Q&A with the Director of The Sound of Music

Keenon Hooks has an eclectic history at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Last season he was the choreographer for the acclaimed musical Ragtime. In 2011 he appeared as a Traveling Salesmand and a River City Townsperson in The Music Man and Scum and a Featured Performer in The Greenshow. In 2022 he is returning as the director of the beloved musical The Sound of Music. He has also worked at a number of regional theatres including PCPA–Pacific Conservatory Theatre, Las Vegas Nevada Conservatory Theatre, Oregon Cabaret Theatre, Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre, and many more. He is the co-founder and dance director of Studio Collective Performing Arts. The Festival recently conducted this question-and-answer interview via email.

Utah Shakespeare Festival: What is the value of doing a musical today that was written over sixty years ago and has been performed hundreds of times all around the world? 

Keenon Hooks: We can learn a great deal from shows written in a time other than our own, especially when they have historical value. The Sound of Music is a beloved story many know and love and have a great time with the music involved in the show. But it also takes place during a dark time, and even today we see the repercussions of war and how it affects normal lives just like the members of this beloved family. 

The Festival: Many of the people who will see this play have seen it before, either as a stage musical or as a movie. What will this production offer them that may be different?

Hooks: Here at the Festival, we can expect the same story that many know and love, but our story will be told in a way that gives the story a modern take, all while honoring the original aspects of this story.

The Festival: Casting has not yet been completed, but we understand you are casting African American women as Maria and the Mother Superior. What is your goal with this casting, and how will it change or enhance the story?

Hooks: My goal is to make this European-based story more relatable to American audiences. Seeing this journey through the eyes of an African American woman, we can make this story feel more prevalent to ourselves instead of thinking of it as a distant European memory of the past. Joining Maria with an African American Mother Superior, we can find comfort for Maria having a person of color with strength in the show to lean on in her times of sorrow. And having someone of her own background to lean on will show an even stronger bond and drive our story in a beautiful way that we can all enjoy. 

The Festival: As playgoers, what should we watch for in this production that may help us enjoy it and/or understand it more?

Hooks: Definitely how Maria’s journey affects everyone around her. We find in this time everyone seems to be living in dark or dull times. But Maria brings light, love, and laughter to all those she comes in contact with. From the nuns, to the Von Trappe Family, it’s a beautiful arc to watch everyone come to life around her.

The Festival: You have worked at the Utah Shakespeare Festival before as an actor and choreographer. What keeps you coming back the Festival?

Hooks: I love it here at the Festival. It’s truly an artistic hub that allows us artists to truly create unique art. As a director, it gives me a voice to tell this story in a way I’d like to in new ways, breaking away from the traditional mold. Some theatres stay stuck in the past, and don’t allow themselves to grow as time passes. But the Festival continues to grow in both the works it presents, as well as the teams and acting artists it brings in to tell these stories. And I’ll always be happy to return!

The Festival: Besides theatre business, what is the one thing you plan on doing this summer in Cedar City? 

Hooks: Definitely hiking! Utah is one of the most beautiful states I’ve traveled to. And there are still plenty of hikes I’ve yet to experience. The main one being Zion. You’d think after several seasons I’d have made it over there by now, but I’ve been so focused on the shows I have yet to find the time. So this season, I plan to enjoy my downtime more and make my way there.

Fact or Fiction? The Real Story of the Von Trapps

By Liz Armstrong

Yes, The Sound of Music is a greatly beloved play and movie because of its inspiring story—but how much of it is true? Based on the von Trapp family, the musical is neither entirely fact or fiction, but instead lying somewhere in the middle. In fact, one of the most common critiques of the play is how “historically inaccurate” it is, so it may be wise to come with a heart ready to be swept away by the story of warmth and love rather than a mind ready for a history lesson. 

The play is based the actual Maria Augusta Trapp’s 1949 memoir, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, which chronicles the family’s beginnings in Salzburg, Austria, through its escape from Nazi-occupied Europe, to the family’s eventual relocation to America.

