New Swan Shakespeare Festival Seminars & Education
249 Drama, Irvine, CA 92697-2775
About
New Swan Shakespeare Festival Seminars & Education offers a range of activities connected to the New Swan Shakespeare Festival, including a Seminar Series, High School Visits & Workshops, an Artist Shadowing Program, and a Summer Apprenticeship Program. The program also includes Community Conversations, Shakespeare Weekend, the Friday Folios Series, Acting Apprenticeships, and Production Internships. These activities take place in a 16-ton movable, 130 seat, mini-Elizabethan theater where every seat is close to the action.
New Swan Shakespeare Festival Seminars & Education is part of a professional Shakespeare festival that produces two Shakespearean works in rotating repertory under the stars and features professionals and students working side by side. The festival is hosted and produced in collaboration with the Drama Department at the University of California at Irvine, the Office of Research, the Claire Trevor School of the Arts, and the School of Humanities. The leadership team includes Eli Simon (Artistic Director, Founding Artistic Director, and Producing Artistic Director & Founder), Beth Lopes (Associate Artistic Director and Director), Greg Ungar (Associate Artistic Director & Actor), Rachael VanWormer (Associate Artist, Actor & Director), Abel Garcia (Associate Artist & Actor), Miriam Mendoza (Associate Production Coordinator), Julia Reinhard Lupton (Festival Dramaturg & Special Events Director), and Jesús López Vargas (Production Coordinator & Outreach Director).
New Swan Shakespeare Festival received the Arts Orange County Award in 2013 for Outstanding Contribution to the Built Environment. Reviews describe the New Swan Theater as “the most charming place to experience Shakespeare outdoors in Southern California” and note that “the enchantment begins the moment you enter the makeshift mini-Elizabethan theater,” according to the LA Times. OC Weekly wrote that “the intimate nature of New Swan put the cast right in our laps” and called it “among the best Shakespeare shows in the past 20 years.” The Orange County Register described the festival as “one festival that elevates beyond mere bucolic delights” and compared first seeing the theater to “discovering some extraterrestrial gift dropped by the theater gods onto the UC Irvine campus.” Coast Magazine stated that “at New Swan, Shakespeare is staged creatively and performed with gusto.”
Last updated March 5, 2026.
New Swan Shakespeare Festival Seminars & Education is part of a professional Shakespeare festival that produces two Shakespearean works in rotating repertory under the stars and features professionals and students working side by side. The festival is hosted and produced in collaboration with the Drama Department at the University of California at Irvine, the Office of Research, the Claire Trevor School of the Arts, and the School of Humanities. The leadership team includes Eli Simon (Artistic Director, Founding Artistic Director, and Producing Artistic Director & Founder), Beth Lopes (Associate Artistic Director and Director), Greg Ungar (Associate Artistic Director & Actor), Rachael VanWormer (Associate Artist, Actor & Director), Abel Garcia (Associate Artist & Actor), Miriam Mendoza (Associate Production Coordinator), Julia Reinhard Lupton (Festival Dramaturg & Special Events Director), and Jesús López Vargas (Production Coordinator & Outreach Director).
New Swan Shakespeare Festival received the Arts Orange County Award in 2013 for Outstanding Contribution to the Built Environment. Reviews describe the New Swan Theater as “the most charming place to experience Shakespeare outdoors in Southern California” and note that “the enchantment begins the moment you enter the makeshift mini-Elizabethan theater,” according to the LA Times. OC Weekly wrote that “the intimate nature of New Swan put the cast right in our laps” and called it “among the best Shakespeare shows in the past 20 years.” The Orange County Register described the festival as “one festival that elevates beyond mere bucolic delights” and compared first seeing the theater to “discovering some extraterrestrial gift dropped by the theater gods onto the UC Irvine campus.” Coast Magazine stated that “at New Swan, Shakespeare is staged creatively and performed with gusto.”
Last updated March 5, 2026.
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