Mary Poppins: From Screen to Stage

Elizabeth Broadhurst as Mary Poppins

When it comes to adapting a famous movie musical that people of all ages have come to love into a stage play, many elements are transformed along the way. For many Utah Shakespeare Festival audiences who plan on seeing this year’s production of Mary Poppins, there are a few changes to be aware of before heading to the Randall L. Jones Theatre.

Popular songs like “Spoonful of Sugar,” “Let’s Go Fly a Kite,” “Jolly Holiday,” and “Supercalifragalisticexpialadocious” can still be found in this adaptation, but their arrangement within the play is not the same as the movie. In order to add content from the book by P. L. Travers into the script, composer and lyricist team George Stiles and Anthony Drewe lengthened songs and added musical numbers and Jullian Fellowes adapted the script. Animated dancing penguins are nowhere to be found in the play, but dancing statues and characters in the park make this production just as entertaining as the movie version.

Beyond these plot changes, the stage adaptation also has a significantly different theme and atmosphere than the movie. George Banks’s past growing up in a strict environment combined with his stressful life at the bank and Winifred Banks’s struggle between being a responsible housewife who loves her husband and wondering on her past life are all more prominent elements in the play than the movie. While plot points like these give the play a more serious undertone, that doesn’t mean it’s lost any of its charm. Numbers like “Practically Perfect” and “Anything Can Happen” are reminders of the continued hope and joy this musical will bring to audiences for years to come.

The festival’s production of Mary Poppins runs from July 2 to September 3. For more information visit http://www.bard.org or call 1-800-PLAYTIX.

Festival to Present Shakespeare in Love in 2017

The Utah Shakespeare Festival has been selected as one of three theatres to present the United States premiere of the play Shakespeare in Love, adapted from the Academy Award-winning film of the same name by Lee Hall.

The Festival will present the play during its 2017 season, along with Romeo and Juliet and an eclectic mix of Shakespearean and other classic plays. The balance of the 2017 season will be announced at a later date.

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 complementary story lines have provided the impetus behind the Festival producing these two plays in repertory in the Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre with a shared cast and set. “This juxtaposition will allow viewers of the two plays to experience the artistic and thematic connections between the two productions in a bold manner,” said Media and Public Relations Manager Joshua Stavros. “It will be an exciting theatrical event.”

Shakespeare in Love and Romeo and Juliet will also share a set and many of the principal actors, adding even more synergy between the two, as they are both presented in the outdoor Engelstad Theatre, with much of the atmosphere of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.

“This is the perfect vehicle for the Festival and continues our strong commitment to producing plays that serve our mission,” added Artistic Director David Ivers. “I am confident that audiences will love having access to Shakespeare in Love and appreciate the Festival being one of a handful of American theatres which have been granted the production rights in 2017.”

The production is based on the screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard and is adapted for the stage by Lee Hall. The play, which debuted in London’s West End in 2014, is presented by special arrangement with Disney Theatrical Productions and Sonia Friedman Productions.

“We are honored to present one of the flagship premieres of this production. It speaks to the reputation of the Utah Shakespeare Festival in the international theatre community,” said Artistic Director Brian Vaughn. “We love the show, and know it is a perfect fit for our guests.”

Visit www.bard.org for the latest information on 2017 as it becomes available.

Festival Commemorates Shakespeare's Death (and Legacy)

CEDAR CITY, Utah — In conjunction with theatres and Shakespeare organizations around the world, the Utah Shakespeare Festival will be commemorating the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death (and legacy) with two events for southern Utah residents and visitors. Bard’s Birthday Bash will be April 21 and 22, and the Shakespeare Cinema Celebration will be April 23.

Bard’s Birthday Bash is a party primarily for elementary schools in Iron County. They will be attending one of four sessions, two each day from 9:20 to 11:20 a.m. and 12:40 to 2:40 p.m. Included are numerous events for the students to take part in, including maypole dances, jousting, improvisation training and performing, cake with Queen Elizabeth, and a chance for schools to perform or watch their student Shakespeare plays in the Adams Theatre. The public is invited to observe the student plays.

“This is one of the ways we celebrate Shakespeare and reach out to students in our area,” said Michael Bahr, Festival education director. “Kids are not afraid of Shakespeare or his plays, and this is a fun, exciting way to introduce them to theatre and the world’s greatest playwright.”

Unfortunately, if weather is stormy, this event will be canceled.

