Announcing the 2018 Season

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As part of its opening week celebrations for the 2017 season, the Utah Shakespeare Festival on July 7 announced its 2018 season. The fifty-seventh season, which will run from June 28 to October 20, will include eight plays in three theatres.

“Among other themes, our 2018 season provides a unique examination of intolerance and the adverse impact it can have on our collective humanity,” said Artistic Director Brian Vaughn. “With four diverse Shakespeare offerings (including the next in our History Cycle), a world-premiere musical centered around one of the world’s most iconic figures, two delightful classic and contemporary comedies, and a Tony Award-winning musical based on one of the most controversial novels of our time, this season promises to resonate on all levels.”                                             

The Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre

The Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre will feature three plays by the Bard, including Henry VI Part One which continues the Festival’s History Cycle of producing all ten of Shakespeare’s history plays in chronological order. In addition, The Merry Wives of Windsor and The Merchant of Venice will give Festival guests the chance to check off two more plays in the Festival’s Complete the Canon Project, an ongoing initiative to produce the entire Shakespeare canon of thirty-eight plays between 2012 and 2023.

Henry VI Part One
By William Shakespeare

Henry V has died, and his young son is soon crowned Henry VI. In France, war is raging. At home, various factions are claiming the right to the throne, choosing between the symbolic red and white roses. In this seldom produced history, Shakespeare gathers these threads together and combines them into a powerful tapestry of a country soon to be racked by civil war.

The Merry Wives of Windsor
By William Shakespeare

Falstaff in love? Hardly! But the loveable old renegade does have his lusty eye on a couple of middle-class housewives. Trouble is feminine wit and wisdom triumph once again as the amused and annoyed wives teach Sir John a lesson in this bubbling, popular comedy sure to please everyone in the family.

The Merchant of Venice
By William Shakespeare

Whether you consider this thought-provoking masterpiece a story of love and humor or one of racism and greed, Shakespeare’s controversial tragicomedy will touch your soul. Its modern and relevant themes and memorable characters could have been drawn from today’s headlines, and will certainly cause you to pause and think about justice and mercy, the complexity of humankind, and the nature of forgiveness and love.

The Randall L. Jones Theatre

Plays next year in the Randall L. Jones Theatre will include a popular musical based on classic American literature (Big River), a hilarious French farce newly translated into English (The Liar), and the return to the Festival of one of America’s most popular comedies (The Foreigner).

Big River
Book by William Hauptman with Music and Lyrics by Roger Miller

Mark Twain’s timeless classic sweeps us down the mighty Mississippi as the irrepressible Huck Finn helps his friend Jim, a slave, escape to freedom. Their adventures along the way are hilarious, suspenseful, and heart-warming, bringing to life your favorite characters from the novel, and leaving you humming tunes such as “River in the Rain,” “Worlds Apart,” and the rousing anthem “Free at Last.”

The Liar
By David Ives
Adapted from Le Menteur by Pierre Corneille

The charming Dorante cannot tell the truth, and his manservant Clinton cannot tell a lie. From this simple premise springs one of the western world’s greatest comedies, a sparkling seventeenth century French farce brilliantly adapted for today, complete with mistaken lovers, suspicious fathers, sparkling romance, frothy comedy, and an abundance of breathtakingly intricate “alternative facts.”

The Foreigner
By Larry Shue

Charlie, shy and seeking solitude, is on vacation at a Georgia hunting lodge. Avoiding the other guests, he pretends he is a foreigner, understanding no English. However, he soon witnesses bizarre schemes by people who think he can’t understand a word they say, leading to confusion and non-stop hilarity that set up one of the funniest endings in all of theatre.

The Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre

The plays in the Anes Studio Theatre will offer a combination of the old and the new, with Othello (another play in the Festival’s Complete the Canon Project) and the world premiere of Pearl’s in the House, which is being workshopped at the Festival in 2017 as part of the Words Cubed new play program.

Othello
By William Shakespeare

Brimming with incredible passion and anguish, as well as very human tenderness, this tragic story will lure you into a powerful world of jealousy and betrayal. Fast moving and devastating, Othello is one of Shakespeare’s most haunting plays, exploring how fear and jealousy can destroy the most intelligent minds and the purest of loves.

Pearl’s in the House
By Art Manke

This musical play focuses on Pearl Bailey, performer and special delegate to the United Nations in a racially-charged mid-twentieth century America. Bailey was a trailblazer for African-American women; yet a talk-show host in 1987 questions many of her motives. So Bailey responds the only way she knows how—through her music.

