News From the Festival
Shakespeare and the Wild West
By Brooke Vlasich
At first glance, Shakespeare and the early American West probably seem to have little in common. However, having worked in numerous theatres on the west coast, including the Old Globe Theatre, my own personal experience has told me that this is not the case. So, why do I need see the “Willy the Kid” exhibit at Southern Utah University’s Gerald R. Sherratt Library (open now through October) when I already know Shakespeare is prevalent in the West?
As it turns out, this display revealed that the roots Shakespeare has in the West run deep. As I visited the exhibit, which traces Shakespearean beginnings in the West that start as early as 1849, I was fascinated to learn about the ordeals and trials many underwent to make Shakespeare a part of their community.
According to the exhibit, many performers moved from the east coast to the west coast in search of higher wages. During the early 1850s, performers followed the gold rush to San Francisco and endured many difficult passages which included options such as three to seven months on the California Trail or a two- to three-month journey that involved sailing to Nicaragua, crossing the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific on steamboats or pack mules, and continuing up to the west coast by steamer. One famous tragedian, Junius Brutus Booth, Sr. encountered one unfortunate incident in which he was robbed in Panama, performed for two weeks at the St. Charles Theatre for extra income, and eventually died while on the Mississippi River. Learning this, I’m taken back to my former work backstage in costumes when I and many other theatre artists traveled miles from job to job and put in grueling and long work hours at unusual times of the day. It seems that no matter the era we all are dedicated and deeply committed to our involvement in the arts.
Another aspect of this exhibit that resonated with me is how much time and money companies spent on advertising and marketing. Each week theatre employees printed playbills and continually distributed them throughout the towns, and some employees would travel ahead of touring companies to hang posters and other advertising materials. Special events had separate invitations printed, and programs were available for every performance. Thinking of the intricate coordinating and planning ahead that must have gone into this process reminds me of my current role in the communications department of the Utah Shakespeare Festival. During the recent Beverley Center for the Arts opening, employees from all departments were arranging interviews, managing tickets for groups and the press, and constantly organizing dates to prepare newsletters, programs for numerous dedications, advertisements, and social media. As it turns out, no matter your place in time, theatre always needs advertising and careful planning to gain support and interest from the local area.
In addition to these pieces of new information, I find there is plenty to uncover at the “Willy the Kid” exhibit. From the first female theatre manager, Sarah Kirby, to the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, there is something for everyone to discover about Shakespeare in California, Salt Lake City, and beyond. Peering at old promptbooks next to modern day costume sketches and stage management paperwork, it’s clear our passion for Shakespeare has never disappeared. Reading “Ode to Shakespeare” in honor of the opening of a theatre known as the American, it’s evident how much we admire this classic English playwright:
The shrine is yours, where falls the grateful tear—
Your cherished gifts have raised this temple here.
Then join us, while we the offering bring,
A sacred gift to Avon’s heaven-born King;
The God-like Poet, on whose sacred Urn,
Shall Memory here like heavenly incense burn.
These words still hold the same meaning today, and many words just like them were spoken during our own dedication for the new Englestad Shakespeare Theatre last week.
The exhibit runs through the end of October, Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Gerald R. Sherratt Library, Special Collections Room.
And, after you have whet your appetite on the exhibit, you may be interested in a lecture series featuring Shakespeare, theatre, and history scholars presenting their thoughts on Shakespeare and theatre in the early American West. The lectures are July 15 and 29 and August 8 and 9.
“Willy the Kid” is free and open at the Gerald R. Sherratt Library on the Southern Utah University from now until October 2016. For more information on the exhibit and the lecture series, contact Special Collections at 435-586-7945 or specialcollections@suu.edu.
Festival Announces Nine Plays for 2017 Season
At the end of a three-day celebration of the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s 2016 season and the opening of the new Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts Saturday night, the Festival’s artistic directors shifted everybody’s sights ahead, and drew more applause and excitement, when they announced the plays for the 2017 season.
The season, which will run from late June through late October, includes nine plays (one more than in 2016), with five premieres and four enduring classics. Actual dates will be announced soon. Tickets will go on sale beginning in August. Watch the Festival website, bard.org, as well as social media and the electronic E-Globe for updates.
The Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre
David Ivers (left) and Brian Vaughn, artistic directors
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 a shared cast and set.
The Festival has been selected as one of three theatres to present the first 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. It was last produced at the Festival in 2009.
