Piedmont Shakes began when Kim Shively arrived to Elon in 2016 with the plan to build a summer Shakespeare experience. When David McGraw joined Elon’s faculty in the fall of 2017, the two quickly decided to partner on a shared venture to bring language-rich productions to the region through a professional summer theatre. They produced a stage reading and garnered support from the associate provost of Elon University, Brooke Barnett, and community partners. The pandemic interrupted their plan to make Hamlet in the Summer of 2020. In the fall of 2023, Shively and McGraw were ready to relaunch, with a renewed focus on servant-leadership and accessibility. In the Spring of 2024, Kim Shively was working on Carl Forsman’s production of The Rover at UNCSA. At this time, David and Kim were looking for the missing piece, and Carl unknowingly volunteered himself when he told Kim that he wished they could just get together with some other theatre makers and do something really significant in the region. Kim invited Carl to breakfast with she and David. When the two asked Carl what he might like to work on, Carl did not hesitate when he said, “Hamlet.” And the rest is history. 

These three veteran theatre-makers committed to starting Piedmont Shakespeare Company in May 2024. Venmoing their start-up funds to David, they launched the 501(c)3 in June 2024. Over the following months, they built a framework and secured a partnership with the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts (UNCSA) and began silent fundraising. In January, they launched the public fundraising website and started casting Hamlet. In May of 2025, they began rehearsals for the inaugural season’s production of Hamlet.