“With four fantastic Shakespeare classics and a world premiere musical, not to mention three other iconic works of theatre, we could not be more excited to share these productions with our audiences,” said Joshua Stavros, media and public relations director. “We hope you will join us.”

Tickets for the fifty-seventh annual Festival season, go on sale July 15. To purchase tickets or for more information visit www.bard.org or call 1-800-PLAYTIX.               

The Utah Shakespeare Festival is part of the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts at Southern Utah University, which also includes the Southern Utah Museum of Art (SUMA).

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Festival Founder Still Hard at Work

Founder Fred C. Adams

He’s eighty-six, no “eighty-six and one-half” years old, and has loved and lived the Utah Shakespeare Festival dream for nearly sixty years, but Founder Fred C. Adams shows few signs of slowing down.

“I still come to the office every day,” said Adams, “although a little later than I used to.”

Adams directed and guided the Festival as executive director from 1962 until 2005, when he stepped down and R. Scott Phillips stepped into his shoes. Phillips retired in March of this year, and other leadership changes have happened since, including the recent departure of Co-Artistic Director David Ivers, the appointing of Brian Vaughn as sole artistic director, and the hiring of Frank Mack as executive producer beginning September 1.

Adams’s main work in recent years has been to raise money for the new theatres at the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts, and 2016 saw the culmination of those efforts with the opening of the center. Adams, however, still maintains his office at the Festival and fills several roles. This year he will be performing as Adam in As You Like It, as well as hosting play orientations, talkbacks, and other events. His major role, however, is still fundraising; he hopes to raise money to continue to refine the Festival’s theatres and grounds at the Beverley Center for the Arts. This is when he’s not tending his garden at home or on his annual visit to Disneyland with his children and grandchildren.

Not bad for a man in his ninth decade!

Adams is optimistic about the future of the Festival. “I think the Festival is in good hands,” he said. “I have no reservations. These [Vaughn and Mack] are the leaders the Festival needs. Frank is the right man, and Brian is so right for his job.”

“Fred’s impact on this organization is immeasurable,” said Vaughn. “From the mundane to the extraordinary, the Festival is lucky to have his advice, his spirit, and his wonderfully insightful knowledge of both this craft and this industry. I wish everyone had the opportunity to experience the joy he exudes and the positivity he encourages.”

So, look for Fred at the Festival this summer. If you don’t see him on the stage or at an orientation, find him on the patio before a play, and say “hi.”

Welcome to Shakespeare U

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Michael Elich (left) as Long John Silver and Sceri Sioux Ivers as Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island.

Would you like a little more “hands on” adventure as part of your play going this summer? Are you, your friends, or your family looking for something with a little more verve, that will connect you more closely to your theatrical experience? If so, then the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s new Shakespeare U may be just what you are looking for.

Beginning this summer, the Festival is starting Shakespeare U with the goal of putting you a little more “in touch” physically and intellectually with what is happening on our stages. Two one-hour courses will be available. Stage Combat will be July 27 and August 3. Text will be July 28 August 4. All will start at 10:15 in the Frehner Education/Rehearsal Hall and will be coached by Festival actors and other professionals.

The cost is $8, and tickets can be purchased at the Ticket Office at 800-PLAYTIX or online at www.bard.org. Only thirty places are available in each workshop.

“Anyone can individually enjoy these new classes,” said Education Director Michael Bahr. “But this is also great opportunity for a group of friends or family to get together and thoroughly enjoy a fun theatrical experience beyond the plays on the stages.”

Participants in Stage Combat will create original fight scenes, using their own imaginations, scenes from the 2017 Shakespeare shows, and guidance from fight and movement experts. You will have a chance to swing a sword, throw a punch, and choreograph an entire scene—all while learning the tips and secrets professionals use to be both realistic and safe.

Text will give you a chance to create and perform scenes from the summer’s Shakespeare plays, utilizing the same tools of text analysis and story creation that our directors and actors use. You will read and understand the words then get on your feet and put them into action in your own scene.

“We are excited about this new offering at the Festival,” said Bahr. “It is a great way to immerse yourself in the theatrical experience and really see what it is like to read, fight, act, and direct, all in your own scene.”

Tickets are now on sale for the Festival’s 56th season, which will run from June 29 to October 21. The plays are Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It, Shakespeare in Love, Guys and Dolls, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Treasure Island, The Tavern, How to Fight Loneliness, and William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged). For more information and tickets visit www.bard.org or call 1-800-PLAYTIX.

The Utah Shakespeare Festival is part of the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts at Southern Utah University, which also includes the Southern Utah Museum of Art (SUMA).

