The Theater at Monmouth

The Theater At Monmouth, The Shakespearean Theater of Maine, is a year-round repertory company of professional theater artists from across Maine and the United States. Founded in 1970, the Theater was named The Shakespearean Theater of Maine by the Maine State Legislature in 1975. Performances are held in beautiful Cumston Hall, listed on the National Register of Historic Buildings since 1976.

The Mission of The Theater at Monmouth is to bring innovative approaches to Shakespeare and other classic plays through professional productions which enrich the lives of people in Maine at historic Cumston Hall and throughout the state.

In its 38 seasons, The Theater At Monmouth has produced over 270 different productions, including at least 20 world premieres. The Theater has employed more than 1,500 theater artists from throughout the country and many foreign countries.

The 2008 season will mark the 39th year of performances. The season includes a spring tour of Greek Myths: Out of the Box, which will perform for more than 25,000 Maine school children. The summer season includes Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and A Winter's Tale, as well as Joseph Kesserling's classic Arsenic and Old Lace, Charles Ludlam's outrageous The Mystery of Irma Vep, and a new musical adaptation of The Three Little Pigs . The Theater will produce Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado in the fall featuring professional leads and members of the community in the chorus.

The Theater has been selected for the 4th year in a row as one of 30 theaters in the US to participate in the National Endowment for the Arts' Shakespeare in American Communities program with their production of Macbeth, touring in early 2008.

One of The Theater's on-going projects is the innovative show Taxing Maine, a two-man comic history of Maine taxation that was commissioned in 2006 by the Maine Humanities Council for their 30th anniversary. Taxing Maine recently won two prestigious awards from the American Association for State and Local History. In 2008 the show will be available for touring and will be made into a podcast that can be downloaded from the Humanities Council's website. The Theater At Monmouth operates under a contract with Actors' Equity during the summer season, and utilizes professional artists from Maine and all over the country for all of its projects.

The Theater At Monmouth is a constituent member of The Theater Communications Group, the Shakespeare Theater Association of America, The New England Theater Conference, The Association of Presenters of Northern New England, the Winthrop Chamber of Commerce and the Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce.