Interview: Charles Fee of the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival Talks About Their Upcoming Season

Summer means Shakespeare and, luckily, there are a variety of offerings to choose from in our area. Arguably, though, none are in a more beautiful location than that of the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival. What began in 1972 on the lawn of the Ehrman Mansion at Sugar Pine Point State Park has now evolved to a permanent, state-of-the-art stage housed in the picturesque Sand Harbor at Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park. This season the Festival is featuring two exciting shows: The Merry Wives of Windsor and Always…Patsy Cline. BroadwayWorld spoke with Director/Producing Artistic Director Charles Fee about this summer’s offerings, the evolution of the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, and what it takes to produce theatre in one of the most enchanting places in the world.

You’ve been at the helm of the Tahoe Shakespeare Festival for fourteen years! What did it look like when you came on board and how has it evolved?

We had done a lot of cosmetic changes to the space itself, as much as one can. You can’t understand until you arrive and see it. We sit right on the lake. We are on a giant sand dune that is part of Sand Harbor and part of the Nevada Parks System. It is one of the most extraordinarily beautiful sights in the world, and it’s unmatched to watch theatre. What has changed during my time is the company has formed itself into a producing organization. For a long time, it would hire companies to present plays in its space. Lake Tahoe joined the other theatres in Boise and Cleveland and became a part of this producing organization. We create all of our own work and take it to our three cities. This season we are doing Merry Wives of Windsor and Always…Patsy Cline, both of which will play in Cleveland and Idaho. Merry Wives just closed in Boise and Always will come to Boise when it closes in Tahoe. The Merry Wives of Windsor is the exact same company that played in Boise. The level of The Acting Company is much better than it has been in the past because we can attract actors because the work we’re now doing is in 3 cities. It’s one of the premiere West Coast theatre companies as far as our union structure and those kinds of things.

You’re the producing artistic director of all three of the professional theatre companies you mentioned: Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, and Great Lakes Theatre in Cleveland, Ohio. How do you juggle all of that? Are you traveling all of the time?

I travel a lot, but it’s not absurd. I have a supportive family that makes a big difference. My home base is Boise because it all sort of started when I took the job in Boise.

How did you decide to make theatre your career?

I grew up in the Bay Area and I started going to The American Conservatory Theatre when I was very young and I just fell in love with theatre. I didn’t think of it as something I would pursue until I went to college. I was a theatre major at UOP and went to graduate school at UC San Diego as an actor and then went to Los Angeles for a while. Then I went to a wonderful small theatre in Sonora and became the artistic director at Sierra Repertory Theatre. From there, I went to Idaho and then we picked up a relationship with Great Lakes Theatre and added Tahoe in 2010.

What do you think makes the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival unique, besides the obviously beautiful location?

The truth is, theatre companies are always defined by the artists that come to work there. We’ve been producing theatre in Idaho for thirty-three seasons and in Cleveland for twenty-two seasons, and this is my fourteenth season in Tahoe, so I’ve got a long relationship with all of the companies and we’ve been building our artists over time. We are very aware of playing in the outdoors. Our theatre in Idaho is also an outdoor amphitheatre, and you learn to work outdoors and learn to embrace the wonderful experience of watching plays outdoors in nature. That’s particularly true with Shakespeare’s plays. There’s something true and magical being by the lake and by the mountains. The birds are going by and you feel like you’re watching something magical. It’s a great facility in a beautiful state park, and we have a great food service in our theatre. Full dinner, full bar, or you can bring your own picnic, so there’s a lot of freedom as an audience member to define how your night will go.

Are there challenges to maintaining a festival in such a location, or do you find that the tourism feeds into the ticket sales?

