Community Collaboration - Expansion of Great River Shakespeare Festival Public Library Complimentary Ticket Program

1.) Comments from the Library Ticket Voucher surveys stating that the patrons would not have been able to attend the performances without the access to the vouchers. Feedback from members of this target audience is below:
• “We would not be able to afford tickets without the ticket vouchers. These are a great way to introduce people unsure of Shakespeare to GRSF. I encouraged everyone I knew to attend.”
• “As a senior citizen, it enabled me to attend the performances.”
• “In our current state, it gave us the opportunity to be able to view the play.”
• “Because of the library I can see the plays.”
2.) Many patrons who had seen a number of productions attended the library partnership workshops, and expressed coming away from the workshops feeling a greater connection with GRSF, with Shakespeare, and a deeper understanding of the world of professional theatre and professional Shakespeare production. Patrons were asked about their reaction to reading versus seeing the plays, and reading the plays and receiving information about them prior to seeing them. Here are some of the responses in that category:
• “Absolutely! They helped me to keep track of the characters and understand the subtleties more.”
• “Reading an overview made me less nervous that I would miss key points in the plot. I was excited to see how they would depict war scenes and themes.”
• “I really liked that the library also was able to provide copies of the play to read prior to viewing.”
3.) Several library patrons who had never attended a GRSF production attended the Library Partnership Workshops. The presenters enjoyed the interesting and enlightening conversation with many positive, inspiring patron interactions throughout the process.
Other Outcome Goals
On numerous occasions patrons volunteered the opinions that the material was engaging and that the workshop enhanced their viewing of the plays when they did see them. Below are some examples of patron feedback concerning this goal:
• “I highly recommend the workshop. The presenter was enthusiastic and informative. I’m sure that the workshop helped me decide what play to attend and to understand the performance more than I would have without the workshop.”
• “Yes – it provided good background – especially important on a history play.”
• “It helps with understanding the plays.”
• “It was helpful to learn about each play before attending. I attended the workshop with my children
ages 4-14 years old.”
• “Wonderful presentation. Social history was excellent.”
• “How the festival brings the play into a more modern and understandable version.”
• “Fun to hear about the background and how the play went from a text to the play that we see.”

62 copies of the plays were checked out during the project.