The North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, known as NCShakes, has announced that it is suspending all operations, effective immediately. NCShakes, one of High Point's main cultural attractions, has brought theater lovers to the city for 36 years.
In a news release, the organization cited "extreme financial challenges in a difficult fundraising climate" as the cause for suspension. A production of Macbeth, scheduled for early September, has been canceled, but the Board of Trustees hopes to continue its Shakespeare to Go educational programming in 2014. According to the news release, they "plan to evaluate other programming in the future."
The festival has produced Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol every year since its founding in 1977, as well as other seasonal productions and summer camps.