News From the Festival
Educational Tour Hitting the Road
CEDAR CITY, UT– The Utah Shakespeare Festival is once again hitting the road with its Shakespeare-in-the-Schools touring production—this year performing the story of monsters and fairies, betrayal, revenge, and forgiveness, William Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
The tour will be performing 67 shows for over 120 schools and 25,000 students throughout the states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming. The cast and crew will be on the road for fourteen weeks from January through April to bring this classic comedy to schools, community centers, and correctional facilities. Students will have the chance to watch the show and then participate in a post-show discussion and workshops in Stage Combat, Performing Shakespeare’s Text, Technical Theatre and Developing Character through Improvisation.
The Tempest will premiere on January 24 at 7:30 p.m. in the Randall L. Jones Theatre. General admission tickets are $5 and can be purchased at the Festival ticket office at 800-PLAYTIX (800-752-9849) or online at www.bard.org. Tickets purchased ahead of time will be available at will call in the Randall L. Jones Theatre. On the night of the performance, only cash and checks will be accepted at the Randall Theatre door, whereas credit and debit cards will be accepted at the main ticket office next to the Anes Theatre. Admission is free for SUU students.
Christopher DuVal is returning to the Festival, this year as director of the touring production. He worked at the Festival as an actor in numerous roles in the 1990s and as the fight director in various shows from 2012 to 2015. He is currently the head of the Actor Training Program at the University Utah and has worked extensively in many theatres across the country, including eighteen years at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
There are some familiar faces this season who have worked at the Festival before. Trent Dahlin (Prospero) is a Cedar City native and has appeared at the Festival the past two years, most recently as Dennis in As You Like It and Abraham Grey/Musician in Treasure Island in 2017. He received his BFA in musical theatre from Southern Utah University. Josh Durfey (Ferdinand/Antonio) is a Salt Lake City-born actor who has performed at the Festival since 2014. He studied classical acting at SUU and has appeared at Pickleville Playhouse, the Neil Simon Festival, Hale Center Theatre, and more. Stefanie Resnick**,** originally from New York, appeared in the 2017 Festival tour of A Midsummer Night’s Dream as Hermia/Quince/Peaseblossom. She received her M.F.A. in performance from the University of Nevada–Las Vegas and has worked regionally and in New York City. Tony Sloan (Stephano/Sebastian) has worked in the Festival Ticket Office the past couple of years and received his B.S. degree in theatre and political science from SUU where he is currently a candidate for his M.A. in arts administration. Previous work includes The Laramie Project, Twelfth Night, and directing Really Really.
The other actors in the cast have brought their talents to The Tempest from many different theatres and productions across the country. Erica Alexandra Carvalho (Miranda/Boatswain) received her BFA in theatre from the University of Utah. She has acted for Pinnacle Acting Company, The Grand Theatre, Plan B Theatre, and Salt Lake Acting Company, and Pioneer Theatre Company. Ava Kostia (Ariel) is a graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with a B.A. in musical theatre. Most recently having played Laertes at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, she is also a certified Apprentice Teacher of Dueling Arts International. Christobal Iniguez Perez (Caliban/Gonzalo), a California native, received a B.F.A. in acting from Utah State University. He has previously worked with Pacific Conservatory Theater (PCPA), Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival, and Lyric Repertory Company.
The three crew members on the tour come from various backgrounds and experience. They work behind the scenes to make this Shakespeare-in-the-Schools production possible. Emma Horvath (Stage Manager) hails from the Chicago area and graduated from Northwestern University. She recently completed an internship with Cirque du Soleil’s Zumanity and is returning to the Utah Shakespeare Festival after working on The Tavern last fall. Devery North is a Kansas City native and graduate of Stephens College. She worked previously with the Festival for the 2015 season and the 2016 and 2017 educational tours. She has also worked with the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival. Ryan Turpin (technical director) is a graduate of SUU and has worked at the Festival for a number of years, most recently as audio supervisor for the 2017 season.