So, then, what is the real story of the von Trapp family? Let’s find out. 

The Children

Starting at the very beginning, Maria didn’t come to the family to be a governess to all of the children, but was hired in 1926 to tutor just one child who was recovering from scarlet fever at the time. In actuality, almost all of their names and sexes of the children were changed for the play. One of the biggest changes was that the oldest child, Rupert, became sixteen-year old Liesl. When the family fled Austria, Rupert was already in his late-twenties and a practicing physician. 

The Geography 

The von Trapps didn’t really escape the Nazis by crossing over the mountains into Switzerland. If they would’ve fled over the Austrian mountains, they would have ended up right in Germany. “Don’t they know geography in Hollywood?” the real-life Maria exclaimed when she witnessed the scene.

In real life, their escape wasn’t so dramatic. They simply took the train to Italy! Good thing too, as the Nazis closed the border the next day. The daughter Maria noted in an interview with Opera News that the family was honest that they were going to America to sing and that they “left in broad daylight, pretending nothing.” 

The Singing 

In the musical, Maria teaches the children to sing and the captain to love. However, it wasn’t her that taught the children music after all. Before Maria came along, the captain and his first wife encouraged singing in the home. 

Opposed to the stern captain depicted in the play, Georg was actually said to be very warm and loving even if he was “a little overwhelmed.” After Maria arrived, a priest named Father Franz Wasner heard the children sing and believed they had great potential. During the production of the show, Maria was perplexed that Father Wasner wasn’t being included, but producers told her that either Maria or Father Wasner could be in the play, but not both. 

A lack of funds also encouraged the family to consider singing as a profession. The von Trapp family wasn’t as wealthy as the play portrayed. In fact, most of the family servants had been dismissed at the time they began singing as a family. 

Daughter Eleonore told The Washington Post that because of this, it was hard for Captain von Trapp to see his family on stage. “It almost hurt [my father] to have his family on stage, not from a snobbish view, but more from a protective one,” she said. 

The Love Story

For a play displaying such immense love, it may be disappointing to find out that in real life, Maria did not love Captain von Trapp. In her memoir, she wrote that when she married him, she loved the children but just “liked” him. However, she later said that she loved him more than anyone that came before or after him. 

In addition to her hesitation to marry Georg, the timeline of their love story doesn’t quite add up. In reality, they were married ten years before they fled Austria, not immediately before like the musical suggests. 

So there it is– the real story of the von Trapps! Although there are some major differences, The Sound of Music is still inspiring. In fact, knowing the von Trapp family was indeed a real-life, talented family makes our hearts swell. 

For more information on this play and to purchase tickets, visit bard.org/plays.

Festival Offers Discounts to "Locals"

By Liz Armstrong

Calling all locals! The folks at the Utah Shakespeare Festival can’t thank its loyal patrons enough—but they would like to try. With its “local” patrons in mind, the Festival has created a series of discounts for those who live in southern Utah and Lincoln County, Nevada. 

“The Festival is so fortunate to have so much support from our friends in Cedar City and the surrounding areas,” said Donn Jersey, director of development and communications. “Acknowledging this through local discount options is our way of saying thank you to everyone in the area that loves the Festival. The groundwork for the success of each of our seasons starts with our wonderful local community.”

If you want to see world-class theatre this summer at a reduced price, try out these options:

Local Discount

Tickets to plays Monday through Thursday may be purchased for 50 percent off. However, these deeply-discounted tickets may be purchased on the day of the performance only. This discount is available for residents located in Iron, Beaver, Washington, Kane, Garfield, and Piute counties in Utah and Lincoln County, Nevada. Proof of residency is required.

Iron County Pass

Purchase an Iron County Pass for $200 any time, then redeem it for eight tickets to any plays throughout the season. That can be eight tickets to one play, one ticket each to eight different plays, or any other combination. This discount is available to Iron County residents only. Proof of residency and an ID is required when you purchase the pass, and the offer is limited to two passes per resident. The pass expires October 8, 2022.