The second event, the Shakespeare Cinema Celebration, is geared to a bit older audience and to families in general. It is a free series of screenings of movies adapted from Shakespeare’s plays—plus food and discussion. The screenings are in the Sharwan Smith Movie Theatre at Southern Utah University.

The day begins at 9:45 with a live broadcast from the Folger Shakespeare Library: “Wonder of Will LIVE: Sharing Shakespeare Stories.” It will be followed by showings of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (released in 1935) at 11 a.m., The Taming of the Shrew (1967) at 1:30 p.m., Henry V (1989) at 3:45 p.m., Much Ado about Nothing (2012) at 6:45, and Macbeth (2015) at 9 p.m.

Free food will be available throughout the day and a brief orientation will precede each play, with an open discussion after each showing.              

The Shakespeare Cinema Celebration is sponsored by the Festival, Southern Utah University, and the Center for Shakespeare Studies.

Festival Presents Children's Play—Junie B. Jones: the Musical

CEDAR CITY, Utah — As part of its continuing educational outreach programs, the Utah Shakespeare Festival is taking the popular children’s play Junie B. Jones: the Musical to a number of elementary schools in Iron and Beaver counties during the month of April.

In addition, the Festival is offering two public performances for the young-at-heart who graduated elementary school some time ago. These will be April 6 at 7:30 p.m. at Canyon View Middle School and April 9 at 2 p.m. at the Southern Utah University Auditorium.

Tickets for the public performances are $5 for children and $8 for adults and can be purchased at the Festival ticket office (800-PLAYTIX) or online at www.bard.org. Tickets will also be available at the door, but only cash and checks (not credit or debit cards) will be accepted at the April 6 performance.

Junie B. Jones: the Musical is presented by the Festival Playmakers, the Festival’s youth-training program for children six to eighteen years old.

“This is a delightful and fun musical that children and anyone who remembers being a child will love,” said Michael Bahr, Festival education director. “And our wonderful student actors perform with gusto and spirit that will have you humming along and on your feet.”

This new musical, by Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich, is based on four volumes in Barbara Park’s Junie B. Jones series of books, illustrated by Denise Brunkus and published by Random House. It features outspoken, precocious, loveable Junie in a funny and fast-paced musical about new friends, new glasses, sugar cookies, the annual kickball tournament, and other various first-grade angst-ridden situations—as recorded in Junie’s “top-secret personal beeswax journal."

Former Literary Seminar Director Passes Away

Jerry Leroy Crawford

CEDAR CITY, Utah — It is with deep regret that the Utah Shakespeare Festival shares the passing of former Literary Seminar Director Jerry Leroy Crawford, 81, on March 20 from causes incident to age.

Crawford joined the Festival when the new Randall L. Jones Theatre opened in 1989, becoming the literary seminar director for the plays shown in the Randall Theatre. He loved the seminars, especially working with Ace. G. Pilkington who anchored the shows in the Adams play. Together, the seminars affectionately became known as the Ace and Jerry Show. He also served as the director of the Festival’s Plays-in-Progress program, the precursor to today’s New American Playwrights Project.

He received his B.F.A in acting from Drake University, his M.A. in directing from Stanford University, and his Ph.D. in playwriting from the University of Iowa. Among other positions, he served as professor of theatre arts/Barrick Distinguished Scholar at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and dean of the College of Fellows of the American Theatre. He was the author of over thirty plays and a book on acting.

“Jerry provided stimulating commentary during the seminars, as well as being a strong advocate for new scripts in the early days of Plays-in-Progress,” said Education Director Michael Bahr. “As a scholar, playwright, and teacher he provided an important dimension to the Festival.”

“Jerry was a shining light at the Festival,” said Executive Director R. Scott Phillips. “He brought enormous talent and a warm and giving personality to all he did. We will miss him greatly.”

As per Crawford’s wishes, there will be no formal funeral or memorial service. His body will be cremated and sprinkled with his wife’s ashes at Moss Point in Laguna Beach.

Children Invited to Audition for Roles in Festival’s Mary Poppins

Cedar City, UT- Auditions for child actors to play the roles of Jane and Michael in this summer’s Utah Shakespeare Festival production of Mary Poppins will be conducted March 19. The general call auditions will be in the Southern Utah University Auditorium Theatre (room 109) on the corner of 300 West and Center Street from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m.

“These are exceptionally important roles in telling the story of Mary Poppins,” said Artisitic Director Brian Vaughn. “Whomever we select will need to be skilled enough to carry these large parts throughout the summer performance season.”