In addition to support from the Shakespeare for a New Generation program which is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, this tour’s school performance partners are the Utah State Office of Education: Professional Outreach Programs in the Schools, Mountain West Small Business Finance, Ally Bank, and Southern Utah University.
For more information, visit www.bard.org/tour
Festival Announces Auditions for Expanded Playmakers Programs
CEDAR CITY, Utah — The Utah Shakespeare Festival recently announced an expansion to its popular Playmakers youth program, as well as auditions to enroll and perform.
The program trains youth in theatre techniques and performance etiquette and produces a musical for the youth to perform in. Traditionally, it has been one program for children up to eighteen years old. This year, however, Festival Education Director Michael Bahr is adding Playmakers Junior, for youth five years old and older who want to learn theatre fundamentals, including how to sing and dance with a live piano, rehearsal and performance etiquette, and how to work, share, give, and play with others. Culminating the experience will be public performances of the hilarious new musical We Are Monsters on March 23 and 24.
Britannia Howe is directing and teaching this program. She created a similar program for young performers in Ashland, Oregon, and is thrilled to provide this training for young artists here in Cedar City.
“For years we have wanted to provide Playmaker training for younger students,” said Bahr. “With this change, they will receive a foundation of theatre and performance fundamentals that will empower them throughout their lives.”
The traditional Playmakers program will continue for youth ages seven to eighteen. During the training, students will rehearse The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, an irresistible story of a fourteen-year-old boy growing up in the heartland of America, based on Mark Twain’s classic novel. The Playmakers will then perform the show for area schools on March 21, 22, and 23 and for the public on March 23 and 24.
Bahr will teach the class and direct the performance.
Auditions for both programs will be January 25 from 5 to 9 p.m. in the Frehner Rehearsal/Education Hall at the Festival. To sign up, visit www.bard.org/playmakers. If cast in the one of the programs, students will pay a $200 registration fee for Playmakers or $100 registration fee for Playmakers Junior. However, scholarships are readily available.
To help children prepare, the Festival is offering an audition workshop for anyone interested. It will be January 25 from 3 to 5 p.m. The workshop is optional, but can be very helpful.
For more information, call 435-865-8333 or visit the webpage at www.bard.org/playmakers.
Imagine, Re-Imagine, Refine, and Create
The Merry Wives of Windsor Scenery design by Apollo Mark Weaver
The Merry Wives of Windsor Costume design by Bill Black
The Merry Wives of Windsor Costume design by Bill Black
The Merry Wives of Windsor Costume design by Bill Black
The Merry Wives of Windsor Costume design by Bill Black
The Merchant of Venice Scenery design by Apollo Mark Weaver
The Merchant of Venice Costume design by Bill Black
The Merchant of Venice Costume design by Bill Black
The Merchant of Venice Costume design by Bill Black
The Merchant of Venice Costume design by Bill Black
Henry VI Part One Scenery design by Apollo Mark Weaver
Henry VI Part One Scenery design by Apollo Mark Weaver
Henry VI Part One Costume design by Lauren Roark
Henry VI Part One Costume design by Lauren Roark
Henry VI Part One Costume design by Lauren Roark
Big River Scenery design by Jason Lajka
Big River Scenery design by Jason Lajka
Big River Costume design by K. L. Alberts
Big River Costume design by K. L. Alberts
Big River Costume design by K. L. Alberts
The Foreigner Scenery design by Jason Lajka
The Foreigner Scenery design by Jason Lajka
The Foreigner Costume design by David Kay Mickelsen
The Foreigner Costume design by David Kay Mickelsen
The Foreigner Costume design by David Kay Mickelsen
The Liar Scenery design by Jason Lajka
The Liar Scenery design by Jason Lajka
The Liar Costume design by David Kay Mickelsen
The Liar Costume design by David Kay Mickelsen
The Liar Costume design by David Kay Mickelsen
Othello Scenery design by Tom Buderwitz
Othello Scenery design by Tom Buderwitz
Othello Costume design by Kyle Schellinger
Othello Costume design by Kyle Schelllinger
Othello Costume design by Kyle Schellinger
Pearl’s in the House Scenery design by Tom Buderwitz
Pearl’s in the House Scenery design by Tom Buderwitz
Some of the most creative theatre professionals in the country were in Cedar City recently to do what creative people do: imagine, re-imagine, refine, and create. The annual Utah Shakespeare Festival design meetings were the first chance for the directors, designers, and artisans hired for the 2018 season to meet face-to-face and work through what the season plays will look like this summer and fall.
