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Merger Updates

April 16, 2025

A NEW BEGINNING: ACT Contemporary Theatre and Seattle Shakespeare Company Announce Inaugural 2025/26 Season

Seattle’s ACT Contemporary Theatre and Seattle Shakespeare Company are proud to announce their joint season, showcasing five works beginning this unique moment in their company’s history: a new beginning. Featuring a beloved classic told through a modern lens, and intimate and touching Seattle premiere, new explorations of two Shakespeare favorites, and the unique journey of a visionary artist, this season promises to engage, excite, and exhilarate the Seattle community.
 
“Empowerment. Transformation. Becoming. These themes run through our first season as a combined organization, both onstage and off,” said Interim Producing Artistic Director Elisabeth Farwell-Moreland. “As we step into our future together as a new company, Seattle audiences will also see two theatres that they have loved for so long are still here, even as we become one.”
 
Managing Director John Bradshaw adds: “For me, the most important thing we can do in our first season is to invite everyone in to see that Shakespeare, which we can only really ever interpret through our contemporary experience, and contemporary works, which reflect our history as they open doors into the future, combine perfectly in the timeless arc of our need to gather around the fire and tell stories to make sense of our world.”
 
5-Play subscription packages, starting at $193, to the inaugural 2025/26 Season are on sale now at acttheatre.org. Throughout the season ACT and Seattle Shakespeare Company will present additional programming with more details and tickets to be announced at a later date.

January 30, 2025

ACT Contemporary Theatre and Seattle Shakespeare Company Announce Historic Merger Effective July 1, 2025!

We are thrilled to announce that both ACT Contemporary Theatre (ACT) and Seattle Shakespeare Company (SSC) Boards of Trustees approved our historic merger with an effective date of July 1, 2025. 
 
This landmark decision comes after an extensive deliberation and planning process that included incorporating valuable input throughout from staff, donors, community members, and working committees. Under the terms of the agreement, the two organizations will merge under the legal name of “Union Arts Center.” The merged organization, whose public-facing name will be determined at a later date, will present plays and programs representing both the ACT Theatre and Seattle Shakespeare artistic brands.
 
Also announced as part of our exciting merger news:
  • Current SSC Executive Director John Bradshaw will join as Managing Director of the merged company.
  • An initial Board of Trustees – comprising seven members of each organization’s current board – in collaboration with Bradshaw and ACT Interim Producing Artistic Director Elisabeth Farwell-Moreland, will continue to meet and engage with the community and stakeholders as they deepen their planning for the new organization.
  • The new Board will be tasked with creating the company’s Mission, Vision, and Values, building the staff structure, finalizing an executive board structure, and beginning the nationwide search for an Artistic Director.
We hope you’ll be joining us for the first collaboration between our organizations, the production of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night in ACT’s Falls Theatre June 7-22. 
The inaugural 2025/26 Season of our new theatre company will be announced in April 2025.
 
This bold and innovative step marks an exciting new chapter for ACT Contemporary Theatre and Seattle Shakespeare Company, and we thank you for your continued support. We invite your feedback at feedback@acttheatre.org.