"We've been contemplating it for a number of years," said Patrick Mulcahy, Producing Artistic Director, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, of The Shakespeare Theatre Association's 22nd annual meeting, Jan. 7 - 12.

The highest concentration of Shakespeare theater leaders in the world will occur at the home of the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, DeSales University, Center Valley, according to Lisa Higgins, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival Director of Marketing and Public Relations.

Pennsylvania First Lady Susan Corbett, chairwoman of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA), will deliver the welcoming address. Mrs. Corbett has served on the PCA for nine years, having first been appointed by Gov. Mark Schweiker in 2002, re-appointed by Gov. Ed Rendell in 2009, and again by her husband, Gov. Tom Corbett in 2011.

The theme of the conference is "What Dreams May Come: Vision into Action."

"It is a great thing for the festival [PSF], DeSales [University] and the community," Mulcahy said.

More than 100 members of The Shakespeare Theatre Association from 49 companies, 26 states and eight nations are registered, Higgins said, including those from Stratford, Canada; Prague, Czech Republic; Spain; Argentina; Brazil; Poland; England; Utah; Oregon, and Chicago.

Two years ago, the meeting was held at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, near London, England. Next year, it's in Stratford, Canada.

"So, we feel we're in pretty good company," said Mulcahy.

While the event is not open to the public, Mulcahy said, "Having it here [at DeSales] brings distinction and national and international recognition."

Artistic directors, education directors, and executive-managing directors will share their visions for the future, discuss their best practices and pressing challenges, and explore, initiate, and invigorate trends in theater whose primary mission is to produce the works of William Shakespeare, Higgins noted in a press release.

Mulcahy said that attendees learn from each other during workshops as well as when they mingle socially at the event.

Topics range from original practices to single-gender Shakespeare to Shakespeare in prison, and plenary sessions feature leading research on cultural policy, artistic and strategic planning, training the next generation of Shakespeare artists, and taking a leading role in marking the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's passing in 2016.

Mulcahy and the PSF staff have been working on the planning of the event for more than a year.

"This is an all-hands-on-deck sort of event," Mulcahy said.

Since 1992, the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival has produced a summer season of Shakespeare plays and other world classics from master dramatists for more than 500,000 patrons from 50 states. Artists in recent seasons have included Broadway headliners and winners and nominees of the Tony, Emmy, Obie, Drama Desk and Barrymore awards.

A partial list of The Shakespeare Theatre Association presenters includes:

Pre-conference presenters

Dennis Krausnick, Director of Training, Shakespeare & Company

Terry OBrien, Founding Artistic Director, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival

Curt Tofteland, Founder & Producing Director, Shakespeare Behind Bars

Lisa Wolpe, Producing Artistic Director, Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company

Conference presenters

Tom Bird, Director of the Globe to Globe Festival, Shakespeare's Globe

Ralph Cohen, Director of Misson/Co-Founder, American Shakespeare Center

Susan Corbett, Pennsylvania's First Lady

Christy Dickinson, Senior Program Director, Arts Midwest

Anita Gaffney, Executive Director, Stratford Festival

D. Carroll Joynes, Senior Fellow at Cultural Policy Center

Michael Lomonico, Senior Consultant on National Education, Folger Shakespeare Library

Clayton Lord, Director of Communications & Audience Development, Theatre Bay Area

Carol Losos, Director of Educational Programs, The English-Speaking Union of the United States

David Mallette, Management Consultants for the Arts

Patrick Mulcahy, Producing Artistic Director, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival

Tina Packer, Founding Artistic Director, Shakespeare & Company

Kevin Quarmby, Assistant Professor of English, Oxford College of Emory University

Philip Sneed, Producing Artistic Director, Colorado Shakespeare Festival

Patrick Spottiswoode, Founding Director, Globe Education, Shakespeare's Globe

Lisa Tromovich, Producing Artistic Director-Founder, Shakespeare's Associates-Livermore Shakespeare Festival, Valley Shakespeare Festival and Maine Shakespeare Festival

Jim Volz, International Arts Consultant, Prague Shakespeare Festival

Jeff Watkins, Artistic Director, Board President, The New American Shakespeare Tavern

Michael Witmore, Director, Folger Shakespeare Library

Joanna Woronkowicz, Senior Research Office, National Endowment for the Arts