Children auditioning should be between the ages of 9 and 13 and be able to play the ages of Jane (11) or Michael (9). They must be available for rehearsals and performances in Cedar City, Utah from May 9 to September 3. The chosen actors will be paid and (if not from southern Utah) provided with housing.

Those interested must fill out the online registration form and also download sides and music for the audition at www.bard.org/auditions. Hopeful actors should arrive by 2:15 to check in and should come prepared to perform both sides and sing both songs. The general call will be followed by callback and dance auditions.

Neil LaBute Play Headlines New Plays at the Festival

Cedar City, UT- The Utah Shakespeare Festival recently announced the line-up of new play readings for this year’s New American Playwrights Project (NAPP). The 24th annual play readings, which have become increasingly popular over the years, will take the stage at the Utah Shakespeare Festival from August 12 to August 27.

The work of two playwrights will be presented as staged readings in the new Eileen and Allen Anes Theatre on selected dates. Chosen fromhundreds of plays submitted, this year’s lineup includes One Big Union by popular Salt Lake City playwright Deborah Threedy and How To Fight Loneliness by nationally-acclaimed playwright Neil LaBute. Audience members will have the unique opportunity to see a staged reading of these new pieces and take part in a discussion with the playwright, director and actors.                                                                            

Tickets are $10 each and are on sale now at 1-800-PLAYTIX and www.bard.org.

Neil LaBute

In addition, LaBute, who currently has two shows playing off-Broadway, The Way We Get By at Second Stage Theatre and The Money Shot at Lucille Lortel Theatre, has agreed to host a special lecture and discussion, “Conversations with Neil LaBute” about playwriting and his current work. The event is free to the public and will be Saturday, August 20 at 5:30 p.m. in the Anes Theatre.

“We are excited to have Neil here,” said Charles L. Metten, NAPP director and LaBute’s former teacher at BYU. “He is an accomplished, insightful playwright, and I look forward to working with him again.”

One of LaBute’s first well-known plays was In the Company of Men, which premiered at Brigham Young University, his alma mater, and which he later adapted into a movie starring Aaron Eckhart. He has since written numerous plays, including reasons to be pretty, which appeared on Broadway and was nominated in 2009 for three Tony Awards;In the Beginning; Fat Pig; Miss Julie; Reasons To Be Happy; Good Luck; Over the River and through the Woods; and many more*.* In 2013, LaBute was recognized with the Arts and Letters Awards in Literature by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

LaBute’s latest play, How To Fight Loneliness, will get its first reading at the Festival at NAPP. It explores a modern-day husband and wife, Brad and Jodie, who are at a life-changing crossroads. They must make a monumental decision, but can’t seem to do it on their own. To help, they enlist an old schoolmate, which brings unexpected results leading to a spiral of recrimination, deceit, and (ultimately) relief, in this surprising play about life, love, and the right to choose your own destiny.

Directed by David Ivers, Festival artistic director, How To Fight Loneliness plays August 19, 20 and 27.

Deborah Threedy

The other playwright featured this year is Debora Threedy, author of One Big Union. She has degrees in theatre arts and law. After many years appearing on stage in Salt Lake City, including at Salt Lake Acting Company, she turned to playwriting. She wrote and performed a one-woman show, Desert Wife, which toured the state with funding from the Utah Humanities Council. She has had a number of plays produced by Plan B Theatre in Salt Lake City, most recently The Third Crossing, which also was one of the winners of the Fratti-Newman New Political Play Contest in New York.

Her play, One Big Union, focuses on legendary union agitator Joe Hill who was executed by the State of Utah in 1915. Considered a martyr by many, his songs at the time envisioned gender and racial equality and criticized the gross income disparities of his time. Today, he remains an enigmatic folk hero, but beyond the mythology lies a larger story of protest, still relevant a century after his death.

Directing One Big Union is Jerry Rapier, producing director of Plan-B Theatre in Salt Lake City, and it plays August 12, 13 and 26.

 “Theatre companies have to look to the future as well as the past,” said Michael Bahr, Festival education director. “NAPP allows us to do this, and it helps audiences be informed by new works and the ideas of up and coming artists, as well as classic theatre. That’s when we can really tell the story of what it means to be human.”

Playwright biographies and more information are available at http://www.bard.org/napp.

The plays in this series are written for contemporary adult audiences and may occasionally contain themes and language not appropriate for children and that some may find offensive.

