CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WOWK) — The celebration of a theatre legend is scheduled to continue in July, but funding concerns have taken center stage.

The West Virginia Shakespeare Festival has been offering programs on theatre great William Shakespeare for eight years. The festival is put on in partnership with Alchemy Theatre, with the support of the West Virginia Humanities Council, a grant hub for these programs and others under the humanities umbrella.

Executive director Eric Waggoner says the festival offers a wide variety of activities and learning experiences.

“For the last eight years, the West Virginia Shakespeare Festival has been really the preeminent Shakespeare celebration in the state,” he said. “Not only in terms of performances, but also they do wonderful programming for kids, they bring in lecturers. They do a lot of the historical and the cultural studies side of things.”

Following the DOGE cuts to the National Endowment for the Humanities, the council’s grant-making funds have been suspended until further notice. Given that the festival is a major grant recipient, their script for the summer currently lies in the hands of donations.

In a social media post, the festival urged the public to “Save Shakespeare,” expressing their need for nearly $15,000 to put on their plans for the summer and fall of 2025.

Summer programming begins July 17.

Alchemy Theatre says they have gotten a little beyond halfway of their goal, but if they cannot reach the $15,000 mark by mid-June, their programming will be downsized. Accessibility to these programs is a need, said Waggoner.

“There is far too much emphasis on what separates and divides us,” he said. “We look forward to supporting the Shakespeare festival and many other projects around the state that we’ve had to halt our grant-making for.”

Both the theatre and the festival are continuing to campaign for their programs, but for now, the show is in intermission.