The director of each play led the discussions with costume, scenery, lighting, and sound designers, as well as year-round Festival staff who will be tasked with taking these designs and ideas and building all the elements that make theatre magical.
“The purpose of our annual design meetings is to get an overall view of where each of the plays are in relation to their designs,” said Artistic Director Brian Vaughn. “They entail hearing the directors’ thoughts on their shows, viewing preliminary costume sketches, scenic designs, and detailed prop lists and providing each team the opportunity to talk through the play scene-by-scene to establish their various needs and visions.”
For instance, how do you take a play like Shakespeare’s Othello, which in the past has been produced on the Festival’s large outdoor stages, and perform it in the smaller Anes Studio Theatre? “I want it to be about the words and the actors,” said director Kate Buckley. “We will strip it down to the essentials in order for Shakespeare’s words to be powerful for the audience in this intimate space.”
Or, how do you breathe new life into a play like The Merchant of Venice, which has been produced at the Festival several times in the past and thousands of times across the world for four centuries and which contains references to anti-Semitism at best and blatant prejudice and racism at worst? According to director Melinda Pfundstein, the key is to openly discuss the consequences of how we treat each other, especially outsiders or those who are different from ourselves. Her vision of the production focuses on bonds of oath, religion, and love, with the highest bond being the internal compass where the true “quality of mercy” resides.
And there are hundreds of other questions: How do designers create the Mississippi River on the stage of the Randall L. Jones Theatre for Big River? How do they bring all the pageantry, war, and humanity of Henry VI Part One (a rarely produced play) to the Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre’s famous “Wooden O?” How do the Festival artists create 1643 Paris on the stage in the fast-moving, fast talking The Liar? (Scenery design Jason Lajka has some interesting, farcical ideas.) Or, how . . . Well, you get the idea.
It was a whirlwind week, with ideas bubbling to the surface and scenery sketches, costume swatches, and clips of music and sound being passed back and forth in an amazing creative brew—tempered only a bit by the realities of budget, space, and time that all artists must deal with.
“Because we are working on eight productions at once, with multiple designers doubling up on shows, the meetings provided an in-depth look into each play and allowed the director and design teams to connect face-to-face prior to beginning rehearsal in May,” said Vaughn. “In the process, we must make sure each of the shows fall in-line with their proposed budgets. This takes an in-depth examination of overall material and labor costs, and provides a blueprint for building each production efficiently within our means.”
Yet, in the end, the creative passion that makes the Festival a world-class, Tony Award-winning theatre, always rose to the top. “We had a great round of meetings,” said Vaughn. “It’s a terrific group of people with great artistic ideas, and I think audiences are going to be totally engaged with the final product on our stages.”
Tickets are now on sale for the Festival’s fifty-seventh season, which will run from June 28 to October 20. This year’s plays are Henry VI Part One, The Merchant of Venice, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Othello, Big River, The Foreigner, An Iliad, The Liar*.* 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).
Long-Time Costume Director Expands His Role
Costume Director Jeffrey Lieder has been a familiar face at the Utah Shakespeare Festival for thirty-two years. In fact, beautiful costumes and Lieder have become almost synonymous at the Festival; but, surprisingly, his position at the Festival has always been seasonal. Now, beginning January 1, that has changed, and the connection between Lieder and the Festival has become even stronger with Lieder joining the Festival full-time staff in Cedar City.
“What began as a part-time, seasonal job has grown larger and larger each year,” said Lieder. “I am excited that now I can be involved with the Festival year-round and be even more closely connected with this great organization.”
Lieder was hired as a summer costume director in 1982 by then Associate Producing Director Douglas N. Cook. “I thought at first it was going to be a great job just for the summer, but I’ve been coming back every year since,” he said. “It has now become my artistic home.”
