Founded in 1991 as a subsidiary of Artemis – a Theatre Company, we began performing at the Leaning Pine Arboretum within Cal Poly's ornamental horticulture unit. After Artemis dissolved in 1997, the Festival became its own non-profit theater company, producing Measure for Measure and As You Like It at Cal Poly. Soon after, we embarked on a journey to find a new performance space. The community rallied, and we secured a temporary home at the San Luis Obispo City Playhouse, where we produced our 1998–2002 seasons indoors. A few special weekends of outdoor performances at Camp Ocean Pines in Cambria revealed the magic of performing outdoors.

 

In 2003, our dream of an outdoor performance space was realized when Bellevue Santa Fe Charter School welcomed us. Performing outdoors in the balmy Central Coast summers became a reality, and we produced five seasons there before moving to River Oaks Amphitheater in Paso Robles in 2009. Five beautiful summer seasons followed in Paso Robles. Ever the intrepid band of traveling players, we finally found our permanent home at Filipponi Ranch in 2014.   

 

The Central Coast Shakespeare Festival (CCSF) is committed to providing professional, entertaining productions of Shakespeare's work as well as other timeless and classical stories. 

​

We believe:

• In nurturing future theatre-going audiences

• In providing local artists with the opportunity to work alongside visiting professionals 

• In the power of live theater to change lives—for both artists and audiences

• In enriching the cultural life of the Central Coast

• That work is love made visible 

• That theatre should be fun, clear, and accessible

• That watching theater outdoors, with a delicious picnic and a fine glass of wine, is about as good as it gets

• And lastly, and perhaps most importantly, we believe in spit takes