Lancaster Shakespeare Theatre (LST) offers thought-provoking theatre, promoting a more reflective and inclusive community. While Shakespeare is at the core of what LST does, the theatre also produces notable plays by other authors that portray the universal human experience through the immediacy of live performance. LST prioritizes educational programs for both children and adults.
Lancaster Shakespeare Theatre celebrates diversity. As a voice for the community, we seek to make our theatrical productions and classes as encompassing as possible. Our goal is to be a force for inclusion by reflecting the larger community in all its rich variety. We welcome audiences and performers of all races, genders, ethnicities, religions, sexual orientations, and ages.
LST was founded as the People’s Shakespeare Project by Laura Korach Howell and incorporated as a 501(c)3 non-profit in December 2006. By July 2007, the project had already produced three main stage performances of As You Like It at Elizabethtown College. The following summer, middle and high schoolers enjoyed the first session of Camp Will.
Recognized by The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts with annual Project Stream grants, LST has continued to produce Shakespeare’s works at various venues throughout Lancaster. In 2020, LST held its first high school Shakespeare festival, Shakes-Peers, at The Ware Center, with 37 students representing seven schools.
Jeremiah Miller took over as executive director in 2022, bringing a decade of New York theatre experience to his role. Miller has overseen the theatre’s name change and added additional plays to the LST season. The company has also begun to perform classic plays by playwrights other than Shakespeare beginning with a production of The Piano Lesson by August Wilson.