Those who have been following the Festival’s History Cycle (all ten of Shakespeare’s history plays produced in chronological order) may notice that there is no history play in the 2017 season. The Festival will continue the cycle in 2018, using the coming year to develop a production approach for the Henry VI plays which will tell the story of the War of the Roses and the Tudor dynasty in all its artistry and majesty.
The Randall L. Jones Theatre
Four plays will fill the stage in the Randall L. Jones Theatre in 2017, offering a variety of genres and stories.
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 critically-acclaimed adaptation premiered in a joint production by Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago and Berkeley Rep in Berkeley, California. The Festival is the first theatre beyond them to receive rights to this play. 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 tells the tale of love which never does run smooth, of feuding fairy kings and queens, and of young lovers caught up in the world between waking and dreaming. Perhaps Shakespeare’s most accessible comedy, the entire family will enjoy the antics of Puck, Titania, and Nick Bottom and his hilarious band of rustics.
Playing later in the summer 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 where they try, amid rising suspense and misunderstandings, to solve a recent robbery.
The Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre
One of the motivations for building the new Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre was to provide a space to produce new plays. The 2017 season will see the realization of that with two Mountain West premieres.
First will be nationally-acclaimed playwright Neil LaBute’s How To Fight Loneliness, which is receiving a its first staged reading at the Festival this summer, in preparation for this full production in 2017. 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.
And last, but certainly not least, is 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.
“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. “As Shakespeare said in Measure for Measure, ‘Look forward on the journey you shall go.’”
After Years of Dreaming, the Beverley Center Is Now a Reality
Ann Crocker, representing the Sorenson family and the Sorenson Legacy Foundation, addresses the crowd as members of the Sorenson family look on at the dedication of the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts.
Just as the ribbon was about to be cut officially opening the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts, a bright yellow monarch butterfly fluttered gracefully from the raised terrace, above the heads of the crowd gathered for the occasion, and up and over the new Utah Shakespeare Festival administration building. Most in the crowd didn’t notice, but those who did were captivated by this ephemeral visit that could easily symbolize the purpose of the new center and those who made it happen.
On this sunny July 7 morning, Ann Crocker, of the Sorenson Legacy Foundation, was speaking fondly of her mother (for whom the center is named) and of her deep-seated belief that the arts could lift us, enchant us, and beautify our world. It was her parents, James LeVoy Sorenson and Beverley Taylor Sorenson, who established the foundation which was the lead donor to the center. She was joined on the stage by several other Sorenson family members.
Also honored during the ceremonies were two other visionaries who were instrumental in the building of the $39.1 million complex: Fred C. Adams and Jimmie Jones.
Adams, who founded the Festival in 1962 with his late-wife, Barbara, has long dreamed of this day and of a world-class arts complex to be the home of the Festival. “This is an exciting weekend, one that we at the Festival and myself personally have been looking forward to for decades,” said Adams. “This arts center will provide inspiration and a place to reflect and learn for hundreds of thousands of guests and artists for years to come.”
Jones, who passed away in 2009, donated his artwork, his home, and other possessions to Southern Utah University to provide seed money for building the Southern Utah Museum of Art (SUMA). Art historians have dubbed Jones “the premier landscapist of southern Utah,” and his towering paintings of Zion, the Grand Canyon, and Cedar Mountain now grace the Jimmie Jones Gallery in SUMA.
The celebration continued that day with a dedication and ribbon cutting at SUMA and that evening with the same in the Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre. In between the dedications and continuing July 8 and 9 are three days full of parties, artist demos, concerts, and the Festival’s popular Greenshow, orientations, and play seminars, as well as much more. The complete calendar of events is at www.bard.org/schedule.
The center includes not only the Engelstad Theatre, but the new Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre, the spectacular Southern Utah Museum of Art, the existing Randall L. Jones Theatre, offices and rehearsal space, a new costume shop, and beautiful walkways, patios, and sculpture gardens. The center, with visual arts, live theatre, and dynamic arts education will dramatically enrich the cultural life of SUU, Cedar City, and the surrounding area. It will be a year-round destination for hundreds of thousands of yearly visitors.
“Visually, what guests to the new center will see will be a contrast to what they’ve been accustomed to if they have attended the festival the past 30 or 40 years,” said R. Scott Phillips, Festival executive director. “It is a planned center, something that was designed with the notion of the performing and visual arts, rather than an experience that was built onto an existing building.”
