festival Celebrates A Decade At UC Irvine

Celebrated with a 120-person gala at the Barclay Theatre Plaza in Irvine on Friday, July 15, UC Irvine’s New Swan Shakespeare Festival has been taking center stage for 10 years.

After a two-year hiatus, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, UC Irvine announced the return of the beloved Shakespearean celebration in April, with two midsummer performances.

In a statement, Chancellor’s Professor Eli Simon, artistic director, New Swan Shakespeare Festival, shared his gratitude for the return to performances poetically.

“The occasion of our gala was cause for celebration on so many levels,” he said. “I was filled with gratitude that the campus and community embraces New Swan so passionately, that there’s joy at our return to live theater, and that so many people care so deeply about the success of our artistic endeavors. In the words of the Bard, ‘What more can I say but thanks, thanks, and ever thanks.’”

Currently at the New Swan Theater, Pericles, Prince of Tyre and The Comedy of Errrorrs are showing through September 3.

The New Swan Shakespeare Festival is a unique open-air performance held under the stars, within a 130-seat, 15-ton, cylindrical-shaped portable mini-Elizabethan space on the UC Irvine campus.

All performances are hosted and produced by current and former students within the drama department UC Irvine’s Claire Trevor School of The Arts.

Pericles, Prince of Tyre

Thursday, August 18, 8:00 p.m.

Sunday, August 21, 8:00 p.m.

Thursday, August 25, 8:00 p.m.

Saturday, August 27, 8:00 p.m.

Wednesday, August 31, 8:00 p.m.

September 2, 8:00 p.m.

The Comedy Of Errrorrs

Thursday, August 19, 8:00 p.m.

Sunday, August 20, 8:00 p.m.

Thursday, August 26, 8:00 p.m.