Student Access Pass

The Student Access Pass is available for any elementary through university student (including home-schooled students) for $40. Students may buy the pass at any time then use it on the day of a play only to receive one ticket per performance for an unlimited number of performances throughout the season. Student Access Passes are limited to one per student and expire on October 8, 2022. A student ID is required.

All discounts are subject to availability and do not include seats in premier and center orchestra sections. These discounts are not available online.

Tickets and passes may be purchased by calling 800-PLAYTIX or visiting the Festival ticket office after June 19. For more information, including ticket office hours and ticket prices, go to bard.org/tickets.

Celebrating Shakespeare: The Bard's Birthday Bash

On April 23, 1564 (as near as we can tell), William Shakespeare was born to a respectable middle-class family in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. On April 20 and 21 of this year, the Utah Shakespeare Festival is throwing a birthday party! 

Over 450 years after his death, Shakespeare (aka the Bard of Avon) is the most produced and celebrated playwright in the world, so what better way to celebrate than the twenty-first annual Bard’s Birth Bash on the grounds of the Festival and Southern Utah University?

The two days will be full of a variety of activities, including dancing the maypole, jousting contests, performing Shakespeare onstage, and eating cake with Queen Elizabeth. 

“It’s a beautiful way to launch into spring, with kids singing and dancing out on the grass, talking about Shakespeare, and eating cake,” Education Director Michael Bahr said. “It’s a way to celebrate Shakespeare and theatrical performance, and to get a taste of theatre, dance, and youthful energy and optimism.” 

After two years of the celebration being virtual because of the pandemic, Bahr is excited to return to the event in person. He is expecting that around 1,200 students will get to enjoy the birthday celebration.

The event is targeted toward local elementary school students, but all community members are welcome. Homeschooled students are encouraged to attend as well. All participants should register by emailing usfeducation@bard.org with the name of the school, the teachers, contact information, and the number of students. 

It is strongly encouraged that students come prepared to perform Shakespeare scenes for their fellow students. “We would be happy to come to your class to help you,” Bahr said. Or you may email usfeducation@bard.org for further information and instructions.

Festival to Present Its First Outdoor Musical

By Liz Armstrong

The Utah Shakespeare Festival production of the musical Sweeney Todd in the outdoor Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre this summer will be a new experience for the Festival and will lay the groundwork for the theatre’s future. This will be the first time the Festival has produced a musical in an outdoor theatre, but it won’t be the last. 

To accomplish this task the Festival is in the middle of a massive upgrading of the sound system in the theatre, a project that will allow the musical voices and accompaniment to be heard by everyone in the audience. In addition, these changes will help with acoustics in the theatre for all plays.

Production Manager Richard Girtain is excited. “We’re going to use this space in the future for musicals,” he said. “Of course, we will continue to focus on classical repertoire in the Engelstad Theatre, but this is not a one-and-done for musicals there.”

The Englestad Theatre, modeled after open-air Elizabethan theatres of Shakespeare’s time, wasn’t built with a sound system to support a musical like Sweeney Todd. The design of the theatre relies almost entirely on the projection of the actors’ voices as the “sound system. “The space wasn’t designed to do this kind of work,” Girtain said. “So we are adding the infrastructure for that.”

Girtain explained that there are actually two parts to this project. First, especially for the upcoming season, the goal is to implement a system to support musicals. “Supporting a musical requires a different sound system to support the voice,” Girtain explained. “We didn’t have microphones, speakers, and a mixing area like we have in the Randall L. Jones Theatre for musicals.

However, there is a second, equally important, part to this project that patrons may appreciate even more: The long-term goal is to also reinforce the spoken word in all plays, not just musicals. “When we reinforce the sound of the spoken word, we want it to be a natural, subtle improvement,” Girtain said. “It will help the audience to understand the words better, but hopefully they won’t know the sound system is even there.”

