Shakespeare and Gentrification in Regional Theatre

In 2017, the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company (CSC) opened their new theatre on the site of a former Teamsters’ union building and a much-beloved homeless shelter. In doing so, they not only claimed a space in a historic arts corridor, but also took part in the gentrification of this complicated neighbourhood. Responses to the new theatre have been generally, but not exclusively, positive. Considering CSC, this essay will ask a series of questions to uncover useful methods for studying regional Shakespeare in America. What is the iterative potential for a theatre to perform artistic reparations to the local community through performative and adaptive engagements with Shakespeare, a symbol of upper-class, white cultural hegemony? How does a theatre company balance its commitment to Shakespeare with engagement of its (often politically tense) immediate neighbourhood surroundings? The essay considers the economic, marketing, and political realities of what it means to be a regional, ensemble Shakespeare theatre company in Midwestern America and for local actors to take up space in Cincinnati, and to use Shakespeare as the flag they plant to claim that space.