Coordinates: 53°31′41″N 113°32′51″W / 53.52806°N 113.54750°W The Freewill Shakespeare Festival, formerly known as the River City Shakespeare Festival was founded in 1989. It is produced by the Edmonton, Alberta-based "Free Will Players" every summer from late-June to mid-July, with performances in the 1,000-seat Heritage Amphitheater in Hawrelak Park in Edmonton. The Festival includes full-scale professional productions of two plays by William Shakespeare, as well as Camp Shakespeare, a summer drama camp for youth ages 8–16. In 2008, the festival was renamed the Freewill Shakespeare Festival.
Due to significant damage to Freewill's traditional venue at the Heritage Amphitheatre in Hawrelak Park, the festival's 2014 season took place inside the Myer Horowitz Theatre in the University of Alberta's Student's Union Building (8900 114 St.).