Girtain explained that when focusing on reinforcing voice, it’s important to think about the placement of speakers. “Audience members don’t want the voice to come from behind them, but from the stage, from where the actors are singing and speaking, so we are adding equipment to do that,” he said. 

The discussion surrounding this project began over two years ago, but the first sound study was conducted last June. Girtain explained that an acoustical consultant, Acoustic Distinctions, visited the theatre to help get the project rolling. “They measured the space, the road noise, etc. and created a plan for us to mitigate it,” Girtain said. “In an indoor theater, you can control ambient noise, and you have more surfaces to bounce sound off, so you can control the sound better. In a theatre with no roof, and basically no walls, there’s lots of ambient noise coming in, and that’s the biggest challenge. We don’t have control of the sound outside the theatre.” 

But the implementation of this sound system hasn’t been an easy process. With supply chain issues, contractors trying to catch up on projects they couldn’t complete during the pandemic, and the increased cost of supplies since 2020, Girtain and the Festival electrics department led by Scott Palfreyman and Danielle Davis have had their hands full. 

“Getting everything here in a timely manner has been one of the biggest challenges, especially with the deadline of a show opening,” Girtain said.”  Yet, despite a few bumps in the road, the sound system will be ready to go for Sweeney Todd, and it will provide an even better sound experience for patrons. 

“This change is going to make the enjoyment of all of our productions better because the voice is going to be easier to understand,” said Girtain. “Whatever seat you’re in, you’re going to be able to understand the text better.”

Enjoying a musical outside will be a completely different experience than attending one in an indoor theatre, and Girtain is excited to see how the patrons react. “We are good storytellers here at the Festival, and this will help us more clearly articulate those stories,” he concluded.

Q&A with the Director of King Lear

Vincent J. Cardinal brings vast experience to his direction of King Lear this summer at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. He has directed across the country, including work at the Festival: The Foreigner in 2018, Every Brilliant Thing in 2019, and The Comedy of Errors in 2021. He is excited to accept the challenge of making “a production that tells the story clearly and honestly while being entertaining and moving.” Find out what else he has to say about this stormy and majestic tragedy. 

The Utah Shakespeare Festival: As playgoers, what should we watch for in this play that would help us enjoy/understand it better? Are there any special “easter eggs” you have implemented into the play as a director?

Director Vincent J. Cardinal: It is the story of a king who demands love and admiration and, through a series of epic reckonings, becomes a man who has earned love and respect. It is also the story of two families. There is King Lear and his three daughters and the Earl of Gloucester and his sons. Each family grapples, in their unique ways, to secure their futures. An image that audiences might appreciate is that of fire. It can illuminate and it can destroy. It can purify and it can ruin. Lear states: “But I am bound upon a wheel of fire, / That mine own tears do scald like molten lead.” In our production, audiences might take note of how fire is used throughout the play.

The Festival: What statement/ realization/ feeling do you hope audience members leave with after seeing the play?

Cardinal: I hope they are delighted by how robust and entertaining this great tragedy is when experienced live with great actors at the top of their craft.

The Festival: Why should people come see this play?

Cardinal: King Lear is one of the finest tragedies in the English language. There is great joy in experiencing the virtuosity of excellent actors speaking this text, breathing truth into these epic emotions, and telling a thrilling story that reminds us that love and community are more important than wealth and power.

The Festival: What challenges do you expect to come with directing this play? 

Cardinal: Time. With a play this rich and with such a storied history of productions, I wish we had months to rehearse.

The Festival: Why are you excited to direct this play?

Cardinal: There is nothing like live theatre under the stars in southern Utah with this amazing company and this supportive community. The Utah Shakespeare Festival offers the opportunity to collaborate with some of our nation’s best designers, technicians, artisans, and management teams, not to mention a company of seasoned and rising actors. The Festival audience is smart, supportive, and terrifically enthusiastic. It is always exciting to work on first-rate plays with this community. I am so grateful to Brian Vaughn and Frank Mack for including me. King Lear challenges all of us to make a production that tells the story clearly and honestly while being entertaining and moving. It is amazing to be challenged at this level, as a team, by the greatest playwright in the English language. 

