Boulder culture

The Colorado Shakespeare Festival at CU Boulder

Published June 2026 · Updated July 2026

Boulder is a serious theatre town, and its crown jewel is the Colorado Shakespeare Festival — a professional festival produced by CU Boulder that's one of the oldest of its kind in the country.

Nearly 70 years and counting

Founded in 1958, the festival is among the longest-running Shakespeare festivals in the United States. It's produced through CU Presents, drawing professional actors and directors to campus each summer.

The Mary Rippon Theatre

Its signature venue is the Mary Rippon Theatre, an open-air stone amphitheatre on the CU Boulder campus that opened in 1939. It's named for Mary Rippon, CU's first female professor. Performances also run indoors at the Roe Green Theatre — a space that also appears on the 2027 Sundance venue list.

When to go

It's a summer festival (the 2026 season ran roughly June through early August), so it doesn't overlap the January film festival — but if you fall for Boulder during Sundance and come back in warmer months, it's worth planning around. Official site.