A Midsummer Night's Theft: Helping Merced Shakes Recover

In early August, Merced Shakespearefest was burglarized. We lost most of our sound equipment, many of our props and accessories, various tools, and other pieces of essential equipment. What was taken represented years of purchases, hundreds of hours of work, and more than two decades of investment in the arts community. This burglary has hit us hard, and insurance is only covering a small portion of what it will take to replace what's been lost.

In twenty-four years of providing Shakespeare to the Merced area, we have never suffered a loss like this one. It's been disheartening and difficult, but we intend to bounce back stronger than ever and continue to provide free Shakespeare in the park for years to come.

To help make that happen, we are reaching out to the community for help. What took us years to build suddenly needs to be replaced all at once, and we can't do it alone. We need your help to recover.

Additionally, we've decided to take this loss and turn it into a win. While our priority is replacing what was stolen, we are also asking for assistance in a much needed upgrade that will allow us to create a complete audio system for both outdoor and indoor performances, including body mics, a modern sound board, and an improved sound system to provide a better experience for our audiences.

All donations will go directly towards the purchasing of new equipment, props, and costumes, as well as a sorely needed secure storage facility to house it in. For more than two decades, Merced Shakes has been bringing free performances to the Merced area, and now we need your help to recover and move forward.

Thank you for anything you can do to help, and we'll be back soon, stronger and better than ever.

Merced Shakespearefest is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit theatre company that has been performing in the Merced area for 24 seasons. During that time, we have performed to tens of thousand of audience members, and had the pleasure of working with hundreds of community actors, directors, and designers. In addition to our yearly free performances in Applegate Park, we also have performed at the Merced Multicultural Arts Center, The Merced Theater, Playhouse Merced, The Merced College Theater, and UC Merced, often in collaboration with other local arts organizations.