The Festival: How long have you been directing plays? How long have you been with the Festival? Why are you a director?

Cardinal: My first professional directing job was at eighteen years old, but every production feels thrillingly like the first time. Directing is about creating the context for other artists to employ their genius in service of a shared story. I am a huge fan of theatre people and love to see them join forces and use their talents to illuminate what it is to be a human for a live audience.

Things You May Not Know about King Lear

By Liz Armstrong

King Lear, which is part of the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s 2022 season, is one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays. It has been produced and studied (along with Hamlet) as one of the world’s greatest tragedies. But even with all this notoriety, the soaring and stormy play has a number of interesting tidbits that you may not be aware of. Try out these ten:

1 - One of the ideas most studied ideas surrounding the play is the character development of King Lear himself. Director Vincent J. Cardinal sums up his thoughts succinctly: “The journey of King Lear is of a man who demands love and admiration who then becomes a man who finally deserves love and admiration.”

2 - This is the Festival’s eighth production of King Lear. The first production was in 1965, followed by productions in 1972, 1979, 1992, 1999, 2007, and 2015.

3 - In past seasons at the Festival, King Lear has been played at the Festival by Tony Amendola, Dan Kremer, William Metzo, Harold Gould, Anthony Defonte, William Wright, and Howard Jensen.

4 - Shakespeare wrote King Lear to be eighty years old or more—or “over four score.” Naturally, this has resulted in many actors who have played the king who were much younger than Shakespeare envisioned.

5 - The story of the old king has not always had such a tragic ending. The source of Shakespeare’s play (King Lier, written in 1594 or earlier) had a somewhat happier ending, with Lear surviving and being restored to his kingdom. Also, in 1692 Nahum Tate rewrote King Lear to have an even happier ending. In this version, Cordelia survives, is named queen, and is betrothed to Edgar.

6 - Tate’s more upbeat version of the play was hugely popular and was performed for over a century—until the early 1800s, when Shakespeare’s status as the English poet of poets became entrenched in the national consciousness.

7 - The character of King Lear hit too close to home during the reign of King George III and was banned from 1810 to 1820. Lear’s mental illness paralleled the real life ruler’s struggles just a bit too much.

8 - King Lear has inspired numerous modern writers. For example, Jane Smiley’s 1992 novel A Thousand Acres chronicles a successful farmer’s plans to retire and turn over his farm to his three daughters. Also, according to Danny Strong, the co-creator of the Fox television series Empire, which features a hip hop mogul and his three sons, was inspired by King Lear.

9 - You may not expect it, but the play includes a plethora of references to nature—over forty—and characters being compared to wolves, snakes, and sparrows. 

10 - Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, thought Lear’s daughters represented the three fates in Roman and Greek mythology, with Cordelia representing Atropos or death.

King Lear Banned in England?

By Liz Armstrong

Considered by many to be not only Shakespeare’s stormiest tragedy, but his finest as well, you may be surprised to learn that King Lear was banned from England’s stages during the reign of King George III. 

To find out why this popular play was forbidden, however, it’s important to dive into and understand the perplexing character of King Lear. Many describe the king as cruel, blind to his own faults, and extremely unlikeable. It is Lear’s lack of common sense that leads to the deaths of many, as well as to the ultimate downfall and destruction of his family. His need for flattery and the desire to test his daughter’s love and loyalty shows Lear’s instability, but it also earns the sympathy of the audience. He is a complex—and very human—king.

Shakespeare scholar William Hazlitt described Lear’s unstable temperament: “The explosions of his passions are terrible as a volcano: they are storms turning up and disclosing to the bottom that rich sea, his mind, with all its vast riches,” Hazlitt said. “It is his mind which is laid bare.”

Shakespeare wrote the play sometime between 1603 and 1606, and it was first performed around 1608 in the First Quarto. In 1623, the First Folio of the play was published, with significant textual differences. The version of the play we are most familiar with today is a conflation of these two early versions. 

