Idaho Shakespeare Schedule

Photo credit to Tony Moody

The Idaho Shakespeare Festival is a quintessential Boise summer experience. This nearly 50-year-old theater festival has evolved throughout the years, from its original location at the One Capitol Center, to its run on Parkcenter Boulevard, and now to its current home in the Barber Valley. The outdoor amphitheater connects nature and theater seamlessly and was inspired by how the original viewers of Shakespeare’s plays would have experienced theater. It is a staple experience in every Boisean’s summer calendar, with locals eager to pack a picnic, grab a provided wooden folding chair or bring their own blanket for the lawn areas, and watch the stage come alive with captivating Shakespearean magic. Check out the full summer schedule below and purchase tickets here.

2024 Summer Schedule

• Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare: May 24th - June 8th

This uproarious battle of the sexes features rotund rascal Sir John Falstaff and the wise wives of Windsor in one of Shakespeare’s most raucous comedies. This play is suitable for all ages. 

• Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie: June 14th - July 6th

This play is a comedic twist on the famous mystery, in which Poirot must solve the crime of a man stabbed in his locked compartment on the opulent Orient Express—and every passenger is a suspect. This play is suitable for all ages.

• Into the Woods by Stephan Sondheim: July 12th - August 4th

Stephen Sondheim’s award-winning music and lyrics will transport you to a land where there is a giant in the sky, a wolf in the woods, a curse reversed, and a wish in everyone’s heart. This play is suitable for all ages.

• A Midsummer Night’s Dream: August 9th - 31st

Join in for an exhilarating night of midsummer madness, with this magical comedy filled with mistaken identity, mismatched lovers, and mischief-making fairies. This modern verse translation of Shakespeare’s comic masterpiece follows two pairs of ensnared lovers and a rustic troupe of would-be actors in a forest full of comedic adventure. This play is suitable for all ages.

• Always…Patsy Cline by Ted Swindley: September 6th - 29th

This musical celebration of the country legend tells the touchingly true story of Patsy Cline’s friendship with a fan, Louise Seger, which started in 1961 and continued until the premature death of the renowned country star. This play is suitable for all ages.