Festival Receives Two NEA Grants

Alexis Baigue (left) as Bottom and Marla Lefler as Titania in the Festival’s 2017 touring production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

The Utah Shakespeare Festival recently received word that it has been awarded two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. It received an Art Works grant totaling $20,000 to help fund the world premiere of Neil LaBute’s How to Fight Loneliness and a $25,000 Shakespeare in American Communities grant to help with the creation of the Festival’s Shakespeare-in-the-Schools 2018 touring production of The Tempest.

“We are extremely grateful for the generous support provided by the National Endowment of the Arts,” said Artistic Director Brian Vaughn upon hearing of the awards. “Both of these productions are vital ingredients in our continued efforts to celebrate classic and contemporary writers and the tremendous impact each can have on our collective culture.”

How to Fight Loneliness was workshopped at the Festival last fall as part of its new play development program Words3 (Words Cubed). Since that time it has been refined and prepared for its world premiere opening on August 26 at the Festival.

In the application for the grant, David Ivers, former artistic director and director of the play, said “We are most keenly interested in how this play . . . speaks to other classic works in our season. . . . It’s a spellbinding three-character play that’s provocative, funny, and heartbreaking all at once. Mr. LaBute pulls no punches here and demands we all take a look at very specific and potent moments in our lives as they careen with the larger looming questions of existence.”

The Shakespeare in American Communities grant is administered by Arts Midwest in partnership with the NEA. The grant will help the Festival touring production (which also includes optional workshops) travel for fourteen weeks to schools, community centers, and correctional facilities in Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arizona—to over 120 schools.

“Without the support from the National Endowment for the Arts, these projects would potentially be shelved and an entire generation of playgoer potentially lost,” said Vaughn. “We are thrilled at the recognition and the unique opportunity this assistance provides.”

 “The arts reflect the vision, energy, and talent of America’s artists and arts organizations,” said NEA Chairman Jane Chu. “The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support organizations such as the Utah Shakespeare Festival in serving their communities by providing excellent and accessible arts experiences.”

Tickets are now on sale for the Festival’s 56th season, which will run from June 29 to October 21. The plays are Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It, Shakespeare in Love, Guys and Dolls, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Treasure Island, The Tavern, How to Fight Loneliness, and William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged). For more information and tickets visit www.bard.org or call 1-800-PLAYTIX. For information about the fundraising gala on July 14, call 435-586-7880.

The Utah Shakespeare Festival is part of the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts at Southern Utah University, which also includes the Southern Utah Museum of Art (SUMA).

Meet the Festival's New Leadership

CEDAR CITY, UT—After two major announcements and leadership changes in the past few weeks, the Utah Shakespeare Festival now has the right leaders to steer it into the future. Frank Mack, a veteran of theatre companies across the country, was named as executive producer and will head the Festival in the coming years. Brian Vaughn, who has served six years as co-artistic producer, was named sole artistic director when David Ivers announced he was leaving. Vaughn will oversee the artistic side of the Festival.

To help you get to know these two personalities better, the Festival communications team recently asked Mack and Vaughn a series of questions about the Festival and their thoughts of the future. We think you will enjoy their answers:

Question: What does the future of the Festival look like to you? Do you foresee changes you would like to make in the next few years?

Mack: So much about the Festival works so beautifully, there is a lot to maintain rather than change. But everyone working at the Festival should be seeking ways to put even better performances on stage and create even better experiences for our audience. The quest to find creative ways to produce the finest art possible is why we work at an arts organization in the first place, and although we don’t expect perfection, we should always pursue a “more perfect” way of producing great theatre.

Vaughn: The future looks bright. The next few years will be about efficiency and sustainability, how our shops work in relation to the opening of the Beverly Taylor Sorenson Center for the Performing Arts and the many ways in which we continue to provide the top-notch quality of theatre our audience expects.

What are the biggest strengths of the Festival?

Mack: The Festival’s greatest strengths are its high level of professionalism in producing the shows and making the experience of seeing them so satisfying. That’s the legacy of founder Fred C. Adams. But maintaining and growing that legacy is far easier said than done. Sustaining and deepening the artistic quality and the overall audience experience will demand a full measure of devotion of all of the Festival’s constituent parts—volunteers, artists, craftspeople, technicians, administrators, board members, and the community at large.

Vaughn: The quality of performances, the incredible people who work here, the wonderful facilities (including a beautiful outdoor theatre reminiscent of the Globe), the wrap-around services that are included with the ticket price (The Greenshow, seminars, etc), our location in relation to national parks, the community of Cedar City and Southern Utah University, and our audience base are some of the biggest strengths of the Festival.

