One of the city’s most beloved summer traditions is back — Nashville Shakespeare Festival is returning to the historic bandshell at Centennial Park. But along with its whimsical new production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the company also is unveiling plans for a new playhouse, which is set to open in the summer of 2027.
“We’re so thrilled to be back in Centennial Park this year,” says NSF artistic director Jason Spelbring. “The festival was founded here at the park in 1988, so it really does feel like we’re home. And to be moving into the future with the new playhouse is especially exciting. It represents an important investment in our future, and one that I hope will serve the community for years to come.”
Designed and engineered by Hastings Architecture, The Playhouse offers a uniquely sustainable approach. Custom-built to retrofit within the existing bandshell, it will serve as an impressive summer home for Shakespeare in the Park that can easily be packed away and reused each season. Drawing inspiration from Shakespeare’s Globe, The Playhouse will provide a highly flexible framework that can be reconfigured and transformed, depending on the play being produced.
Playhouse Rendering
“I’d had this idea, this dream of The Playhouse floating around in my brain for some time,” Spelbring says. “I’d pitched it to the staff and a few folks, including Phillip Franck — a wonderful lighting and scenic designer who’s now retired from Vanderbilt University. Phillip understood exactly what I was going for, and helped bring everything to life. And then I got a call from Dillon Dunn — an architect at Hastings, who just happens to be married to one of our board members. It was incredible.”
Dunn admits that The Playhouse presented some unusual design challenges, but insists that “it’s been a really fun and rewarding process.” While Hastings has designed some of Nashville’s most iconic spaces (including Geodis Park and the new Tennessee Performing Arts Center), Dunn says “it’s less about scale for us, and more about opportunity.”
“The fact that The Playhouse had to operate in concert with the existing bandshell — which is really an interesting midcentury artifact on its own — was exciting,” Dunn says, noting that the new structure will offer an unmistakable “sense of place” within Centennial Park. “And I think the idea that the substructure or scaffolding of The Playhouse needed to be beautiful on its own, while also allowing it to be kind of an armature for any future expression, was really exciting for our team.”
For John Tumminello, president of Centennial Park Conservancy, The Playhouse offers a welcome complement to the park’s ongoing revitalization efforts. In 2024, Centennial Park Conservancy partnered with Metro Parks to renovate the historic bandshell with fresh paint, upgraded plumbing, electrical, lighting and more. Later this month, they will host the grand opening of the park’s north side revitalization — including a new event pavilion and a dining destination called the Croquet Cafe.
“There’s a renewed sense of vibrancy,” Tumminello says. “One of the things that makes Centennial Park unique is that it’s always been a cultural gathering place, as opposed to just a green space or nature park. ... So to have Shakespeare coming back to the park — and to find this very creative way of leaning into the historic bandshell as their home — it just feels really special. And I think it signifies a new creative chapter for both the Shakespeare Festival and also for Centennial Park.”
NSF executive director Isabel Tipton-Krispin and artistic director Jason Spelbring
For now, Spelbring is focused on this summer’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a dreamy comedy that’s packed with mischief and mayhem.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream was actually the last play that we did before leaving the bandshell in 2018,” he says. “So it was important to me that this be the title for our return to Centennial Park. I wanted to honor our history with the park, while also letting the park itself inspire our production. I’ve been saying this production is more about forest floor than fairy wings, so it’s very grounded and earthy. [Scenic designer] Will Butler has created seven incredible trees, all made from reclaimed lumber and found, repurposed materials. That gives us our Athenian forest — where our actors can hide and chase and even climb. It’s visually stunning, like a beautiful art installation.”
Spelbring also drew inspiration from the 1917 Cottingley Fairies hoax, in which two young girls in England captured the public’s imagination with a series of doctored photos supposedly depicting real woodland fairies.
“What fascinated me about the Cottingley Fairies incident was the sense of wonder and possibility — the fact that people wanted to believe,” Spelbring says. “I feel like that gave us a real pathway into our production. And that mashup of Athenian and English influences opened up all sorts of ideas, with gorgeous 1917-inspired silhouettes from [costume designer] Melissa Durmon. And music director Randy Craft has also pulled some great music from the period.”
As always, NSF offers a pay-what-you-will, donation-based model that ensures accessibility for all. In addition to the main performance, audiences can look forward to NSF’s popular Insight Lecture Series and preshow entertainment, along with a rotating lineup of food trucks. Plus, the new Willow Oak Bar will offer canned beer, wine and cocktails at select performances.
“On our first night of rehearsals at the park, I felt this overwhelming sense of community,” Spelbring says. “There was a concert going on, a soccer match, and people were jogging by or walking their dogs. It felt so alive and thriving, and we’re just happy to be a part of it.”
