BANGOR – The Shubert Foundation of New York has given a $10,000 grant to the Penobscot Theatre Company-Maine Shakespeare Festival to be used by the theater for general operating support without restriction.

“Support from the Shubert Foundation is a ringing endorsement of our work and comes just days before we begin rehearsals for our eighth Maine Shakespeare Festival,” said Penobscot Theatre’s producing artistic director, Mark Torres. “The Shubert grant is known among artistic directors around the country as the ‘American theater quality seal of approval.’ Their support puts us in distinguished company, including the Denver Center Theatre Company, American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Mass., Utah Shakespearean Festival, and the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, all recipients of Shubert grants.”

The Maine Shakespeare Festival is the company’s largest and most expensive production. This year’s festival includes productions of Shakespeare’s “King Lear” and “Twelfth Night,” and “Servant of Two Masters” by Carlo Goldoni in rotating repertory over a five-week period, July 17 through Aug. 18, as well as “The Little Prince,” by Antoine de Saint-Exupery in the Bangor Opera House.

The Shubert Foundation awards unrestricted grants for general operating support, rather than for specific project funding. Professional resident theaters in the United States are the primary recipients of Shubert Foundation support. Consideration is given to a record of artistic accomplishment, the administrative strength of the organization, and the ability of the organization to generate both earned and contributed income.

The Shubert Foundation was established in 1945 by Lee and J.J. Shubert in memory of their brother Sam, and is the sole shareholder of The Shubert Organization Inc., which owns and operates 21 theaters, 17 on Broadway and one each in Boston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. The foundation awarded grants in 2001 to 208 theater companies across the country.

Penobscot Theatre Company is a professional, nonprofit cultural organization with three performing venues at the historic Bangor Opera House at 183 Main St. and the outdoor Maine Shakespeare Festival on the Bangor waterfront. The theater operates the largest educational outreach program of any cultural arts organization in Maine. In 2001, it held Shakespeare workshops or “Macbeth” performances at 58 schools in Maine.

For more information, visit the PTC-MSF Web site at www.PenobscotTheatre.com or call 947-6618. The e-mail address is ptcmsf@mint.net.