Lancaster Shakespeare Theatre (LST) is Lancaster’s home for serious theatre, promoting a more thoughtful and inclusive community. While Shakespeare remains at the core of what LST does, the theatre also produces classic plays by other authors that portray the universal human experience through the immediacy of live performance.
The Lancaster Shakespeare Theatre celebrates diversity and inclusion. LST does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, age or anything else. Rather, it seeks to make its theatrical productions and classes as encompassing as possible. Because LST is in some sense a voice of the community, the theatre tries to reflect that community in all its variety and richness. LST’s goal is to attract diverse cast members and audiences from throughout Lancaster and neighboring counties. The theatre not only embraces diversity, equity and inclusion, but aspires to be a force for promoting those values.
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.