Thanks for ‘Believing’ in Us: A Look Back on the Festival’s 2024 Season
By Katie Neves, guest writer
Now that the 2024 season is wrapped up, we want to again thank all of our patrons and donors for their amazing support. This was the second year of the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s Believe campaign—our mission to ignite wonder and inspiration through the transforming power of live theater.
From the enchantment and magic of The Winter’s Tale to the moving power of the stars in Silent Sky, USF’s 2024 season was all about achievement, strength, perseverance, and wonder. Through each of the seven mainstage shows and three Greenshows, we invited audiences to Believe in us—and they certainly showed us they do!
Here’s what some of the Festival leadership had to say about our 63rd season:
Education Director Stewart Shelley
“The Believe campaign invites us all to suspend our disbelief and ensure that the power of live theatrical experiences continues to endure,” Shelley said. “When our late founder Fred C. Adams found himself discouraged in Scandinavia [as a young man], he had the thought to cast his eyes up rather than down into the mud. Upon doing so, he witnessed a beautiful aurora borealis. This story is what motivates the Believe campaign. Believe in beauty, believe in hope, believe in the arts, believe in each other!”
For Shelley, the best element of the season was the “strong women and history-makers” in all of the shows. “I believe that it was an absolute success,” he said. From characters like Hermione in The Winter’s Tale to Queen Katherine in Henry VIII, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing to Henrietta Leavitt in Silent Sky, Kate in The Taming of the Shrew to Camae in The Mountaintop and even the lead female characters in The 39 Steps, the Festival’s stages were full of powerful women and their achievements.
Another one of this season’s big successes was the Seminar Grove. “As the Education Director, it is no surprise that my favorite part of the Utah Shakespeare Festival is found in our classroom—the Seminar Grove!” said Shelley. His department fostered engaging discussions and orientations for each play, making sure audiences could enter and leave each production with new insights and understanding. For the Silent Sky discussions, the Education Department also invited two astrophysicists to join and share their insights: Mattias Schmitt of Cedar Breaks National Monument Dark Skies program, and Dr. Cameron Pace from the Ashcroft Observatory in Cedar City.
Moving forward, the Education Department continues its Believe work with youth and students through such opportunities as the Juvenile Justice program, outreach with Iron County elementary students through the WonderStage program, the Shakespeare in the Schools Education Tour of Henry IV this winter, and much more. “Shakespeare may have said, ‘All the world’s a stage,’ but we in Education feel like ‘All the world’s a classroom.’ We’re thoroughly enjoying acting as both teacher and student on this journey of constant learning.”
General Manager Kami Terry Paul
For Paul, the Believe campaign was especially powerful this season. “It’s about believing in the power of theatre to give us insights to ourselves and others,” she said. “The campaign resonated for me personally this year because I was moved by so many instances of humans accomplishing beyond expectations: characters in the plays, employees at the Festival, and our amazing patrons who show up for us and each other, every year.”
Paul is excited for next year, with six powerful shows lined up for the Festival’s 64th season. With “another Shakespeare title that puts us closer to our Complete the Canon initiative (Antony and Cleopatra), the return of a musical to the Festival lineup, and a season full of artistry,” 2025 is a season we can all Believe in.
Now that the 2024 season is over, she is looking forward to all the excitement that comes in between the Festival’s official seasons. “There really is no off-season at the Festival,” she laughs. “We are already hard at work on the 2025 season and our Shakespeare production that tours schools. The 2026 season is also in early planning stages. Onward and upward!”
Artistic Director John DiAntonio
According to DiAntonio, the Festival’s Believe campaign can be summed up in a line from The Winter’s Tale: “It is required you do awake your faith.” This idea captures what is at the heart of the Festival. “So much of what we do in the theatre is built on faith, trust, or belief. It was true when Fred C. Adams started the Festival 64 years ago, and it’s still true today,” said DiAntonio who hits his one-year mark at the organization this month.
“One of our main goals [this season] was to introduce the new executive leadership team: Michael Bahr and myself,” said DiAntonio. “We wanted to introduce our new shared vision to patrons, and really start living it. I really got to know many of our patrons. I was amazed how deep everyone’s love for the Festival runs. You see patrons and volunteers wearing pins: ‘I first attended the Festival in 1972,’ or 1963, or 2021, In my case, it began in 2008.”
This year also marked DiAntonio’s first time performing at the Festival; he played Petruchio opposite his wife, Caitlin Wise, as Kate, in The Taming of the Shrew. Now he’s busy working on next year. “We are currently in design meetings for each of the plays, and I couldn’t be more excited for the productions next summer.” While preparing for the upcoming season, DiAntonio also plans to spend extra time with his family and explore more of the Cedar City area. “Caitlin and I are looking forward to getting even more involved with the local community this ‘off-season,’ now that we are a bit more settled.”
Executive Managing Director Michael Bahr
For Bahr, one of the most important goals for him was to strengthen connections with Festival patrons, to help them see the Festival as their theatre. “This is your theatre, and you are a huge part of it,” Bahr emphasized. “We are still hearing from patrons how pleased they have been with the high quality of the productions and their personal connections to the plays.”
Bahr shared some of his favorite moments this season; moments where patrons truly connected with the messages onstage. From “an audience member spontaneously yelling ‘You go, girl!’ in support of Katherine in Henry VIII,” to “weeping audiences following a performance of The Mountaintop gathering in the lobby to exchange a hug,” 2024 was filled with human connection, inspiration, and audiences truly believing in the power of theater.
“Since launching the Believe campaign I’ve had many patrons ask me, ‘What does ‘Believe’ mean in your campaign?’” Bahr said. “As a teacher, I love throwing the question back to them—what do you think it means?” This year, through captivating performances, engaging discussions, and a supportive community, the Festival “generated conversations around hope, life, and the ways they complement each other.”
Bahr is especially excited about the 2025 season and the compelling stories it has to offer. “Every one of them will be an audience favorite with deep depth of text and characters,” he said. The season will include three of Shakespeare’s most beloved and powerful plays (As You Like It, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra) as well as a Tony Award-winning musical (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder), a classic comedy (The Importance of Being Earnest) and a beloved and heartfelt drama (Steel Magnolias).
The Utah Shakespeare Festival’s next season is shaping up to be just as amazing as the last one—all thanks to the amazing support of our patrons and donors. And as Shakespeare said, “Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.” To buy your 2025 season tickets, visit bard.org/plays.
