Performances at the Helen Borgers Theatre in Bixby Knolls

4250 Atlantic Avenue, Long Beach, CA

Tickets available at LBShakespeare.org

Dear Patrons, Friends, and Theatre Lovers,

The Long Beach Shakespeare Company and Artistic Director Holly Leveque are pleased to announce LBSC’s 2025 season, SO THIS IS LOVE? Selections for the year will explore forms, developments, and consequences of the spectrum of human emotions we call love. “This question brings to the surface all the expressions that love might engender,” explains Leveque. “Family. Marriage. Friends. The good. The bad. The love that breaks your heart. Is this love or something more?”

LBSC will offer five fully staged classic productions for 2025, including Shakespeare’s Richard III, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Much Ado About Nothing. In the tragedy of Richard III, family ties are tested against the temptations of envy and ambition. A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Much Ado About Nothing offer lighter fare–romantic romps laced with danger, confusion, and youthful ardor. A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen goes a different direction, exploring the tensions love can inspire within a family, even with the best of intentions. Finally, LBSC’s winter holiday fare opens with Cinderella Holiday Edition, a festive twist on the classic romantic fairy tale.

No season would be complete, of course without LBSC’s old-time radio-style productions, complete with live actors, sound effects, and original music. The 2025 season includes The Wizard of Oz in the spring, Arsenic and Old Lace and War of the Worlds in the fall, and A Christmas Carol in December. Fabulous fun for the whole family!

Finally, Leveque is delighted to announce the return of LBSC’s two smashing special series. Over two weekends in May & June, the 2025 NEW WORKS FESTIVAL will bring to life six original one-acts, full-length plays, or musicals in various stages of development. Local participation encouraged! Join us to show your love for new works and up-and-coming artists! Then in October celebrate the love of verse shared by both William Shakespeare and LBSC’s founding Artistic Director Helen Borgers with the 2025 POETRY SERIES. SoCal poet Brian Sonia-Wallace will curate three days of events featuring writers and poets with activities, readings, and (because October is always spooky at LBSC) a new work of horror poetry inspired by Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis.

LBSC is the ONLY full-time classical theatre company in Long Beach. Since 1990, our mission has been both pro-literacy and pro-community. “We love the arts and our neighbors,” says Leveque, “and we hope to share and build on that love with our 2025 season.”