Question: How do you see the relationship between executive producer and artistic director working?

Mack: Artists and managers work closely in every major professional theatre in the US. This long-standing tradition has enabled boundaries and lines of communication that serve arts organizations well and enable the best possible artistic achievements. This collaborative approach is ideally suited to serve the Festival as a way for the executive producer and artistic director to work closely together to bring the full creative potential of the Festival to bear and produce great theatre. I am enthused to work with an artist of Brian’s skill and talent, given his artistic development as an essential part of the Festival.

Question: What kind of plays do you think the Festival should be producing?

Mack: Great shows! Fortunately, with Shakespeare as our cornerstone, we have a canon of great plays written by him to serve as the foundation of our seasons. But we seek to produce plays by other great dramatists. The secret to great seasons is diverse offerings. Because we want our audiences to have an extraordinary experience, we need to provide not only world-class classical theatre, but intriguing new plays as well. That’s why the addition of Words Cubed is such an essential part of the Festival’s future. It not only gives audiences a different experience, seeing new plays in a 200-seat black box theatre, but if gives Festival artists exciting new opportunities and helps us discover the next Shakespeare.

Vaughn: We are a classical-based theatre with the plays of William Shakespeare as our centerpiece. These offerings are balanced with other contemporary plays, musicals, and new work that provide a wide assortment of offerings for our audience. The artistic philosophy is producing and creating engaging, enlightening work that challenges, inspires, and entertains.

Question: Theatre attendance nationwide seems to be decreasing. Why? And how do you combat this?

Mack: Professional theatre national attendance trends are a mixed bag. There is no question from numerous data sources that attendance patterns have changed after the last major recession. Subscription sales are substantially lower, but single ticket sales have increased for many organizations. The Festival does not sell subscriptions but operates as a destination theatre, where attenders often travel for an immersion experience that includes not only the plays but related activities such as seminars, talk-backs, The Greenshow, and theatre-craft demonstrations. This positions the Festival to do well given the shifting participation trends.

Vaughn: I think we live in an interesting time. Immediate entertainment options are more readily available at our fingertips. We can quickly download a movie or television program to our phones or iPad and watch it at our leisure in our own time. The challenge is making the event of live theatre a priority with people’s spending options. A unique aspect of the Festival is that we are a destination theatre. You have to travel to come here, stay in a hotel, dine out. This is both a strength and a weakness. Our goal over the next few years is providing engaging art that comes across the footlights and into the collective laps of our audience.

So, is theatre still relevant?

Mack: Early hominids were painting in caves and dancing by firelight. These early humans were struggling to survive, and there is no evidence that the commitment of effort and resources required to paint those caves or dance by those fires did anything to secure the necessities of life. Nonetheless, early humans danced and painted and very likely told stories. So why is theatre still relevant? It has always been relevant and it always will be relevant. It’s imprinted in the essence of our species. We are destined to examine our nature though stories and artistic expression of all kinds. In the twenty-first century, we tell stories through movies, television, and online series of all kinds. But there will always be a place in our culture where we can gather live, with the performers in the same room, and experience a story together. It’s an essential part of who we are.

Question: And, is Shakespeare still relevant?

Vaughn: Shakespeare will always be relevant. His plays have lasted for centuries and will always provide a lens into who we are as human beings. No other playwright captures the essence of feeling and emotional exploration like Shakespeare. His plays will always resonate and will always be a mirror in which we see ourselves.

Question: Why are you personally involved in this industry and art?

Mack: Theatre changed my life. I grew up as a musician—playing classical piano. But by high school, I was adrift, uncertain of what I wanted to do, be, or how to fit in. On a lark, I auditioned for the high school musical because I could read music and thought I might make some new friends. It changed my life. I never wanted to leave the theatre, and, in fact, haven’t. I can’t play piano very well any more, but I found in theatre more than just new friends. I found a purpose and direction for my life that exceeded any expectation I previously held for a future as an adult engaged in a satisfying and exciting career. . . . I recognize the artistic process as the greatest, most effective and efficient process of creating anything; I now seek to take that process into the administrative work of the organization and harness its creative power to transform administration into a collaborative, creative, and energized process. It’s exciting and transformative when we do it well.

Festival Announces New Executive Producer

CEDAR CITY, UT — The Utah Shakespeare Festival announced today the hiring of Frank Mack, a veteran of theatre companies across the United States, as its new executive producer, replacing the recently retired R. Scott Phillips. Mack will join the Utah Shakespeare Festival on September 1.