We’ve been in a very strong and solid financial position for about ten years since we brought our new team together. We all went through the real horror of the pandemic, which for the theatre was extraordinarily difficult. We were prepared for crisis and looking ahead. There’s always a recession, so you have to be ready. Recessions hurt sales in resort areas like Tahoe. When there’s a recession, people pull back on entertainment. In 2008, the company went through a very difficult time. When I came in during 2010 we were rebuilding and recapitalizing. We were waiting for what the next disaster was going to be. In California, it could be smoke, fires, rain, or a recession. Nobody ever thought it would be a pandemic. Luckily, we were in a solid position going into it. We have an incredibly supportive Board of Trustees and community. We are back to performing at our pre-pandemic attendance levels. In 2022, we had our largest attendance in history. There’s a core audience and many of them live in the region: Lake Tahoe, Reno, Sacramento, Truckee, and they come every summer. Half of the audience are at Lake Tahoe for maybe their first time ever. When it’s that audience, they’re generally looking at the title of the play. They think, “Oh, it’s a musical. I love musicals.” There is a Shakespeare play and a musical and they play in repertory so in any given week you can see both shows if you want to. People are in our theatre every night from all over the globe. It’s truly a global destination.

If someone were to make the Festival part of a weekend in Tahoe, what recommendations would you make for things to do that are your personal favorite parts of the area? Dining, lodging, activities?

There’s nothing better for me and my family than just hiking or mountain biking. There are so many trails. If you have the luxury of getting a boat, do that. If not, go hike. Walk along the incredible new walking path from Incline Village that leads to our theatre that’s right on the lake. It’s incredible and breath taking. Do that in the morning, then come see Shakespeare, eat dinner at the Festival, and watch the show. We’re at 6,000 feet and it’s a Sierra mountain lake, so the temperature drops when the sun sets. No matter how hot is during the day you need to bring layers.

You have two very different shows playing this year. Always…Patsy Cline and The Merry Wives of Windsor. How do you go about choosing those shows and what made you choose these two?

There are so many variables in putting a season together. We always think of the Shakespeare play first. We’re looking for the play with the widest appeal. People are coming from all over and bringing their families. We’re generally looking at the comedies. For the musicals, we’re looking at all kinds of things. What will be appealing to different generations? What are the artists in our company interested in? Who are the performers? With Always we are in an unusual position in that two actors are making their debuts with our company. They are both from Chicago and they are extraordinary musical theatre performers. We wanted to bring them in, and this show makes sense for them. We’re looking for those things that are going to bring variety and be attractive to an audience at a resort.

What is your favorite show that has been performed at the Festival?

Two seasons ago we had a perfect double bill. Much Ado About Nothing, which is one of my favorites, was with Mamma Mia. Much Ado About Nothing takes place on the southern tip of Italy. Mamma Mia is on a Greek island. We were sitting on the sand in Tahoe looking out at the lake and thinking, “This could be Italy, this could be Greece.”

The Festival also oversees an educational branch called Young Shakespeare and InterACT. What can you tell us about that?

The Young Shakespeare is a way to introduce very young audiences to Shakespeare. We take a Shakespeare title, often it’s the title we are doing, and we have professional actors perform it. We also include teenagers from local high schools, who are getting an educational experience by being in a play. We cut them down to about an hour. They are performed at the lake at our theatre and in different venues down to the valley. It’s a way to bring kids to see a play that is free, and in a form for little kids that is really great.

InterACT is a way to take actors into local schools and teach the students to read and act the text. They learn about language and theatre and the arts in the classroom.

We also have a Showcase series. We have all kinds of other offerings that happen on Monday nights and some Tuesdays. Great local arts companies like the Reno Philharmonic, Reno Jazz Orchestra, Sierra Nevada Ballet, and a whole series of bands that we hire and bring in. Bernie James, one of the great jazz artists in America, will be here. It’s another ten nights of entertainment in our theatre.

In three words or less, sum up the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival.

Extraordinary theatre outdoors.

The Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival opens on June 28th with Always…Patsy Cline. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit their website at laketahoeshakespeare.com.

Photo credit: Jeffrey C. Hawkins

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