Phillips is quick to note that this will enhance, not diminish the experience visitors will have. For instance, the new Engelstad Theatre is physically much larger than the Adams Shakespearean Theatre that housed the Festival for over 40 years. But the acting space and seating is nearly identical to the Adams Theatre. The increased size is to accommodate a larger foyer, wider and more open entrances, and more public space. But the distance from the front of the new stage to the last row in the balcony is very nearly the same as in the beloved Adams Theatre.
“Guests will have a feeling of something they remember or are accustomed to,” said Phillips. “The experience should be something that is very reminiscent of what they recall.”
Festival Artistic Director David Ivers agrees, noting the Festival environment will be greatly enhanced by being in one location, allowing guests to be immersed in an artistic experience. He is excited about having two new theatres to house world classics. “Our audiences will be challenged in these new space,” he said. “They will see and hear plays, even plays they have seen in the past, in ways they haven’t before.”
Ivers is also looking forward to SUMA being on the center. “For me, because I think that any medium of art should go hand-in-hand with any other, the art on the walls of the galleries and the art on the stage will build on each other, giving context to the work we all do.”
SUMA will include four galleries, visible storage, and classroom spaces. It will also be the permanent home to the artwork of the late Cedar City artist, Jim Jones. In 2016, SUMA will focus on the National Park Service Centennial. “It is an ideal collaboration that will encourage our visitors to not only ‘Find Their Park’ but also to find their museum,” said Reece Summers, SUMA director. “The first thing visitors will see when they enter the museum will be 15 large paintings of Zion and Grand Canyon National Parks by Jim Jones, who left his art, estate, and copyright to help build this new museum.”
“It’s quite phenomenal,” concluded Phillips. “When I first came as a student, the Adams Theatre was brand new. To go from that building then and watch the transformation to an entire complex, from a building that cost under one million dollars to this nearly forty million dollar project, is extraordinary.”
Three Days of Celebration Planned
Plays, art exhibitions, dedications, tours, and entertainment of all sorts are planned for the grand opening of the Beverly Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts and the 2016 season of the Utah Shakespeare Festival, July 7 through 9.
The celebration kicks off on July 7 at 10 a.m. with the dedication of the new center. The public is invited to this historic occasion which will be on the Simmons Family Plaza. It will be followed by the dedication of the Southern Utah Museum of Art (SUMA) at 11:30 on the Sam and Diane Stewart Plaza and the dedication of the Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre Dedication at 7:40 in the Engelstad Theatre. The dedication of the theatre immediately precedes the opening night of Henry V, so those who want to attend the dedication must have tickets to the play.
In between the dedication will be tours of the Festival facilities (including two new theatres, offices, and rehearsal and artistic studios) and of SUMA. The three days will also be full of parties, artist demos, concerts, and the Festival’s popular Greenshow, orientations, and play seminars, as well as much more. The complete calendar of events is at www.bard.org/news/schedule.
The center, which will officially open on July 7, will include not only the Engelstad Theatre, but the new Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre, the spectacular Southern Utah Museum of Art (SUMA), the existing Randall L. Jones Theatre, offices and rehearsal space, a new costume shop, and beautiful walkways, patios, and sculpture gardens. The center, with visual arts, live theatre, and dynamic arts education will dramatically enrich the cultural life of SUU, Cedar City, and the surrounding area. It will be a year-round destination for hundreds of thousands of yearly visitors.
“Visually, what guests to the new center will see will be a contrast to what they’ve been accustomed to if they have attended the festival the past 30 or 40 years,” said R. Scott Phillips, Festival executive director. “It is a planned center, something that was designed with the notion of the performing and visual arts, rather than an experience that was built onto an existing building.”
Phillips is quick to note that this will enhance, not diminish the experience visitors will have. For instance, the new Engelstad Theatre is physically much larger than the Adams Shakespearean Theatre that housed the Festival for over 40 years. But the acting space and seating is nearly identical to the Adams Theatre. The increased size is to accommodate a larger foyer, wider and more open entrances, and more public space. But the distance from the front of the new stage to the last row in the balcony is very nearly the same as in the beloved Adams Theatre.
“Guests will have a feeling of something they remember or are accustomed to,” said Phillips. “The experience should be something that is very reminiscent of what they recall.”