Hailing from Connecticut, where he is currently serving in a leadership role at the Connecticut Repertory Theatre and teaching arts administration at the University of Connecticut, Mack is eager to bring his expertise to the Tony Award-winning Festival, located in Cedar City, Utah. He said, “I am excited by the opportunity to join this amazing organization. I have been inspired by the deep commitment to the Festival held by the community of Cedar City, the staff, board, leaders at Southern Utah University, and its audience. I am enthused by the extraordinary artistic achievements of the Festival and eager to become an active part of it.”

Mack has also worked as managing director at the California Shakespeare Festival in Berkeley, California; Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, New York; the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival in Madison, New Jersey; and Connecticut Repertory Theatre. His skill set includes an emphasis on making data-informed decisions and cultivating long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with stakeholders. Mack has served as a management consultant at Center Stage in Baltimore, Maryland; the African Continuum Theatre Company in Washington, DC; the Contemporary American Theatre Festival in Shepherdstown, West Virginia; and community and university arts organizations along the east coast.

The new executive producer plans to attend the opening celebrations and fundraising gala at the Utah Shakespeare Festival the first weeks of July and begin his full-time duties in September.

Utah Shakespeare Festival Board Chair Jeffery R. Nelson led the search committee tasked with filling this role. “Through the selection process, I’ve been very impressed with Frank Mack,” he said. “Not only is he a smart, capable, and decisive leader, but he’s a passionate advocate for the arts and especially theater. Frank has a unique ability to inspire and guide continual improvement and growth with a friendly yet persistent persuasion that I am confident will help us continue to build on the strong foundation already established by Fred Adams and Scott Phillips. Frank is the right leader at the right time for the Utah Shakespeare Festival, and I am very excited for our bright future.”

“I’d also like to express my sincere gratitude for the diligent efforts of the search committee which included a broad representation of members of both the Festival and SUU Community,” Nelson added. Search committee members included Nelson, Ken Adelman, Jeff Larsen, and Ginger Anderson representing the Festival’s board of governors; David Ivers and Brian Vaughn representing the Festival; Stuart Jones and Shauna Mendini representing Southern Utah University; and Marty Larkin and Susan Wooten representing the Cedar City community. Consultants David Mallette and Stephen Richard from Management Consultants for the Arts worked with the search committee throughout the process. 

Southern Utah University, home of the Festival, is also happy to welcome Mack in this role. SUU President Scott L Wyatt said, “After an exhaustive national search and conversations with more than 150 artistic professionals around the country, I am thrilled that Frank Mack has agreed to join the Utah Shakespeare Festival as its new executive producer. The arts are more important now than they have ever been, and Frank will bring a wealth of experience and level of sincerity that will help the Festival grow as we entertain, inspire and transform individuals and communities.”

“I am eager to work alongside Frank during this historic new chapter in the Festival’s legacy, added Festival Artistic Director Brian Vaughn. “Frank comes with a wealth of experience in both professional and academic theatre, and I am confident our collaboration will be a rewarding one. I’d like to extend my personal gratitude to the search committee, our staff, the Festival board of governors, and Zach Murray, interim executive director, for their patience and advocacy during this transition.” 

As part of the reorganization of Festival leadership prompted by David Ivers’ departure earlier this month, Brian Vaughn has been named as sole artistic director, helming the leadership of the artistic product of the Festival. Earlier this year, co-artistic director David Ivers left the Festival to become artistic director at the Arizona Theatre Company.

Regarding the leadership changes, Festival Founder Fred C. Adams is positive about the future: “I think we have the right people to carry my legacy forward and protect the festival’s integrity,” he said. “I think that Frank has the personality and people skills to fit into this position comfortably. This is a crucial role for the growth of the Festival, and I think he has the skills and experience to be a huge success. I am looking forward to having him here, and I hope our community, our volunteers, our guests, and our donors will welcome him warmly.”

Tickets are now on sale for the Festival’s 56th season, which will run from June 29 to October 21. This year’s plays are Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It, Shakespeare in Love, Guys and Dolls, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Treasure Island, The Tavern, How to Fight Loneliness, and William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged). For more information and tickets visit www.bard.org or call 1-800-PLAYTIX. For information about the fundraising gala on July 14, call 435-586-7880.

The Utah Shakespeare Festival is part of the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts at Southern Utah University, which also includes the Southern Utah Museum of Art (SUMA).

