Blackfriars Playhouse

The American Shakespeare Center hosts an internationally acclaimed theatre company that performs Shakespeare's works under their original staging conditions -- on a simple stage, without elaborate sets, and with the audience sharing the same light as the actors. Home to the ASC's resident troupe and the ASC on Tour, the Blackfriars Playhouse has been established as one of America's premier Shakespeare destinations.

Situated in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley in historic Staunton, Virginia, the 300-seat Blackfriars Playhouse -- the world's only re-creation of Shakespeare's original indoor theatre -- opened its doors in September 2001 and has already delighted tens of thousands of enthusiastic audience members from around the world. The product of years of research, this unique, historically accurate performance space provides the perfect backdrop for the ASC's Elizabethan staging practices, and has already been called... One of the most historically important theatres in the world.