Our First Project:
Lakeside Shakespeare

Hello, friends & fellow supporters of Lakeside Shakespeare!

Max Buzzell-Bevington here—writing to you as the Board President of the new organization taking on the project that is Lakeside Shakespeare.

Lakeside Shakespeare began in 2003 fueled by the love and creativity of Elizabeth Laidlaw. I was only 7 years old at the time, and since that first production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream I’ve seen (almost) every summer of Lakeside shows. As I grew, so did Lakeside. Christy Arington added kids’ acting camps to its programming, and my parents signed me up right away. Lakeside established a high school internship, which quickly became my favorite part of summer. The team created an apprentice program for Chicago-based college students, and that program is the reason I met my wife Leo. We got married a month ago in Frankfort, just down the road from where we met during Lakeside.

Leo and I now live in Traverse City, Michigan, where Leo teaches children’s theatre and we’ve been dreaming up creating more opportunities for professional theatre & arts education in Northern Michigan. As Lakeside’s programming struggled to get back on its feet after the blow of the pandemic, its two-week season reduced to a single week, Leo and I looked around and realized that this was our time to step into leadership and get Lakeside back on a path of growth.

Last year, we began our work to build the groundwork for Lakeside’s future success — and to bring more theatre projects and programs to our beautiful region. We set about building a parent organization that could support Lakeside Shakespeare, starting by producing a two-week 2026 summer season.

This month, our new organization The World’s a Stage was finally granted 501(c)(3) status! We are officially on our way. Now all we need is you.

​

How you can help

We are currently looking for dedicated Board members to embark together on our goal to raise the $90,000 needed to support this season — and to collaborate to guide the organization into 2026 and beyond.

We are also looking for artist accommodations for the 2026 season. If you have a carriage house, an ADU, or a cottage you’d consider donating to help house our artists, you can help make our season possible. Actor accommodation is the biggest issue we face in bringing Lakeside back to a two week season. 

If you’re interested in participating as a Board member or a housing donor, please reach out to me at max@theworldsastage.org — I’d love to chat.

Thank you for raising me in a community that has kept Lakeside Shakespeare alive for 22 years. I’m so excited to continue to grow with this next phase of our beloved theatre. 

See you soon — or else, see you this summer!

Lakeside Shakespeare will be back July 23-31, 2026 with A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Macbeth to Tank Hill.

With love,

Max