A Season of Adventure

From swashbuckling pirates to feuding fairy royalty, from young lovers and warring families to singing and dancing gamblers, from a mysterious vagabond in a tavern in the middle of the Utah desert to magical forests—the 2017 season of the Utah Shakespeare Festival promises a season of adventure for all.

The season, which will run from June 29 to October 21, includes nine plays that run the gamut with music, drama, excitement, and escapades of every kind.

The Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre

Two complementary plays, William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and the theatrical adaptation of the Academy Award-winning movie Shakespeare in Love, will anchor the Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre. Shakespeare in Love is about young William Shakespeare, who, out of ideas and short of cash, meets his ideal woman and is inspired to write one of his most famous plays, Romeo and Juliet. These interdependent story lines provided the impetus behind the Festival producing these two plays in repertory—with many shared elements and cast members.

The Festival has been selected as one of three theatres to present the first United States productions in the United States. It is based on the original screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, with the stage adaptation by Lee Hall. It is presented by special arrangement with Disney Theatrical Productions and Sonia Friedman Productions.

Rounding out the Engelstad Theatre will be the Shakespeare comedy As You Like It. This rollicking frolic of confused courtship between Rosalind and Orlando features beautiful poetry and unsurpassed wit, with love and danger waiting in the Forest of Arden.

The Randall L. Jones Theatre

Four plays will fill the stage in the Randall L. Jones Theatre in 2017, offering a variety of genres stories, and exploits.

First will be the classical musical Guys and Dolls, with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Abe Burrows and Jo Swerling. Considered by many to be the perfect musical comedy, Guys and Dolls ran for over 1,200 performances when it opened on Broadway in 1950. Winner of many Tony Awards and numerous other theatre prizes, it has been frequently revived and has proven to be perennially popular. Featuring such memorable songs as “A Bushel and a Peck” and “Luck Be a Lady,” this oddball romantic comedy will find a comfortable home at the Festival.

Next will be the Mountain West premiere of Mary Zimmerman’s glorious adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson novel Treasure Island. This epic tale based on classic literature will thrill the entire family with tales of buried treasure, cutthroat pirates, the larger-than-life Long John Silver, and the courageous young cabin boy Jim Hawkins. A play with music, Treasure Island is dramatic story-telling at its theatrical best.

Possibly Shakespeare’s most beloved comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream will also appear in the Randall Theatre. This story of fairies, dreams, and moonlight gets a new and exciting look when set in the art deco world of the Jazz Age. It is still true that “the course of love never did run smooth,” and when the feuding king and queen of the fairies interfere in the couplings of mortals, the result is pure pandemonium and magical mayhem.

Playing later in the seson in the Randall L. Jones Theatre will be a world-premiere adaptation of the satirical comedy The Tavern by George M. Cohan. Joseph Hanreddy (who adapted Sense and Sensibility for the Festival in 2014) is adapting this hilarious play and shifting the action and plot to locations and characters in Utah that just might feel familiar. As such, it is a dark and stormy night when a mysterious vagabond, a damsel in distress, and a politician all end up at a remote Utah tavern in the adventuresome melodrama.

The Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre

First up in the 200-seat studio theatre will be William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged), brought to you by the same guys responsible for The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged). The play tells the not-quite factual (well, not at all factual) story of an ancient manuscript purported to be the first play written by William Shakespeare. Using questionable scholarship and street-performer smarts, a trio of comic actors will throw themselves into a fast, funny, and frenzied festival of physical finesse, witty wordplay, and plentiful punning.

And last, but certainly not least, is the nationally-acclaimed world-premiere of playwright Neil LaBute’s How To Fight Loneliness. LaBute recently had two successful shows close off-Broadway and has another, All the Ways To Say I Love You, opening this fall at MCC Theater. He and his work have been recognized with Tony Award nominations and Arts and Letters Awards in Literature, among others. How To Fight Loneliness explores a modern-day husband and wife who are at a life-changing crossroads and struggling to make monumental decisions about life and love.

“This is a season with something for everybody, and one that propels us into the next stage of our development as a theatre company,” said Joshua Stavros, media and public relations director. “It definitely will be an adventure you don’t want to miss.”

Change in Shakespeare's Forests

By Allison Borzoni

Forests are often just a rustic setting, but in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and As You Like It, forests are more than just a place. They are an adventure and an escape. In both plays, characters go to the woods and begin to change in ways they never would have predicted.

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the forest is a safe haven for Hermia and Lysander as they plan their elopement. However, when Helena and Demetrius follow them into the woods, strange things begin to happen. The characters’ escape from an oppressive law becomes an escape from reality as they are influenced by powers greater than their own. As they wander through the night-stricken forest, these young Athenians almost become new people, and in Bottom’s case—an ass. When they leave the forest, they have changed for the better, but can’t quite explain what happened during the night.