Festival Artistic Director David Ivers agrees, noting the Festival environment will be greatly enhanced by being in one location, allowing guests to be immersed in an artistic experience. He is excited about having two new theatres to house world classics. “Our audiences will be challenged in these new space,” he said. “They will see and hear plays, even plays they have seen in the past, in ways they haven’t before.”
Ivers is also looking forward to SUMA being on the center. “For me, because I think that any medium of art should go hand-in-hand with any other, the art on the walls of the galleries and the art on the stage will build on each other, giving context to the work we all do.”
SUMA will include four galleries, visible storage, and classroom spaces. It will also be the permanent home to the artwork of the late Cedar City artist, Jim Jones. In 2016, SUMA will focus on the National Park Service Centennial. “It is an ideal collaboration that will encourage our visitors to not only ‘Find Their Park’ but also to find their museum,” said Reece Summers, SUMA director. “The first thing visitors will see when they enter the museum will be 15 large paintings of Zion and Grand Canyon National Parks by Jim Jones, who left his art, estate, and copyright to help build this new museum.”
“It’s quite phenomenal,” concluded Phillips. “When I first came as a student, the Adams Theatre was brand new. To go from that building then and watch the transformation to an entire complex, from a building that cost under one million dollars to this nearly forty million dollar project, is extraordinary.”
Cedar City Council Creates Shakespeare Lane
Mayor Maile Wilson
CEDAR CITY, UT — Just in time for the opening of the 2016 Utah Shakespeare Festival and the new Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts, the Cedar City Council has changed the name of College Avenue between 100 West and 300 West to, appropriately, Shakespeare Lane.
The two block street borders the new center for the arts to the south and already sports new street signs recognizing the change.
“We at the Utah Shakespeare Festival are grateful to Cedar City for this thoughtful and meaningful gift,” said Joshua Stavros, Festival media and public relations manager. “Thanks to Mayor Maile Wilson and the city council for making it happen in this monumental year for the Festival. It is representative of the excellent working relationship between Cedar City, its residents, Southern Utah University, and the Utah Shakespeare Festival.”
“We know our residents and guests traveling down Shakespeare Lane will feel the spirit of welcome and hospitality as they come to see a play, enjoy The Greenshow, or see the latest exhibit at the Southern Utah Museum of Art,” he added.
Pastels To Be on Exhibition at the Randall Theatre
An exhibition of pastels by noted Cedar City artist Arlene Braithwaite will be featured this summer in the Randall L. Jones Theatre lobby. As part of the grand opening of the new Beverley Center for the Arts and the opening of the 2016 season of the Utah Shakespeare Festival, an opening reception is slated for July 9 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Entitled “Seasons,” the exhibition runs from July 1 to October 15, Monday through Saturday, from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Braithwaite lives in southwest Utah, surrounded by the landscape that inspires her work. She earned her master’s degree from the University of Utah, then enjoyed a lengthy career teaching art at Southern Utah University. Braithwaite now paints full time when she isn’t exploring the area’s numerous canyons and expansive plateaus. She shares her love of pastels through presentations and workshops.
“In my work I attempt to evoke the sense of time and place that makes each scene unique,” said Braithwaite. “Often, my biggest challenge is to capture the rapidly changing interplay of light and atmosphere on a particular formation. Because of this, pastel is especially attractive to use. Setup is immediate and simply involves opening the pastel box and placing a board on my easel.”
The exhibit will feature twenty pieces, including “Columbine Ballet,” “First Light Hitting Angel’s Landing,” Autumn Stroll Along the Virgin,” and “West Desert Thunder Cloud.” All will be available for sale.
The Utah Shakespeare Festival is part of the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts at Southern Utah University, which also include the Southern Utah Museum of Art (SUMA). The Festival’s 2016 season runs from June 27 to October 22: Henry V, Much Ado about Nothing, The Three Musketeers, Mary Poppins, The Cocoanuts, Julius Caesar, Murder for Two, and The Odd Couple. For more information visit www.bard.org or call 1-800-PLAYTIX.
Numerous Events Scheduled for the Beverley Center for the Arts Opening
It will be three days full of activities–most of them free–at the grand opening of the Beverley Center for the Arts. Dedications, tours, concerts, seminars, demonstrations, family art projects, and (of course) plays are all part of the plans. Check out each day’s schedule below then join us for this once-in-a-lifetime celebration.
(You may click on each schedule to open a printable and downloadable PDF version of the day’s events.)