He has also taught at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for thirty-two years, and recently retired as a professor of theatre—and has made the move from Milwaukee to Cedar City.
His list of other credits is lengthy and varied. Lieder has designed costumes at Milwaukee Rep, FirstStage Milwaukee, Arizona Shakespeare, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Milwaukee Chamber Theatre. He was also a milliner for Michael Pink’s Peter Pan (PBS 2014), The Nutcracker at Milwaukee Ballet, American Repertory Ballet, Alberta (Canada) Ballet, Austin Ballet, and Pennsylvania Ballet, in addition to work at a host of other theatre companies, including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Great Lakes Theatre Festival, North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, and Grace Costumes, New York City.
Lieder is also an active member of United State Institute for Theatre Technology and the South Eastern Theatre Conference.
In his role as costume director, Lieder is responsible for recruiting and hiring over sixty staff and working with costume designers to realize their vision of the show. Any costume that is built, purchased, borrowed, or re-imagined from old stock goes through Lieder’s office. He is also responsible for the costume budget, purchasing, scheduling, and a host of other day-to-day duties to build the hundreds of costumes in the Festival shows every year.
Many things have changed in over three decades in the Festival costume shop. For instance, the staff has grown from about a dozen to over sixty, and the costume shop has been in four different locations.
Lieder is gratified and excited with this change in employment and location. “The quality of the work that we do is important,” he said. “It has an impact on the city and the region. I am eager to be participating in this organization full-time.”
Tickets are now on sale for the Festival’s fifty-seventh season, which will run from June 28 to October 20. This year’s plays are Henry VI Part One, The Merchant of Venice, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Othello, Big River, The Foreigner, The Liar, and Pearl’s in the House. 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).
Christmas in Shakespeare's Day
By Kathryn Neves
We may not know many things about Shakespeare, but most scholars assume that he knew how to have a good time! Will Shakespeare seems like the kind of man to turn any occasion into a party—especially Christmas.
In fact, the Yuletide season was the most exciting time of year for most of Elizabeth’s England. They celebrated Christmas for twelve days; from the December 25 to the Feast of Fools on January 6. Here at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, we have collected a number of Tudor Christmas traditions that you may want to use to make your own Shakespearean Christmas!
The Yule Log
One of the most popular traditions at Christmastime was the burning of the Yule log. “A large log would be selected in the forest on Christmas Eve, decorated with ribbons, dragged home and laid upon the hearth” (Ben Johnson, “A Tudor Christmas,” Historic UK). Then, the log would burn throughout all twelve days of Christmas. Making a yule log is easy; wrap and tie festive ribbon around a log of your choice, hot glue candles or cranberries or mistletoe as decoration, and you’ve got yourself your own traditional Yule log— to burn, or to use as a centerpiece.
The Kissing Bough
Today, we have the Christmas tradition of kissing a sweetheart underneath a sprig of mistletoe. This tradition actually dates back centuries; all the way to Elizabeth I, and even earlier. In Shakespeare’s time, one of the most popular Christmas decorations was called a kissing bough. This was essentially a wreath or a globe “woven from mistletoe, ash, hazel or willow, covered in evergreens . . . visitors would be embraced under the bough as a sign of goodwill” (James Hoare, “12 weird and wonderful Tudor Christmas traditions, from boy bishops to Plough Monday,” History Answers). If you want to make your own kissing bough, visit http://blog.english-heritage.org.uk/how-to-make-traditional-tudor-christmas-decorations/ .
Christmas Food
Everyone knows that the best part of Christmas is the food; this was no different in Shakespeare’s day. Feasts and suppers with family and loved ones were an important part of the Christmas holiday; from boar heads to pies to wassail, here are some of the best Elizabethan recipes to make this holiday season.
Elizabethan Mince Pies
Today when we think of mince pies, we think of sweet apples, raisins, and cinnamon. In Shakespeare’s day, though, the pies were full of mutton and beef and were a lot heartier than the pies we eat today. For a recipe, visit http://findingshakespeare.co.uk/a-shakespearean-christmas-with-traditional-minced-meat-pies.