The Forest of Arden in As You Like It also acts as an opportunity for change. Before the play begins, Duke Senior has been exiled, and, according to rumor, “They say he is already in the Forest of Arden, and a/ many merry men with him; and there they live like/ the old Robin Hood of England. They say many/ young gentlemen flock to him every day and fleet/ the time carelessly, as they did in the golden world” (1.1.7–11). Duke Senior and the gentleman that join him in the forest are freed from earthly constraints, but they’re not the only ones. Rosalind retreats to the forest once she is exiled and dresses as a man to travel safely, and even Oliver and Duke Frederick, the villains of the play, become better men in the Forest of Arden.

Although the forest is a place of change and opportunity, it’s up to the characters to decide if the forest was a pleasant place to be. Duke Senior compares the forest to the court and says, “Hath not old custom made this life more sweet/ Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods/ More free from peril than the envious court?” (2.1.2–4). And although Bottom from A Midsummer Night’s Dream may have enjoyed his night of extravagance in the forest, poor Helena might disagree about how fun her adventures were that night.

In the end, Shakespeare used the forest to provide characters with a chance to become something new. They were free to escape the confines of the real world, much like what we hope for you when you attend the Utah Shakespeare Festival this summer.

To Imagine or Not to Imagine: Treasure Island

By Allison Borzoni

Treasure Island is a classic story with a cast of characters we’ve been familiar with since childhood. There have been over fifty adaptations of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel Treasure Island, and most still keep the original characters. Even Black Sails, the television prequel to Treasure Island, features characters like Israel Hands and even Captain Flint himself. The Utah Shakespeare Festival is following this tried-and-true principle this year, by bringing an exciting and adventurous adaptation by Mary Zimmerman’s adaptation to the stage—complete with a full cast of swashbuckling pirates.

Billy Bones is the man who kicks off the adventure in the book and the adaptations. Disney’s Treasure Island (1950) upped the lowly status of Billy Bones to Captain William Bones. Bill Connolly took on the role of Billy Bones in Muppet Treasure Island, and he became one of the only characters to die on screen in a Muppets movie. Our Billy Bones won’t be the first character to die on a Festival stage (I’m looking at you, Polonius), but Billy (played by the Festival’s Geoffrey Kent) will definitely lure the audience into the adventure as he warns Jim Hawkins to look out for a one-legged man.

And that one-legged man is Long John Silver himself. Silver has a long history of a complicated father-son relationship with Jim Hawkins. Treasure Island (1950) doesn’t make this relationship any easier when Silver holds Jim at gunpoint. Treasure Planet, an animated version of Treasure Island that is set in outer space, also puts Silver’s relationship with Jim to the test, when Silver has to either rescue Jim or the treasure. Rest assured, Muppet Treasure Island makes Silver out to be a bit more of a villain, since the movie ends with him marooned on Treasure Island with a singing Moai head. Although our Treasure Island won’t be breaking out in a chorus of “Cabin Fever” as they do in Muppet Treasure Island, the play is full of music perfect for pirates and hidden treasure. And, watch out for Michael Elich, the new-to-the-Festival actor who is playing Long John Silver; he will demand your attention with his charismatic control over the mutinous pirates and his burgeoning friendship with Jim Hawkins.

Although Billy Bones and Long John Silver have consistently appeared in most adaptations, Doctor Livesey has proven to be a more flexible character. Both Treasure Planet and Muppet’s Treasure Island decided against keeping Doctor Livesey as human at all. In Treasure Planet, Doctor Livesey is called Delbert Doppler—and he’s a dog-like alien to boot. Although Delbert Doppler is a Ph.D, not an M.D., Muppet Treasure Island does bring in a medical doctor: Dr. Bunsen Honeydew. The Festival’s Jonathan Haugen may not be a doctor either, but he will certainly bring Doctor Livesey and his calming influence to life as he tries to keep the mutinous crew of the Hispaniola on board.

Captain Smollett is the only character who suspects a mutiny from the very beginning of the story. Disney’s Treasure Island (1950) kept its Captain Smollett as a stalwart man of the sea, although he doesn’t act as a father figure for Jim. Treasure Planet, meanwhile, switches it up by making Captain Smollet into Captain Amelia, a female, cat-like alien. Of course, we won’t have aliens on the Festival stages this year, but we will have Paul Michael Sandberg with us as Captain Smollet to lead the resistance against Silver and his mutinying maties.   

