Bard's Muse ($5000 and up)

Season Sponsor

• your name/business included for the season in all promotional materials (posters, flyers, rack cards, etc)
• your name/business featured in the programs
• benefits listed below

The Bard, was of course, William Shakespeare himself. While we know some of his sources such as Holinshed's Chronicles, the comedies of Plutarch and the work of contemporaries like Spenser and Marlowe, the source of his genius, his muse, is a great mystery that will never be resolved.

Queen's Players ($2,500)

Weekend Sponsor

• your name/business featured for the weekend in the program and listed in all the performance programs
• benefits listed below

Queen Elizabeth I was a major patron of the theatre and had her Master of Revels form a company. This company performed popular works of the day including Shakespeare's history plays.

Stratford Circle ($1,000)

Show Sponsor

• specially designed program insert that acknowledges support
• pre-show announcement, thanking the sponsor
• reserved lawn space for 10 for the sponsored performance
• benefits listed below

Stratford-upon-Avon was Shakespeare's birthplace and childhood home. The Holy Trinity Church at Stratford is also his final resting place. His gravestone famously warns, "curst be he that moves my bones."

Royal Court ($500)

Show Co-sponsor

• invitation to a final dress rehearsal at one of the locations
• benefits listed below

In addition to Elizabeth, other members of the court funded Elizabethan theatre companies. In fact, theatrical performers without noble patronage were considered vagrants.

Globe's Nobles ($250)

Benefactor

• invitation to the close-of-season party with the cast
• reserved lawn space for 6 for a performance of your choosing
• benefits listed below

The Globe Theatre was patronized by members of the nobility in addition to the masses. Members of the Queen's court could sit on cushioned seats and even on stage at a price.

Kempe's Jig ($100)

Contributor

• Willamette Shakespeare T-shirt
• benefits listed below

As the primary clown in Shakespeare's company in the early years, Will Kempe was known for his comic dances and broad, sometimes improvised, comedy. He is thought to have created a number of the clown roles including Dogberry, Bottom and possibly Falstaff.

The Groundlings ($50)

Supporter

• recognition in performance playbills

For a single penny, anyone could enter the Globe and stand in the pit to see the works of William Shakespeare performed by the best actors of the day. This group, the Groundlings, were the largest group of Shakespeare's theatre-goers and are evidence of the broad appeal and accessibility of his work, an attribute that has not diminished to this day.