The Marx Brothers in the Modern World
By Brooke Vlasich
If you ask someone what they know about the Marx Brothers, they will most likely look at you with uncertainty and confusion. In today’s world, the comedians we most recognize are late night talk show hosts like Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert and purveyors of over-the-top comics such as Sacha Baron Cohen. Our comedy very likely comes from Saturday Night Live and South Park.
It seems the comedy of the Marx Brothers is all but lost in the modern world of outlandish humor, but we couldn’t be more wrong in that assumption. If we look closer at the Marx Brothers, we will see how this comedic family continues to influence our entertainment, nearly 100 years after they heyday of the famous brothers.
One aspect of the Marx Brothers’ comedy that makes them still relevant today is their choice of controversial topics that reflect current situations. While it may not seem like Marx Brothers’ movies and plays have a significant plot line, their stories satirize concepts like imperialism, politics and art elitism. Horse Feathers (1932) pokes fun at higher education and prohibition, while Duck Soup (1933) satirizes dictators and authoritarian governments. Even The Cocoanuts revolved around the 1920s land bust in Florida that contributed to the Great Depression, a circumstance not far off from the economic recession after the housing crisis in the early 2000s.
In addition to choosing controversial plot lines, the Marx Brothers’ comedic influence can be seen in just about everything. Perhaps what makes modern audiences overlook them is that their brand of comedy cannot be clearly defined since it contains elements of multiple comedic styles including vaudeville, spontaneous gags, slapstick and musical numbers. Every subject is fair game in the Marx Brothers’ comedy, which is what makes it incredibly brilliant and memorable. Once modern audiences experience a Marx Brothers’ show, it’s hard to forget Groucho’s iconic moustache, eyebrows and cigar; Harpo’s trench coat filled with gags and his honking horn; Chico’s Tyrolean cap and curly hair; and Zeppo’s cheerful, romantic lead. With their wildly hilarious routines and tricks, it’s easy to see how their comedic styles are alive and well in modern humor.
If modern audiences are tired of the same jokes and forced attempts to be humorous, the best cure for them might be seeing a Marx Brothers show. With plot lines that contain situations relevant to today, quick lines and gags and unforgettable characters, a Marx Brothers show will be the best bet to hit the refresh button on comedy.
The festival’s production of The Cocoanuts runs from July 1 to October 15. Other shows in the season are Much Ado about Nothing, Henry V, The Three Musketeers, Mary Poppins, Julius Caesar, Murder for Two, and The Odd Couple. For more information visit www.bard.org or call 1-800-PLAYTIX.
The Three Musketeers: Superheroes on Stage
Tasso Feldman (left) as Aramis, J. Todd Adams as Athos, and Todd Denning as Porthos.
By Ryan D. Paul
I remember my first literary encounter with The Three Musketeers. I was sitting in the waiting room of a Midas Muffler in Layton, Utah, while my 1969 Pontiac Tempest was undergoing repairs. As I settled in for the long wait and cracked the cover of my Bantam paperback, I was swept away into the world of the Musketeers. Since that time, Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and the young d’Artagnan have become my good friends and accompanied me on many adventures. Now, once again, I get to travel with them through the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s 2016 production.
Ken Ludwig, who wrote the adaptation of The Three Musketeers, says in the Introduction to his play, “Reading The Three Musketeers . . . is like reading the best and longest comic book in the world.” The comic book essence of the story, the visual imagery combined with the snappy, driving dialogue helps propel the narrative forward. The best comics, graphic novels, books, plays, and movies are the ones that not only tell good stories, but those that also create a sense of relevancy in our lives.
Alexandre Dumas joins other notable authors such as Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle, Mark Twain, and Stephen King in that his story of the musketeers and their adventures began in serial form, printed in a French newspaper between March and July 1844. The serial format, akin to the radio dramas of the mid-twentieth century, brought readers to the precipice with each installment as action was left unresolved until the next issue. Dumas was very familiar with this method of writing and publication as it began in his homeland. “In 1836 a Parisian businessman was trying to figure out how to get subscribers in the habit of buying a daily newspaper instead of the typical weekly. He decided that the best way to hook readers was to include pieces of an original novel in his publication. He approached the most popular novelist of his day, Honorè de Balzac, and the serial novel was born.”