Elizabethan Sweets
Sweet candies, or as the Tudors called them, “sweetmeats,” were an important part of an Elizabethan Christmas. The sweetness of the food was used as a show of wealth; the course of sweets “was created more as a feast for the eyes than for the taste buds. . . . Increased imports of sugar from the West and East Indies, as well as just Morocco and Barbary, ensured the English aristocracy soon developed a sweet tooth” (Marta Patiño, “An Elizabethan Christmas Feast: Sugar, Spice, and All Things Nice,” TimeTravelBritain.Com). Recipes for marchpane, gingerbread, and leach of almonds can be found at http://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/christmas/feast.shtml.
Elizabethan Wassail
Wassailing was an important part of the Shakespearean Christmas season. According to Ellen Castelow, “the lord of the manor would greet the assembled multitude with the toast waes hael, meaning ‘be well’ or ‘be in good health,’ to which his followers would reply drink hael, or ‘drink well’” (Ellen Castelow, “Wassailing,” Historic UK). Usually, the wassailers would serve the beverage in a large bowl and sing carols as they drank. A recipe for wassail can be found at http://blog.cleveland.com/pdextra/2009/12/elizabethan_yuletide_feaste_re.html.
One traditional wassailing carol goes as follows:
Wassail, wassail all over the town,
Our toast it is white and our ale it is brown,
Our bowl it is made of the white maple tree,
With the wassailing bowl we’ll drink to thee.
So here is to Cherry and to his right cheek
Pray God send our master a good piece of beef
And a good piece of beef that we may all see
With the wassailing bowl we’ll drink to thee.
To hear the full song, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfncJavzoB8.
Christmas Carols
Christmas carols were perhaps the most popular way to celebrate the Christmas season. Along with wassailing carols, people in Elizabethan England would sing Christmas carols to celebrate together and enjoy the festivities of the season. “It’s original meaning is . . . a dance with a song. . . . Carols flourished throughout Tudor times as a way to celebrate Christmas and to spread the story of the nativity” (Ben Johnson, “A Tudor Christmas”, Historic UK”).
Boar’s Head Carol
The Boar’s Head Carol was written sometime in the 1400s; it talks about a tradition of bringing in a boar’s head at the annual Yultetide feast. People sang it in Shakespeare’s day and even continue singing it today in some places.
The boar’s head in hand bear I,
Bedeck’d with bays and rosemary.
And I pray you, my masters, be merry
Quot estis in convivio.
Caput apri defero
Reddens laudes Domino.
The boar’s head, as I understand,
Is the rarest dish in all this land,
Which thus bedeck’d with a gay garland
Let us servire cantico.
Caput apri defero
Reddens laudes Domino.
Our steward hath provided this
In honour of the King of Bliss;
Which on this day to be served is
In Reginensi atrio.
Caput apri defero
Reddens laudes Domino.
The full song can be heard at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7adETaOYiQ.
Coventry Carol
The Coventry Carol is one of the earliest in the English language; though it is a sadder Christmas carol, people in Elizabethan England sang it in nativity plays starting in the sixteenth century; It’s one of the Elizabethan carols that we continue singing even today.
Lullay, lullay, my little tiny child.
By by, lullay, lullay.
Lullay, lullay, my little tiny child.
By by, lullay, lullay.
Oh, sisters two, how may we do
For to preserve this day?
This poor youngling of whom we do sing
By by, lullay, lullay.
Herod the King in his raging
Charged he hath this day
His men of might, in his own sight
All children young to slay.
Then woe is me, poor child, for thee,
And ever mourn and say
For thy parting, nor say nor sing,
By by, lullay, lullay.
Lullay, lullay, my little tiny child,
By by, lullay, lullay.
The song can be heard at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jIYyPOoEc8.
We hope you will try out some of these ideas, and then share your experiences via our Facebook or Twitter feeds. Happy Holidays!
