42nd Annual Kern Shakespeare Festival

The Kern Shakespeare Festival kicks off with perhaps Shakespeare’s most beloved comedy classic, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Full of iconic lines, musings on love, and a donkey-headed actor, Midsummer is a crowd-pleaser that always leaves the audience in stitches. Starring familiar festival favorites and exciting young talent, A Midsummer Night’s Dream will play October 1 – 9 in the Edward Simonsen Indoor Theater. Paired with A Midsummer Night’s Dream, festival founder Randall Messick returns to the Edward Simonsen Performing Arts Center to take on the title role of Titus Andronicus. Professor Cody Ganger will act in the production, and direct with a directorial team, only the second time the play has been presented in the history of the festival. Easily Shakespeare’s bloodiest play, Titus Andronicus plays October 2 – 10 in the Edward Simonsen Indoor Theater. The festival opens on Wednesday, October 1 at 7:30 PM in the Indoor Theatre with a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and continues through October 10. Tickets are available for purchase at bit.ly/bcartstix. Hermia loves Lysander. Demetrius loves Hermia. Helena loves Demetrius. And a fairy queen loves a man with a donkey’s head? Or maybe it’s all just a marvelous dream. One of Shakespeare’s most hilarious and popular comedies, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a delightfully zany frolic through the forest filled with fairies, magic potions, bumbling actors, feuding royals, and love at first sight. Directed by Brian Sivesind, the Kern Shakespeare Festival invites you to fall in love all over again, October 1 – 9 in the Indoor Theater at Bakersfield College. Titus Andronicus, General of the Roman army, returns from a decades-long war against the Goths, bringing the Queen of Goths and her children as prisoners of war. After a ritualistic sacrifice of her eldest child, the Queen vows vengeance against Titus and his entire family, unleashing a chain of horrifying and bloody retribution. Starring Kern Shakespeare Festival founder Randall Messick in the title role, and current Co-Artistic Director Cody Ganger, and featuring a stellar cast of community talent and students, Titus Andronicus returns to the Festival for only the second time in its history, playing October 2-10, directed by Cody Ganger, Jesse Magdaleno, and guest director Steph Hankinson, in the Indoor Theater at Bakersfield College. “I find it so exciting to explore under-represented plays by Shakespeare, so it’s a privilege to tackle a play that hasn’t been done at the festival in over twenty years” says Ganger. “I would caution audience members to check warnings for Titus Andronicus because it has some very intense content and themes, and absolutely tons of blood, but for audiences who are up for the challenge, Titus is an incredible play! It’s epic, it’s shocking, it’s theatrical, incredibly emotional and full of devastating love and loss, and I think it will make for an extremely exciting and moving experience.” The 42nd Annual Kern Shakespeare Festival will perform in repertory October 1 – 10, 2026 in the Edward Simonsen Indoor Theater on the Bakersfield College main campus. A full performance schedule is listed below. Tickets are available now at bit.ly/bcartstix and range from $10-$15, subject to change.

Event Links

Tickets: https://go.evvnt.com/3798863-0

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