Noted comic book author and serial writing professional, Grant Morrison, who has penned tales of some of the most well-known superheroes such as Superman, Batman, Flash, the Justice League, and the X-men noted: “If we spin a tale of guilt and failure with an unhappy ending we will live that story to its conclusion. If on the other hand we emphasize our glory, intelligence, grace, generosity, honesty, creativity, and native genius those qualities will be made manifest in our behavior and in our works. It should give us hope that superhero stories are flourishing everywhere because they are a bright flickering sign of our need to move on, to imagine the better, more just, and more proactive people we can be.” It is no wonder that this thrilling tale has been adapted for stage and screen and in 1941 became the first issue of Russian born publisher Albert Lewis Kantner’s Classic Comics. Kanter, seeing the appeal of comic books thought that he could use this format to introduce young readers to great literature and he saw in The Three Musketeers all the elements that comics were known for.
At its core, The Three Musketeers is essentially, a superhero story. It is a tale of individuals who band together to fight against evil, tyranny, and corruption. The musketeers live by a code: “One for all and all for one.” The friends remain loyal to each other despite the machinations of Cardinal Richelieu and Lady de Winter, the troubled villains of the piece.
Dumas, with great imagination and literary flair brings France alive and invites us to share in the adventure. This summer, director B. J. Jones and the Utah Shakespeare Festival will do the same. Ken Ludwig’s adaptation captures the spirit and essence of this classic story, and, while there will be no super heroic flying, I am sure capes will be involved.
Meet Festival Lighting Designer Donna Ruzika
By Marlo Ihler
Long-time lighting designer Donna Ruzika is always up for an adventure. Her career in lighting design spans decades of working at theatres all over the country and the world, and this summer she is celebrating her seventeenth year with the Utah Shakespeare Festival. The Festival caught up with her as she was arriving in Cedar City for the adventurous 2016 season.
The Shakespeare Globe: How did you get started in theatre lighting design?
Donna Ruzika: When I was in college, I started out as a business major, but I went in search of a new major. After trying physical education and social sciences, I literally ran into this guy that suggested I try out for a production of Hair in the theatre department. He was the keyboard player and lighting designer. I was cast in the show. We dated. I found my major. When I graduated, we got married. Tom Ruzika became my wonderful husband and, in a way, my lighting mentor.
Globe: You have worked with the Festival for a long time! How did the connection with the Festival begin?
Ruzika: Yes, I go way back! My husband’s graduate studies professor (and former Festival associate artistic director), Cam Harvey, asked Tom if he could go to Utah and design the lights for the 1973 season. Tom said yes—if there would be a job for me. So, I was the ticket office manager that summer, and later the first company manager!
As life moved forward, I developed my freelance career as a lighting designer. Cam then asked me if I would design for the Festival. That started my tenure as lighting designer at the Festival.
Globe: What have you done to prepare for this exciting summer in the new Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre?
Ruzika: I worked for days figuring out how to transfer my work from the old Adams Theatre into the Engelstad Theatre. During seventeen seasons in the Adams Theatre, I developed a very effective repertory light plot that was flexible enough to enable me to light the three productions each summer. Designing in a new theatre always has challenges. Designing for one that isn’t finished is even trickier. So, it’s going to be an exciting summer for all of us figuring out how to work in the new space.
Globe: What is your process when formulating lighting designs and how much is done before being onsite?
Ruzika: I read and analyze the play then have discussions with the director regarding his or her concept. Once the scenic and costume designers design, I get their information and go to work. The light plot is the document that shows where each of the 400-plus lighting instruments is placed in the theatre. Each light does a specific job. I not only figure out where those lights are placed and what their purpose is. I also choose the color and templates (patterns) that are used, and much more. The tools and information that enable me to light the production is on the light plot.
Once I am onsite, I watch rehearsals to see how the director is utilizing the space. After hours (usually 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.) my crew and I focus the lights. This takes three to four sessions. We then build all the cues. Building a light cue is like painting a picture with light. The theatre, scenery, costumes, and actors are the canvas, and the lights are the paint. The cues convey to the audience the various moods, time of day, and seasons, and sometimes (without their knowing it) shows them where to look. Hopefully all the cues create a cohesive overall look for the play and take the audience on a journey that mirrors and enhances what is happening on stage.
Globe: And finally, what advice would you give someone interested in pursuing lighting design as a career?
Ruzika: Each designer’s path is different. What we all have in common is that at one point we just decided to try it. So, my advice is to just do it. It’s a great life working in the theatre.
