Freewill Shakespeare Festival
The Freewill Shakespeare Festival, which was called the Rivercity players for a short period of time was founded in 1989. It is produced by the Edmonton, Alberta-based "Free Will Players" every summer from late-June to mid-July, with performances in the 1,000-seat Heritage Amphitheater in Hawrelak Park in Edmonton. The Festival includes full-scale professional productions of two plays by William Shakespeare, as well as Camp Shakespeare, a summer drama camp for youth ages 8–16. In 2008, the festival was renamed the Freewill Shakespeare Festival.
Due to significant damage to Freewill's traditional venue at the Heritage Amphitheatre in Hawrelak Park, the festival's 2014 season took place inside the Myer Horowitz Theatre in the University of Alberta's Students' Union Building.
Recent productions
| Year | Tragedy | Comedy | Season |
| 2019 | The Winter's Tale | The Two Gentlemen of Verona | June 18 – July 14 |
| 2018 | Hamlet | The Comedy of Errors | June 19 – July 15 |
| 2017 | Merchant of Venice | The Merry Wives of Windsor | June 20 – July 16 |
| 2016 | Romeo and Juliet | Love's Labour's Lost | June 21 – July 17 |
| 2015 | Coriolanus | As You Like It | June 23 – July 19 |
| 2014 | cancelled | The Taming of the Shrew | |
| 2013 | King Lear | A Midsummer Night's Dream | |
| 2012 | Julius Caesar | The Tempest | |
| 2011 | Othello | Twelfth Night | |
| 2010 | Macbeth | Much Ado About Nothing | |
| 2009 | Titus Andronicus | The Comedy of Errors | |
| 2008 | Richard III | As You Like It | |
| 2007 | Two Gentlemen of Verona | The Winter's Tale | |
| 2006 | Hamlet | The Taming of the Shrew | |
| 2005 | Romeo and Juliet | Love's Labour's Lost | |
| 2004 | The Merchant of Venice | Twelfth Night | |
| 2003 | Henry V | A Midsummer Night's Dream | |
| 2002 | The Tempest | The Merry Wives of Windsor | |
| 2001 | Richard III | As You Like It | |
| 2000 | King Lear | Much Ado About Nothing | |
| 1999 | Macbeth | The Two Gentlemen of Verona | |
| 1998 | Julius Caesar | The Comedy of Errors |