With at least 50 adaptations to choose from, just remember that Mary Zimmerman, the  playwright for this adaptation, keeps her eye on the true prize: “a lifelong pursuit of childlike imagination.” Don’t miss your boat, it’ll be the journey of a lifetime—and not just for Jim Hawkins.

Final 2017 Casting Is In!

Brian Vaughn

Tessa Auberjonois

Corey Jones

Fred C. Adams

CEDAR CITY, UT—The Utah Shakespeare Festival recently announced the last of its casting for the 2017 season, including the three actors who will perform in How to Fight Loneliness: Brian Vaughn, Corey Jones, and Tessa Auberjonois. The complete list of actors and roles is available at bard.org/actorsartist.                                           

Brian Vaughn, one of the Festival’s artistic directors and a long-time favorite of Festival audiences, will be playing two very different roles in two very different plays: Brad, the emotionally conflicted husband in How to Fight Loneliness and Sky Masterson, a swaggering, independent, but somehow loveable gambler, in the musical Guys and Dolls. Vaughn as played over fifty roles in twenty-three seasons at the Festival, including the title roles in Hamlet, Henry V, and Cyrano de Bergerac. Other roles include Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew, Harold Hill in The Music Man, Javert in Les Misérables, Charlie in Stones in His Pockets, and both Felix Unger and Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple. He has also been a prolific director at the Festival, helming such shows as the regional premiere of Peter and the Starcatcher, Henry IV Part One, Henry IV Part Two, and Henry V. This year, he will also be directing the regional premiere of Shakespeare in Love.

“I am thrilled to play these very diverse roles in these very diverse plays,” said Vaughn. “Both shows are perfect examples of our repertory model: a classic American musical comedy coupled with a searing dramatic world premiere. I can’t wait for our audiences to experience them.”

Tessa Auberjonois is returning to the Festival after twenty years to play the role of the wife, Jodie, who has a terminal illness and is now faced with decisions regarding life and death. She last appeared here as Viola in Twelfth Night and Marina in Pericles in 1997. During the last two decades, she has kept busy appearing in plays across the country, including off-Broadway shows of Trainspotting at the Players Theatre, Killers and Other Family at Rattlestick Theatre, and Uncommon Women and Others Lucille Lortel Theatre. She has also appeared in such diverse theatres as South Coast Repertory, the Shakespeare Theatre of Washington, D. C., the Kirk Douglas Theatre, Hartford Stage, Westport Playhouse, Yale Rep, and many others. Television work includes appearances in Shameless, ER, Boston Legal, N3mbers, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, and Jonny Zero. She also appeared in the films The Secret Life of Me, Birth, Touchback, Nostradamus, Ditch!, and I’m Not Rappaport.

“I could not be more thrilled to return to the Utah Shakespeare Festival with this incredible collaborative team and this wonderful role after twenty years,” she said. “My summer at the Festival remains a treasured and unmatched experience. I can’t wait to get started telling this deeply moving story of three people who desperately need each other.”

Corey Jones, who will be playing the role of Tate in How to Fight Loneliness, is also a familiar face to Festival audiences. He played Caliban in The Tempest and the title role in King John in 2013 and Rev. Sykes in To Kill a Mockingbird and Aaron in Titus Andronicus in 2012. He appeared as the General in the national tour of the Broadway production of The Book of Mormon. He has also been in numerous plays across the country, including appearances at Pittsburgh City Theater, Dallas Theater Center, Arkansas Rep, Celebration Theatre LA, Williamstown Theater Festival, Chautauqua Theater, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, PCPA, Illinois Shakespeare, and others.

“There’s no place like the Utah Shakespeare Festival and southern Utah, and I’m looking forward to returning and working in the stunning new facilities of the Sorenson Center for the Arts,” he said. “Making the return even more special is the opportunity to work on a world premiere and a Neil LaBute play—two dreams come true!”

And, if that isn’t enough, Festival Founder Fred C. Adams will be returning to the stage of the Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre this summer as Adam in As You Like It. Check out bard.org/actorsartist to find out more.

Tickets are now on sale for the Festival’s 56th season, which will run from June 29 to October 21. In addition to How to Fight Loneliness, this year’s plays are Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It, Shakespeare in Love, Guys and Dolls, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Treasure Island, The Tavern, and William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged). For more information and tickets visit www.bard.org or call 1-800-PLAYTIX.

The Utah Shakespeare Festival is part of the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts at Southern Utah University, which also includes the Southern Utah Museum of Art (SUMA).