Festival Playmakers Announces Auditions

CEDAR CITY, Utah — The Utah Shakespeare Festival recently announced open auditions for children to perform in this spring’s Playmakers production of Junie B. Jones, the Musical.

Auditions will be February 2 from 4 to 8 p.m. in the Southern Utah University Auditorium Theatre. Auditions slots will be every 15 minutes, and children will be required to sing one of three songs from the show. Those interested can register for the audition and download the music for the songs at the Festival Playmakers webpage, www.bard.org/playmakers.

Call-back auditions will be the next day, February 3, from 4 to 6 p.m. After those auditions, approximately 20 young actors will be cast.

For those selected, rehearsals will generally be on February 5 to April 4 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 4 to 6 p.m.

To help children prepare, the Festival is offering an audition workshop for anyone interested in auditioning. It will be February 1 from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Southern Utah University Music Center, room 209. The workshop is optional, but can be helpful. “We will focus on the three songs that you will be required to sing at your audition,” said Krista Bulloch, Festival education programs manager. “Most of our Playmakers generally find it very useful.”                           

Because of construction on the new Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts, this year’s Playmakers production will be different from those in the past: It will be a traveling show! “The plan is to take our show to all the elementary schools in Iron County,” said Michael Bahr, Festival education director. Performances will be April 7–8 and 11–15. They will alternate between morning and afternoon times.

In addition, the Playmakers will present one public performance on April 6 at Canyon View Middle School, starting at 7:30 p.m.

Junie B. Jones, the Musical is a delightful adaptation of four of Barbara Park’s best-selling books brought to life in a genuinely comical musical. It features a tremendously loveable character on her first day of first grade, as well as fun-filled songs and action designed to captivate the minds of elementary and secondary school students.

For more information, call 435-865-8333 or visit the webpage at www.bard.org/playmakers.

Nine Directors Imagine the Festival’s 55th Season

An imaginative and exciting 2016 season is rapidly moving from ideas to fully-realized theatrical events at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, as nine highly-talented and experienced directors are hard at work on visions of their individual plays.

This year’s season, of course, has an added element of excitement as the Festival moves to the new Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts, which includes new Greenshow, seminar, and public space, as well as two completely new theatres. “Being a creative part of this extraordinary season is an honor and a privilege,” said one of the directors, B. J. Jones. “The opening of a new theatre is a once in a lifetime opportunity. . . . What a blessed moment we have before us.”

Melissa Rain Anderson is directing the hilarious Marx Brothers play, The Cocoanuts in the Randall L. Jones Theatre. This is her first time directing at the Festival, but she has extensive experience at other venues, including Geva Theatre Center, Stages Repertory Theatre, Great River Shakespeare Festival, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, PCPA Theatrefest, and the off-Broadway Yellow Line Theatricals. She has also appeared as an actor in the television shows Law and Order: SVU and Lipstick Jungle. In describing the slapstick comedy The Cocoanuts, she used such words as buoyancy and agility and asked “What happens when you allow four ‘nine-year-old’ boys run amuck in a hotel in Florida? Pandemonium ensues!”

Karen Azenberg is also new to the Festival, but is well-known to many Utah theatre-goers as the artistic director of Pioneer Theatre Company in Salt Lake City. This summer she will travel south to Cedar City to direct the popular family musical ***Mary Poppins,***also in the Randall L. Jones Theatre. She has extensive experience as a director and choreographer off-Broadway, including work at the Village Gate, 92nd Street Y, New York Music Festival, and Roundabout Theatre. She has also worked at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Geva Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Goodspeed, Ford’s Theatre, and many others. “I can’t say how pleased I am to be collaborating with my fellow Utah artistic directors Brian Vaughn and David Ivers,” she said. “Mary Poppins is a delight for the eye and the heart and a terrific show for adults and children alike.”

Brad Carroll, who has directed extensively at the Festival, is returning this year to helm one of two shows opening the new Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre, the musical comedy Murder for Two. Past work at the Festival has included Lend Me a Tenor: The Musical, South Pacific, The Comedy of Errors, Anything Goes, Les Misérables, Johnny Guitar, Spitfire Grill, H.M.S. Pinafore, Camelot, 1776, and Man of La Mancha. He has also directed at PCPA, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Great Lakes Theater Festival, Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis, Utah Festival Opera, Anchorage Opera, Phoenix Theatre, University of California Santa Barbara, and the University of Nevada Las Vegas. He also co-wrote and directed Lend Me a Tenor: the Musical, which premiered at the Festival and also appeared at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth, Gielgud Theater in London.