Casting: Complicated, Messy, and Exhilarating
How do you sort through the names, resumes, photos, and auditions of nearly 1,300 actors and narrow it down to about sixty needed for the 2018 Utah Shakespeare Festival acting company? And, while you are doing that, how do you keep in mind that each of those sixty actors will play roles in two or three plays. And, how do you incorporate the various visions and desires of each director and who he or she would like in each particular play.
Sound impossible? It’s not, but casting the Festival’s season is a complicated, sometimes messy, sometimes exhilarating process for Artistic Director Brian Vaughn and Executive Producer Frank Mack.
Vaughn, who is responsible for casting, and Mack, who has cast productions at other theatres and is learning the process at the Festival, recently conducted auditions in Cedar City, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. Some of the auditions were for actors Vaughn had invited and others were open Equity auditions that any professional actor could attend. Vaughn has also read numerous resumes, looked at an assortment of audition videos, and talked to each show’s director about actors he or she would like to have as part of the company this year. Now, he is filling in the casting “matrix,” a chart of all the roles, including understudies, needed this summer, and manning the phones to make offers to actors he would like to see at the Festival.
“Now the math comes in,” he said. “All the factors come into play: when can they rehearse, what is the performance schedule, how many actors are needed for each play, how many are leading roles, and how can I help finalize the director’s vision? It’s tricky.”
So, what does Vaughn want to see from an actor at an audition? First, each prospective hire must perform a Shakespeare monologue in verse, a contrasting contemporary monologue, and a short song that shows the actor’s vocal range. This takes about three minutes, which Vaughn says is usually enough to inform his decision. Once he knows someone’s skills, he begins to consider how he or she would fit into the repertory: a performance and rehearsal schedule which some days requires actors to appear in a matinee as a leading character in a Shakespearean comedy, in the evening performance as a minor character in a contemporary drama, and in some other combination the next day.
“Finding good quality people who can also work within this system is key,” said Vaughn. “I am looking for great actors who are willing to work hard, work in an ensemble, and are good people.”
“Brian is casting eight mainstage shows and three greenshows,” said Mack. “This gets complicated very quickly.”
“It is a very complex thing,” admitted Vaughn. “It’s a bit like 3-D chess. There seem to be an infinite number of moves, but I have to keep the end game in mind, as well as the next move as I rearrange the players on the board, call actors, then change things based on whether they accept the roles or not.”
Of course, auditions and casting always are full of surprises. “It is always a surprise, every audition day someone will surprise me, both in a good way and in a bad way,” said Vaughn. “Those are the great moments.”
Vaughn has made offers to several actors for this summer, but until the process if much further along he isn’t ready to announce anything. It is still too much in flux, too much subject to change.
“I like the challenge of it, the collective whole of bringing an ensemble together. Something is always new and enlightening,” he added. “And I like actors. Finding good people for our needs is an important element.”
So, now the matrix is being filled in, actors are being contacted, and changes are happening every day, all of it leading to the 2018 season. Watch for more information in the future and to see who is playing some of your favorite roles in this summer.
Tickets are now on sale for the Festival’s fifty-seventh season, which will run from June 28 to October 20. This year’s plays are Henry VI Part One, The Merchant of Venice, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Othello, Big River, The Foreigner, The Liar, and Pearl’s in the House. 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).
Enjoy a Festival Christmas at the Homestead
Are you looking for a fun, family friendly, affordable way to celebrate the Christmas season? How about Christmas at the Homestead and Holiday Market—at the Frontier Homestead State Park Museum! The Utah Shakespeare Festival and the popular state park are once again partnering to provide a Christmas celebration for area residents and visitors.
Christmas at the Homestead will be Monday through Friday, December 4 to 8 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the park. Admission is $5 per family. The Holiday Market will add to the celebration on Friday, December 8 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday, December 9 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission to the market on Friday is included in the Christmas at the Homestead admission price. On Saturday, the cost is only $1 per person.
“Christmas at the Homestead gives us a chance to celebrate our rich heritage, give something back to the community, and offer an exceptional shopping experience during the Holiday Market,” said Park Manager Todd Prince.
