Welcome to The Little Shakespeare Festival at Frigid New York! This festival is a celebration of independent theater and performance that takes inspiration from the immortal bard, William Shakespeare. Each year, companies are offered a different theme or idea to help guide their work.
The 2025 festival’s theme was “Not Your English Teacher’s Shakespeare.”
Remember that English teacher you had? No, not the good one. The one that told you not to split your infinitives, that comic books weren’t real books, and that kids say “like” too much. That English teacher. This year we want to put on Shakespeare that would make that English teacher tell you to “see me after class!”
Join our community and remember that Shakespeare doesn’t just live on when performed in giant, open air amphitheaters or big, Broadway houses; he also lives in these most humble of places, where I think he would have felt quite at home. Here, with you and me, at The Little Shakespeare Festival.
Little Shakespeare is curated by artist and educator Conor Mullen of As You Will and runs from early to mid August.
Years Past
2025: Not Your English Teacher’s Shakespeare
- Anti-Gone, Created by Sivan Raz and Presented by Needs More Work Productions
- As You Will, Created by Conor Mullen, David Brummer, and George Hider
- As You Wish It or The Bride Princess or What You Will, Written by Michael Hagins, Presented by Fork the Odds Productions
- Hamlet: La Telenovela, Adapted by Federico Mallet, Translation by Jose Ruano, and Presented by Something From Abroad
- Hamlet’s Dad, Written & Performed by Rachel Resnik, Presented by Serious Play
- Measure for Measure, Presented by Elsewhere Shakespeare Company
- The Mousetrap, or Prince Hamlet wrote a dumb play and now we have to do it, Written by Margaret Rose Caterisano, Presented by Broomstick
- Tempestuous, Written by Mark Sage
- Two Households, Written & Performed by Rachel Weekley, Presented by No Exit Theatre Collective
2023: Exploring the Feminine in Shakespeare
- As You Will, Created by Conor Mullen, David Brummer, and George Hider
- Double Bill: Shakespeare’s Deaths & Shakespeare’s Ladies at Tea, Written by Frank Farrell, Presented by First Flight Theatre Company
- Lady Capulet, Written by Melissa Bell, Presented by Barefoot Shakespeare Company
- THE ROOM of Falsehood, Written by Michael Hagins, Presented by C.A.G.E. Theatre Company
- Shrew You! Presented by Hamlet Isn’t Dead
- Wheel of Fortune, Written by Jing Ma, Presented by Djingo Productions
2024: Camaraderie and Community
- As You Mic It: Shakespearian Slam
- As You Will, Created by Conor Mullen, David Brummer, and George Hider
- Fools in the Forest, Written by Natalie Kane (from text by William Shakespeare), Presented by Ladies & Fools
- The Lark and the Nightingale, Written by Mindy Mawhirter and Alyssa Cokinis
- Much Ado About Nothing, Produced by Megan Lummus
- My Own Private Shakespeare, Written by Justin Hay, Presented by Modern Classic Theatre
- Walter Schlinger’s Romeo and Juliet, Written by Sean Gordon, Presented by Glow-Worm Theatre Company
- When My Cue Comes, Written by William Shakespeare and Select Members of Hamlet Isn’t Dead, Presented by Hamlet Isn’t Dead
2022: Little Shakespeare
- As You Will, Created by Conor Mullen, David Brummer, and George Hider
- Romeo & Juliet, Produced by Sam Stone, Shelby Capone, Annella Kaine, Taylor Bartenope
- Brawls and Burlesque, Double Bill presented by Fortune Cookie and C.A.G.E. Theatre Company
- Uspoken Garden/ El Jardin que calla, Presented by Robus Dance Theatre Ensemble