Northern Lakes Artists Association is hosting The Great Nordic Shakespeare Festival of 2025, kicking off this Friday.

The festival begins with performances of the Shakespeare classic Romeo & Juliet running January 10th-12th and 24th-26th at the Vermilion Fine Arts Theater.

Executive Artistic Director Ian Lau says he loves introducing audiences back to the bard, and really hopes that these works will spark a new love for theatre.

“Don’t be afraid to try and attend Shakespeare,” he says, “We’ve done our best to make that language as accessible and enjoyable as possible. And we hope that you take the chance to experience something that maybe you haven’t touched since high school. I believe that the messaging and the themes are still very relevant to the time we live in now.”

You can find ticket information and other information for festival here.

Following Romeo & Juliet, the play Every Brilliant Thing opens January 16th-19th and 30th-Feburary 2nd.

Every Brilliant Thing is a poignant one-man show written by Duncan Macmillan and Johnny Donahoe, brought to life by Northern Lakes Arts Association. This performance takes audiences on an emotional journey, listing all the brilliant things worth living for—ice cream, water fights, and the wonder of the stars.

Along with the two shows you can watch new works from emerging playwrights in the New Works Staged Readings of 2025. That’s happening January 20 & January 27, 2025.

Plus the association is wanting to get more actors in Ely and northern parts of Minnesota involved on stage. They’re offering four workshops throughout the festival.

You can find more information on those at the bottom of this page.