Shakespeare By The Sea

Mission
To create theatrical experiences for audiences in culturally diverse communities to make theatre accessible to all. To provide theatre presentations that incorporate community values and ideas into a timeless and dynamic theatrical experience.
To ignite imagination, promote literacy, and encourage artistic expression, while offering a venue for technical and performing artists to exercise their passion.

Vision
Through our performances, we seek to explore to truth of the human spirit through Shakespeare’s texts, affording each individual an unparalleled intellectual and emotional encounter.
By offering FREE productions in public venues we can reach the broadest demographics of English and non-English speaking audiences, allowing unlimited access without prejudice.

Shakespeare by the Sea (SBTS) was founded in 1998 by Producing Artistic Director Lisa Coffi who partnered with local city organizations to present Admission FREE Shakespeare performances in a little-used city-owned venue at Point Fermin Park in San Pedro. There was some doubt that a Shakespeare play would go over well in a port town, free or not. It was considered an impossibility as the venue was deemed a dangerous place to be after dark. With perseverance and grassroots marketing, SBTS presented 6 evenings of “The Comedy of Errors” playing to over 3000 people from the immediate community and other parts of LA, transforming the park into a viable venue for arts and cultural events. In 1999, SBTS returned to San Pedro and also began touring to communities throughout the South Bay, and, in 2001, expanded its activities to producing 2 Shakespeare plays each summer, touring in repertory throughout LA and Orange Counties, offering variety to both the audiences and artists involved. That program continues today in over 14 cities annually.

In 2002, SBTS expanded its programming beyond Shakespeare, transforming an old city tow yard into a 65-seat indoor performance venue called Little Fish Theatre (LFT) to produce new, classic, and contemporary works year-round.

As an arts organization with a long record of successful programming, SBTS continues to be an integral part of the Southern CA performing arts sector. SBTS has developed and continues to administer these programs: 1) Admission FREE Community Shakespeare - a FREE repertory Shakespeare program that tours throughout Orange Counties and Los Angeles 2) Little Fish Theatre – an Equity theatre providing year-round productions.

NEW in 2024- After 21 years of being located in San Pedro, CA, the organization lost its venue lease to developers. In February 2024, the City of Redondo Beach extended an invitation to relocate the organization to its city. Beach Cities Health District (BCHD) - an innovative healthcare campus - invited SBTS/LFT to take over a vacant building on their property. On March 1, SBTS/LFT fully moved its organization to Redondo Beach. The coming months entail preparing for the Summer Shakespeare tour and building out the space for the continuing LFT contemporary theatre program.

Summer Shakespeare and Little Fish Theatre continue to enhance the quality of life in the communities it serves with free and low-cost theatre programs, community partnerships, and volunteer opportunities. As arts creators, SBTS knows the benefit of live theatre and the Arts to the health and wellness of a community. They are a vital part of the social infrastructure - improving livability, inspiring civic engagement, and contributing to healthier, longer lives of its residents.

For 27 years, SBTS/LFT programs have reached over 585,000 diverse audience members, theatre professionals, and community volunteers.

Accomplishments:
2020-21 SBTS fully transitioned to an Employer/Employee wage structure (complying with AB5) for Actors, Directors, Stage Managers, and Staff for Summer Shakespeare and Little Fish Theatre.
2022: received its largest grant to date that was the direct result of community member advocacy - a $100,000 Community Grant from (former) City of LA 15th District Councilman Buscaino
2023: LFT was named by the Daily Breeze as South Bay’s FAVORITE Live/Performing Arts Theatre; SBTS’s Summer Shakespeare was named South Bay’s BEST Outdoor Entertainment.
2023/2024: SBT/LFT moved the organization to Redondo Beach after losing its lease in San Pedro.
2024: Produced 27th Season of Admission FREE Shakespeare, 2 Productions, tour to 4 cities in Orange County and 11 in LA County.
2024: LFT was awarded a Los Angeles New Play Project grant to produce the World Premiere of Righteous Among Us by Amy Tofte
2025: Redondo Beach City Council unanimously approved Entertainment Permit for LFT to produce in the new venue.

Goals for 2025:
1. INCREASE Corporate Sponsorships for Summer Shakespeare
2. RENOVATE / REOPEN the new theatre space for Little Fish programming to resume full season by Fall 2025
3. SUPPORT/RECRUIT (1) new staff position at SBTS/LFT - Front of House Manager
4. EXPAND programming, adding a youth education component to help underrepresented young storytellers find their voice and open up the world of Theatre to aspiring dramatists

Stable Financial Support is the biggest need for SBTS. Providing FREE community arts programming - the annual Shakespeare Festival - is a challenging and costly endeavor. It is the largest program of the organization. Without ticket income, the largest percentage of funding MUST come from Corporate, Foundation, Government and Individual Giving support. SBTS has successfully found ways to balance donations with a few earned income strategies - picnics, raffles, reserved seating options - but 55% Contributed income is still a necessity. SBTS has no desire to transition to a ticketed model, but without sufficient Funder commitments, it is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid. 
 
The second most pressing need is allocating income to support long-term staff. With the majority of funding needed to provide the programming, dollars for Administration are very limited. (Over the years, SBTS has had minimal success securing funding to support Administration positions.)  As a result, the two leaders of the organization are immeshed in all the day-to day operations leaving less time for fundraising, expanding programming, and organizational growth. Without enough funds to provide year-round staff support for all the programs, the result is turnover and repeat training - another responsibility placed on the leaders.

Orange County / LA County

Shakespeare by the Sea has achieved so much in its 25 year history, having grown to become a mid-level arts organization that is best known for delivering a high-quality admission-free theatrical experience to parks and public spaces all over Southern California. Audiences average more than 14,000 a summer and includes many underserved populations in communities like San Pedro, Wilmington, Los Angeles, Rossmoor, and Santa Ana. Many of the people I meet at our performances have been coming to these performances for years – this is an important part of their summer experience, and they welcome us warmly. We also operate a year-round black box theater that allows us to contribute to our “home base” community with an extraordinary selection of plays selected to prompt community engagement and reflection on our humanity. Most popular is a selection of shorts offered every January as “Pick of the Vine”. For this effort, company members and volunteers read about 600 plays a year, and the result is a delightful variety of laughter and poignancy that always sells out. Our challenges lie in creating the path to permanence - providing the financial, logistical and leadership foundation for the future. Toward that end, as a board, we will be undertaking a few initiatives· a strategic financial plan that has us on the road to endowment funding· a two year board composition strategy, to provide a diverse set of governance views and ongoing access to sources of funding a five year plan to a permanent location for our year-round theatrical venueContributing to Shakespeare by the Sea is a pleasure because every member of the cast, crew, staff and volunteer supporters is truly committed to bringing magical theatrical moments to our families and communities. Our founders, still actively engaged in operating the annual festival, create an atmosphere of cooperation and fun. I believe that there is magic in theater, and have since my parents took me to see local plays as a kid. In school, the Arts were my way to belong, and I enjoyed performing in community theater well into my 30’s. These days, a more fitting contribution to the Arts is my leadership and business acumen, although I admit I sometimes look at our season’s offerings and consider for a moment if I should audition. In the last 3 years, as an organization, we have survived some of the greatest economic challenges of the last 100 years, and our balance sheet remains strong. Our communities are passionately and unwaveringly behind us as we strive to bring the next generation of extraordinary theatrical experiences to a loyal following that is profoundly impacted by the timeless tales we share with them, with boundless heart and imagination. L Ellison, President 2022