The tragedy hit English stages for the next twenty years, until Oliver Cromwell closed down all theatres in Britain. Resuming its stage presence when King Charles II took the throne, it was rewritten to have a happy ending in the late 1600s. You read that right, Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy was no longer a tragedy. This version of King Lear was performed for nearly 100 years, until around 1788 during the Regency period. This was during the reign of King George III, who took the throne in 1760.

King George III and King Lear seemed to have alarmingly similar parallels. Although the character was based on Leir of Britain from medieval times, Shakespeare’s Lear and King George were both aging British kings suffering bouts of madness. King George died both blind and deaf in 1820. Known for being the “mad king,” he suffered from a blood disorder called porphyria. However, in an article by BBC News, the symptoms showed that the king also most likely suffered from severe bipolar disorder. 

As the play progresses, Lear descends into insanity, much like King George III did during his reign. In 1788, King George III had his first bout of madness, and in 1810, when he suffered again, the play was officially banned out of respect for the ruler. 

Interestingly enough, the play may have been banned for other reasons as well. In 1815, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a fan of Shakespeare’s, wrote that the language in King Lear was too crude: “Shakespeare’s words are too indecent to be translated . . . his gentlefolk’s talk is full of coarse allusions such as nowadays you could hear only in the meanest taverns,” Coleridge said. A more family-friendly version was published by Thomas Bowdler, and this was the version most accessible to the public. 

In 1823, actor Edmund Kean wanted to play the role of King Lear the way Shakespeare had written it, but it was heavily rejected by the audience. It wasn’t until 1838, when actor William MacCready took on the role, that the play was performed again in true tragedy-style, and close to Shakespeare’s original intentions. 

King Lear has been through quite the journey. From being banned in Britain, the play has made an immense comeback, world-renowned as one of Shakespeare’s greatest and most popular tragedies. It is in its most true and tragic form that Vincent J. Cardinal will direct the play this summer.

Tickets for the 2022 season are now on sale at bard.org or 800-PLAYTIX.

Festival Schedules 2022 Classes

By Liz Armstrong

Shakespeare himself once said, “Ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge the wing wherewith we fly to heaven” (Henry VI Part Two). We agree, so what better way to gain knowledge than to take a class at the Utah Shakespeare Festival? The Festival is offering a variety of courses during its 2022 season, with something for everyone: aspiring actors, teachers, and lovers of Shakespeare, theatre, and learning-made-fun.

These interactive courses allow lovers of the arts to explore the world of theatre while gaining valuable skills. Education Director Michael Bahr noted that these classes are valuable because engaging education is happening all day, all of the time. Some of the classes also include Southern Utah University credits.

“Students learn through on-feet interactive activities during the day,” Bahr said. “Then see these lessons applied through plays during the evening productions and share their observations with company members in post-show discussions the next day.”

Classes include:

Playmakers Summer Camp (June 6–16) is for students 4–17 years old. Taught Mondays through Fridays from 2 to 4 p.m., this class is a two-week course that concludes with a Saturday performance. Focusing on Shakespearean scene work, music, and dance, it includes lessons on improvisation, collaboration, movement, voice and more. The course also includes a T-shirt and a ticket to a play. 

Junior Actor Training (July 11–16 or 25–30) is for students 11–14 years old. Taught by Festival actors and teaching artists, students will experience training in voice, stage combat, improvisation, and scene work. Tuition includes dormitory accommodations, all meals, and tickets to seven plays at the Festival. 

Shakespeare Survey, Shakespeare Forum, and Shakespeare Seminar (June 20–October 8) is for students or playgoers of any age. These self-paced, individualized learning courses, allow patrons to receive Southern Utah University credits by attending two, four, or six plays, pre-show orientations, and post-show seminars. Students then also provide feedback through online forms.

Actor Training (July 18–23) is for students 15–18 years old. Taught by professional Festival actors and teaching artists, this course is focused on developing auditioning and acting skills in Shakespeare. The class also teaches text analysis and performance techniques. Tuition includes dormitory accommodations, all meals, and tickets to seven plays. 

