BOISE, IDAHO: Idaho Shakespeare Festival has announced the official retirement of Charles Fee, who was serving as producing artistic director for three organizations—Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Great Lakes Theater in Cleveland, and Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival in Incline Village, Nev. Earlier this year, it was announced that Fee would retire at the end of the 2025-26 season and be succeeded by Sara Bruner at that time. However, according to a statement from the theatre, plans changed, moving up Fee’s retirement. Since Fee and Bruner have worked together for decades, the theatre said Fee felt Bruner was already ready to take the helm fully and he was simultaneously ready to be retired after a career at the three organizations that spanned three decades.
“This was a life’s work,” Fee added in a statement, “every day was heart-stoppingly thrilling, endlessly challenging, full of breath-taking beauty and utterly joyful. I will be forever grateful to the Trustees who supported us, the staff and artists I had the privilege to collaborate with, and the endless generosity of the communities we continue to serve. Thank you all.”
Before his work with the three-city strategic alliance, Fee served as artistic director at Sierra Repertory Theatre in Calif. from 1988 to 1992. His career has also seen him work with institutions such as The Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Missouri Repertory Theater, Actor’s Theatre of Phoenix, and the Los Angeles Shakespeare Festival. He began with Idaho Shakespeare Festival in 1991, where he supported a surge in community engagement: Attendance grew from 28,000 to a peak of 76,000 in 2019. In 2002 he joined Great Lakes Theater and added Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival to his portfolio in 2010.
His work establishing the three-city partnership enriched cultural offerings of each region. For his leadership, Fee was honored awarded the Cleveland Arts Prize as a recipient of the Martha Joseph Award, the Boise Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, and the Idaho Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts.
“Charles Fee is simply a giant in Idaho theatre and arts,” said J. Kevin West, president of the board of trustees at Idaho Shakespeare Festival, in a statement. “Through his many years of stellar service, he has been pivotal to the success of the Idaho Shakespeare Festival we know today. From the initial capital campaign to fund our current amphitheater to the present, his visionary leadership has not only produced magnificent theatrical productions, but also deeply connected us with our community. Truly, Charlie will leave a lasting legacy here in Idaho. As he steps into retirement, we honor his extraordinary contributions and look forward to building on the strong foundation he has created.”
Idaho Shakespeare Festival’s mission is to produce great theatre, entertain, and educate by developing an artistic home for theatre artists, providing a range of programming, promoting cultural understanding, and illuminating human nature through a repertory of plays, including those of Shakespeare. As of 2022, the theatre had a budget of approximately $4.9 million.