The celebration will feature lighting design by Festival Properties Director Benjamin Hohman—as well as Santa; various specialty Christmas trees; and free hot chocolate, popcorn, and baked treats. In addition, different entertainment will be featured at 6 and 7 p.m., and hands-on crafts will be available from 5:30 to 8 each evening. The schedule is as follows—
Monday, December 4: Marty Warburton and the Homegirls;Christmas cord and fingerprint Christmas lights
Tuesday, December 5: Brass Duet;Santa hat ornaments and rag dolls
Wednesday, December 6: Suzuki Strings; clothes pin snowmen and paper Christmas lights
Thursday, December 7: Washburn Family Band; popsicle stick snowflakes and paper snow globes
Friday, December 8: Bell Choir**;** candle dipping and printing press Christmas cards
Please note: This schedule is subject to change. Visit frontierhomestead.org/christmas-at-the-homestead/ for the latest information.
To cap it all off, the Holiday Market on December 8 and 9 will offer visitors an opportunity to recapture the sights, sounds, and ambiance of a pioneer Christmas market, providing a truly unique holiday shopping experience. Visitors can browse the work of over thirty artists and craftsmen then purchase the perfect handcrafted gifts, including exquisite photos and glasswork, historical reproductions, whimsical jewelry, and handmade candles.
Adding to the ambiance of the market on Saturday will be free hot chocolate, Santa, and live entertainment: Julie Griffin Family at 10:30 a.m., Red Rock Rangers at 11:30 a.m., Washburn Family Band at 12:30 p.m., Southern Utah String Quartet at 1:30, and Holiday Trio at 2:30 p.m.
Walking through the various museum structures throughout the week, visitors will get a feeling of yesteryear. Each building will be decorated with a themed tree and other decorations. Roving musicians will entertain holiday revelers as they walk among the various buildings.
“Nothing will get you in the holiday spirit quicker and more completely than spending an evening at Christmas at the Homestead,” said Joshua Stavros, Festival media and public relations manager. “It’s an enchanting experience with everything that makes Christmas special: music, friends and family, entertainment, and holiday goodies.”
“This is a great opportunity for individuals and families to benefit from an affordable and entertaining holiday experience,” added Park Manager Todd Prince. “Christmas at the Homestead gives us a chance to celebrate our rich heritage and give something back to the community.”
The park is located at 635 North Main Street in Cedar City. For the latest information and details, visit the museum website: www.frontierhomestead.org.
Festival Guests Donate over Two Tons of Food
Utah Shakespeare Festival guests made life a little better for those in need this fall, by donating over two tons of food to the Iron County Care and Share. The food was donated as part of the Festival’s fifteenth annual Fall Food Drive from September 13 to October 22. Residents of southern Utah and eastern Nevada were able to donate six items of nonperishable food and receive a half-price ticket to a Festival production.
In total 4,276 pounds of food was donated for the less fortunate in our community. Residents of Iron, Washington, Kane, Garfield, Sevier, Piute, and Beaver counties in Utah took part in the drive, as well as guests from Lincoln County, Nevada.
“We are so grateful for the support of our community in this effort,” said Joshua Stavros, media and public relations manager. “Since 2003 the Festival has provided a program allowing generous and caring playgoers to see great theatre and support those less fortunate through our annual fall food drive. And over the years, our guests have demonstrated time and time again their generosity and support of those in need by supplying food as part of a ticket purchase.”
The Iron County Care and Share was founded in 1984 by a group of local churches of different denominations to address the issue of hunger in our community. Working with partners in the community, neighboring counties, and in the state, the Iron County Care and Share is able to help homeless and low-income individuals and families work toward self-sufficiency. The Iron County Care and Share is located at 900 North 222 West Cedar City, Utah.
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).
The History Cycle Continues
Kathleen McCall as Joan la Pucelle in The War of the Roses, 2000.
It sounds like the characters of a sweeping English soap opera: King John who signed the Magna Carta in 1215, then died of dysentery a year later. Richard II, a weak king whose throne was taken from him by his cousin. Henry IV whose right to the throne was always suspect. Prince Hal, who rose from his riotous youth to become the beloved but short-lived Henry V. His son, who became King Henry VI while an infant and suffered from debilitating mental illness his entire life. The murderous hunchback, Richard III. And, finally, King Henry VIII, the father of Queen Elizabeth, who ruled during much of Shakespeare’s life.