Joseph Hanreddy is returning to the Festival to direct Julius Caesar, Shakespeare’s play of power and politics which will be presented in this year of a presidential election in the new Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre. He was the co-adaptor and director of Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility which both appeared at the Festival, as well as director of Private Lives and Macbeth. Other theatres he has directed at include Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Madison Repertory Theater, Ensemble Theater Company, People’s Light and Theater Company, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Great Lakes Theater, Door Shakespeare Festival, Writer’s Theatre, Resident Ensemble Players at the University of Delaware, and Connecticut Repertory Theater.

David Ivers, one of the Festival’s artistic directors, is taking the helm this year of Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing in the new Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre. He has appeared in over forty-five Festival productions over nineteen seasons and has directed Cyrano de Bergerac, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), Romeo and Juliet, Twelve Angry Men, Twelfth Night, and Charley’s Aunt. He has also directed across the country, including The Cocoanuts at the Guthrie Theatre, the west coast premiere of One Man, Two Guvnors at Berkeley Rep, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and ten seasons with the resident company at Denver Center Theatre Company. “This is the definitive romantic comedy,” he said, speaking of Much Ado about Nothing. “It has some of Shakespeare’s most endearing and beloved characters in a sweeping play that is certain to touch your heart and your funny bone.”

B. J. Jones will once again be at the Festival, this year directing The Three Musketeers in the new Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre. Previously at the Festival, he has directed The Tempest, Much Ado about Nothing, and Twelfth Night. He is currently the artistic director of Northlight Theatre in Chicago, where he has served for eighteen years and commissioned and directed the world premieres of Charm, White Guy on the Bus, Chapatti, Stella and Lou, The Outgoing Tide, Better Late, and Rounding Third. He has also worked off-Broadway at Cherry Lane Theatre and at Next Theatre, Galway Arts Festival, Baltimore Center Stage, Steppenwolf, Intiman, Body Politic, Alliance Theatre, and Asolo Theatre.

Christine Kellogg is also returning to the Festival, this year as the director of The Greenshow. In past years she as been the assistant director and choreographer for South Pacific, Into the Woods, The Taming of the Shrew, Les Misérables, Scapin, and The Merry Wives of Windsor. On Broadway she has worked on Blame It on the Movies and American Dance Machine. Other theatres she has worked at include the Ahmanson Theatre, Kirk Douglas Theatre, South Coast Repertory Theatre, and more. Television credits include Hill Street Blues, Dynasty, Capitol, Who’s the Boss, The Garry Shandling Show, and The Tracey Ullman Show. “I am thrilled to be carrying on The Greenshow tradition in a new space,” she said. “I learned a lot working with Fred Adams and Joshua Stavros in the past years and I’m hoping to bring some of that knowledge and excitement to this year’s shows.”

J. R. Sullivan, who has long been associated with the Festival, is this year directing The Odd Couplein the Randall L. Jones Theatre, featuring Festival Artistic Directors David Ivers and Brian Vaughn in the roles of Felix and Oscar.He worked at the Festival from 2002 to 2009 as associate artistic director and has directed productions of Amadeus, Richard III, Hamlet, Stones in His Pockets, and The Glass Menagerie, among others. He also adapted two Jane Austen shows which appeared at the Festival: Pride and Prejudice and the world premiere of Sense and Sensibility. Off-Broadway, he is the former artistic director of Pearl Theatre Company where he directed several shows, including the New York premiere of Wittenberg. He has also worked at New American Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Theatre X, Philadelphia’s Arden Theatre, Studio Theatre in Washington, D. C., Delaware Theatre Company, and Resident Ensemble Players at the University of Delaware.

Brian Vaughn, Festival artistic director, is directing the final installment of the history of Prince Hal/King Henry in this year’s production of Henry V, which will open the new Engelstad Theatre. Acting roles at he Festival over twenty years include Hamlet, Henry V, Leontes, Benedick, Prince Hal, Hotspur, Posthumus, Launce, Dromio, Costard, Javert, Harold Hill, The Baker, King Arthur, Pirate King, Rutledge, Hysterium, Smudge, Cyrano de Bergerac, Dr. Watson, Richard Hannay, Charlie, Victor Flemming, and others. Directing credits include Henry IV Part Two, Henry IV Part One, Peter and the Starcatcher, Dial M for Murder, and Greater Tuna. He has also worked in the resident company at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre and at Arizona Theatre Company, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Nevada Conservatory Theatre, Northlight Theatre, PCPA Theatrefest, and others.          