Arts Administration for the Theatre Classroom (June 27–July 1) is a professional development course aimed toward secondary education theatre teachers. Areas of study include general arts management, organizational leadership, financial management, marketing, development, and strategic planning. Teachers will be provided with an overview of arts administration and will learn how to incorporate the best practices into their classroom. Tickets to two plays are included in the tuition. 

Theatre Methods for the Classroom (July 6–8 for secondary teachers and July 12–14 for elementary teachers) are professional development courses for teachers and administrators. Topics being taught will include instructional games, script adaptation, and tips on how to produce a play with limited time and resources. It explores methods of developing and implementing Shakespeare and theatre arts programs as a tool for varied curricula. Tuition includes classroom material, special sessions with Festival actors, and a ticket to one play. 

Teaching Shakespeare (July 18–21) is for anyone interested in teaching about the Bard. The course will cover active and engaging classroom approaches to those who teach Shakespeare’s text and explore theatre techniques to aid in student engagement. Tuition includes tickets to four plays. 

Tech for Teachers (July 25–27) offers the opportunity to acquire necessary tools to present plays from the technician’s point of view. Festival technicians will use hands-on learning experiences to teach designing, building, and running a production. Tuition includes a ticket to one play, as well as the opportunity to observe post-production changeovers. 

“These interactive courses are very popular because of the intimate connections and instruction students are able to receive from working professionals,” Bahr said as he urged everyone to sign up soon and take advantage of this opportunity to enjoy the Festival in an entirely different way.

Many of these classes have scholarships available. To inquire, email education@bard.org. For more information on the classes and to register, visit bard.org and click on “Camps and Classes” under the “Education” tab. 

Two New Faces at the Festival

The Utah Shakespeare Festival is excited to announce the hiring of two new professional artists and educators to join its administrative staff. Clare Campbell has joined the Festival as its new creative director, and Stewart Shelley will be joining the staff April 15 as the education programs manager.

Campbell has been working at the Festival as a part-time graphic designer for nearly five years, and the Festival is happy to have her move into this full-time position of creative director where she now oversees the graphic look of the Festival in all its printed and digital advertising, brochures, signage, etc.

She grew up a Navy family, living in many parts of the United States, spending the longest time in San Diego, California. She attended Southern Utah University and earned a bachelor of fine arts degree with a graphic design emphasis. While at SUU she served in student government and as Miss Native American SUU, working with the Native American Student Association. She loves being outdoors; following a myriad of sports, teams, and organizations; getting lost in museums; and spending time with family. 

“I have worked on a wide sphere in the design world, including web-based module training, many freelance print/marketing/merchandise projects, marketing and managing tongue-in-cheek sales campaigns for goofy, viral companies, and then making a complete 180 leap into the world of theatre, sophistication, and fun!” Campbell said. “I am looking forward to many more years at the Festival in the role of creative director.”

As the new education programs manager, Shelley will work directly with Education Director Michael Bahr and provide operational support for all the Festival’s educational programming.

Shelley’s interest in theatre began in fifth grade when was cast as Kurt in his elementary school production of The Sound of Music. That experience during his formative years galvanized a lifetime in theatre and education. He earned a bachelors degree in theatre arts education from Brigham Young University, and a masters in education administration from Grand Canyon University. Stewart spent fourteen wonderful years as a high school theatre teacher, before making a big move with his family to the Caribbean, to teach at a private school on the island of St. Croix. Two category 5 hurricanes and a pandemic later Stewart and family moved to Netarts, Oregon to continue a career in theatre education. 

“Being a part of the Utah Shakespeare Festival is a homecoming of sorts for me,” said Shelley. “As a young high school student I participated in the annual Shakespeare Competition every year, and then as a teacher I brought students to the Festival/competition each year. To now be on the other side helping provide learning opportunities and educational experiences is such a joy!”