Shakespeare traces the lives of these seven kings (and a few others) through his ten history plays. Although the plays aren’t strictly historical, they do make a fascinating chronical, compared by many to the popular television series Game of Thrones, with power struggles and political infighting reflective of our world today. And that is part of the reason the Utah Shakespeare Festival has chosen to produce these ten plays in chronological order: their resonance with today’s headlines.
The Festival started the initiative in 2013 by producing King John in the summer and Richard II in the fall, then continued through Henry IV Part One in 2014, and Henry IV Part Two in 2015, reaching the halfway point with Henry V in 2016.
In 2018, the Festival begins the second half of the History Cycle with Henry VI Part One, a seldom-produced play with a huge cast of characters (including Joan of Arc) and which chronicles the beginning of the end of the Hundred Years War between England and France and sets the stage for the start of the bloody English civil war, the Wars of the Roses.
“Performing the history plays in chronological order gives a clarity to the arc of the story,” said Artistic Director Brian Vaughn. “They tell a time of complicated English history, of a line of kings and the transference of power. Performing them in order helps you connect the dots a little easier, and makes the action more applicable to today’s world.”
Vaughn also noted that the ten plays all stand up well on their own, but that they are even better together as part of this immerse story which spans over 300 years and ends with the baptism of the baby Elizabeth who will eventually reign as queen over a peaceful and prosperous England for forty-five years, including most of Shakespeare’s life.
“These are plays about people and families,” he said. “They are giant soap operas, English soap operas that tell the story of intrigue, infighting, love, and hate between these families, all of them related.”
“It is soap opera in verse,” added Executive Producer Frank Mack. “The history can be complicated, but the story is ultimately fascinating and personal.”
Vaughn is proud of the work presented on the Festival stages for the first half of the cycle. He is also aware that the next three plays, the three parts of Henry VI, will be a challenge. The plays are seldom produced separately. Instead the three are usually combined into one or two, making it easier to tell the complicated story of the Wars of the Roses. “We are going to do all three,” he said. “We don’t know many details yet, but our plan is to follow Henry VI Part One in 2018 with Henry VI Part Two and Henry VI Part Three sometime after that.”
Henry VI Part One begins at the funeral of Henry V. The heir to the throne is an infant, and the world is changing. The Hundred Years War with the French begins to wind down by the end of the play, but the houses of Lancaster and York in England are beginning to scheme and argue over the throne, paving the way for several decades of vicious civil war which would become known as the Wars of the Roses.
“During the Wars of the Roses, the idea of chivalry begins to decay,” said Vaughn. “War becomes more aggressive, as chivalry becomes less important.” Joan of Arc becomes a symbol of this new warfare. She is vicious and deceptive, all the while claiming to be led by heavenly visions.
The second half of the History Cycle, the wild ride of British royal history and soap opera, will begin on June 29, 2018 with a preview performance of Henry VI Part One. The Wooden O of the Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre will once again be filled with the sights and sounds of humanity and life.
Tickets are now on sale for the Festival’s 57th season, which will run from June 28 to October 20. Besides Henry VI Part One, this year’s plays are The Merchant of Venice, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Othello, Big River, The Foreigner, The Liar, and Pearl’s in the House. 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).
2018 Season Offers Eclectic Mix
A. Bryan Humphrey (left) as Froggy LeSueur and Chris Mixon as Charlie Baker in the The Foreigner, 2005.
The Utah Shakespeare Festival’s 2018 season offers an eclectic mix of eight plays in three theatres, exploring a number of themes relevant in today’s world. The fifty-seventh season will run from June 28 to October 13, 2018.
“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), 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.”
Tickets for the fifty-seventh annual Festival season are now on sale. To purchase tickets or for more information visit www.bard.org or call 1-800-PLAYTIX.
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.
“With four fantastic Shakespeare classics, not to mention four 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.”
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).