Tickets are now on sale for the Festival’s 55th season, which will run from June 27 to October 22. For more information and tickets visit www.bard.org or call 1-800-PLAYTIX.

Festival’s Educational Tour Presents Hamlet

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 famous and monumental story of Hamlet.                                                  

From January to April, the Festival will take its production of Hamlet to more than 25,000 students in five western states. The tour will spend 14 weeks on the road visiting schools, community centers, and correctional facilities in Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Colorado and Arizona with over 65 performances for more than 120 schools. Directing this year is Frank Honts, who has been at the Festival the past three seasons as a Flachmann Fellow in Dramaturgy.

To kickoff the tour, the play will be performed for the public in the Auditorium Theatre at Southern Utah University on January 20 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $5 for general admission and may be obtained on the Festival website at bard.org or by calling the Festival’s ticket office at 1-800-PLAYTIX or 435-586-7878. Admission is free for SUU students.

In its 22nd year, this educational outreach program features a 75-minute version of Shakespeare’s Hamlet,** including costumes, sets, and theatrical lighting. Also included is a fifteen-minute post-show discussion with the actors and optional workshops in Stage Combat, Performing Shakespeare’s Text, Technical Theatre and Developing Character through Improvisation.

“Hamlet is my favorite piece of literature, my favorite play, my favorite story,” said Honts. “And when I think about what young people living in the United States in 2016 are experiencing, I think that Hamlet’s story isn’t so far away from theirs and that it will have resonance and currency to them.”

In directing the play, Honts has focused on the story, “the ways in which the players can bring new light to this story,” and the telling of it to young people—all within the confines of a small touring company. As such, his production aims to reveal the inner workings of theatre by having the actors first appear as a traveling troupe of players who are visiting various venues to tell the story of their friend, Hamlet.

“This strips away the preciousness of theatre,” said Honts. “Anyone can do it. There is a universality to story telling. All you need is a story and some people who are willing to tell it.”

It also allows for some interesting casting choices. For instance, the troupe of actors have chosen the roles for each actor based upon the most appropriate way to tell the story. In this case, that means that a female actor is playing the male lead of Hamlet. Also, a female actor will be playing the female role of Gertrude and the male role of the Ghost of Hamlet’s Father.                                

Ten professionals from all over the country are coming together to bring this production to students. The company consists of seven actors, a company manager, a stage manager, and a technical director.

Three cast members were seen in this past 2015 season at the Festival: Allie Babich (Hamlet) was Ensign Nellie Forbush in South Pacific, Ela Delahay in Charley’s Aunt, and Vixen in Dracula. Kelly Rogers (Gertrude/Ghost/Gravedigger) appeared as Cordelia in King Lear, Amy Spettigue in Charley’s Aunt, and Mina in Dracula. Marco Antonio Vega (Laertes/Rosencrantz/Player King) appeared as Bardolph in Henry IV Part Two, King of Burgundy in King Lear, and in various roles in The Taming of the Shrew.

Other cast members bring extensive experience from other theatres to this production of Hamlet: Natalie Blackman (Ophelia/Player Queen/Osric) has appeared at Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Pioneer Theatre Company, Circle in the Square Theatre for Young Audiences, and Salt Lake Acting Company. Domonique Champion (Polonius/Marcellus/Player/Priest/Attendant) has worked at Houston Shakespeare Festival, Tennessee Shakespeare Company, and Shakespeare Walla Walla. Kyle Curry (Horatio/Guildenstern/Player) has worked at the Virginia, Kentucky, Houston, Dallas, Oklahoma, and Chicago Shakespeare festivals. Jacob Mundell (Claudius/Barnardo/Gravedigger) has performed in thirty-five states through two national tours, summer repertory, and a Renaissance fair. He is a graduate of Southern Utah University.

The support crew is made up of three theatre professionals: Devery North (Company Manager) has worked previously with the Utah Shakespeare Festival, serving as company management assistant for the 2015 season. Kaitlyn Driesen (Stage Manager) credits include Legends in Concert; Shrek the Musical, Jr.; Oklahoma! and Disney’s Cinderella. Katie Kahut (Technical Director) first worked with the Utah Shakespeare Festival last fall with its production of Dracula.

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, UBS Bank, and Southern Utah University.

For a complete tour schedule, visit www.bard.org/tour.

For a complete tour schedule visit www.bard.org/tour.