Cedar City, UT—Casting for this summer’s Utah Shakespearean Festival production of Private Lives is putting a new twist on Noel Coward’s most celebrated comedy: The actors playing the volatile couple, Elyot and Amanda, are, in fact, married in real life. Indeed, they met at the Festival in 1996.

That year, Don Burroughs was at the Festival performing as Hotspur in Henry IV Part One and D’Artagnan in The Three Musketeers, and Carol Linnea Johnson was playing Pitti Sing in The Mikado and Constance in The Three Musketeers. They dated, fell in love, and the rest is history.

Now they will grace the Festival stages again, as Elyot Chase and Amanda Prynne (once married to each other) find themselves in adjoining honeymoon suites (now both recently remarried to others). One thing leads to another, and they soon rekindle their old relationship, and the sparks soon fly in the skies of Paris.

They will be joined by three other Festival favorites: Michael Brusasco as Victor Prynne, Katie Whetsell as Sibyl Chase, and Lillian Castillo as Louise, the maid.

“Don and I have always talked about coming back to the Festival, but the time was never right,” said Johnson, who recently completed a three-year run in the lead role of Donna in Mama Mia! at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas. “Now the timing couldn’t be more perfect.”

In addition to the roles he played in 1996, Don Burroughs has also appeared at the Festival as Bobby Van Husen in The Boy Friend and in the title role of Henry V, both in 1997. He appeared with his wife in Mama Mia! in Las Vegas, and was Reg in the first national tour of The Full Monty. In addition, he has appeared on the stage at Lincoln Center Theatre, Theatre Row, Pioneer Theatre Company, Cincinnati Playhouse, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Denver Center Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Skylight Opera, Asolo theatre and many others. On television he has appeared as Dr. Bob in All My Children and Carl in The Bronx Zoo, both on ABC.

He will also be appearing this season as Amiens and Hymen in As You Like It.

Carol Linnea Johnson, appeared at the Festival in 1996, but also in 1997 in the roles of Olivia in Twelfth Night and Maisie in The Boy Friend. She appeared on Broadway as Pam in The Full Monty and off-Broadway in Old Money at the Lincoln Center and in Appelemando’s Dream at Vineyard Theatre. She has also worked at Alley Theatre, Skylight Opera, Pioneer Theatre Company, and the Old Globe Theatre and has appeared on television in Law and Order, All My Children, and Another World. She also is a member of the band Hot Club of Las Vegas, which recently released its debut CD.

She will also be appearing this season as Emilia, the abbess, in The Comedy of Errors.

Michael Brusasco will be appearing this year as Victor Prynne, Amanda’s hapless second husband who gets left behind when old romantic sparks re-ignite between Amanda and her former husband, Elyot. He will also play the role of Antipholus of Ephesus in The Comedy of Errors.

He has previously appeared at the Festival as Grumio in The Taming of the Shrew, Ariel in The Tempest, and Christopher Wren in The Mousetrap, among others. In addition, he has worked at such theatres as Shakespeare Theatre Company, Lincoln Center Festival, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Conservatory, Great River Shakespeare Festival, California Shakespeare Theatre, and Plan B Theatre.

Katie Whetsell will take on the role of Sibyl Chase, Elyot’s unfortunate second wife, as well as Martha in The Secret Garden. Past appearances at the Festival have included Chava in Fiddler on the Roof (2008) and various roles in H.M.S. Pnafore, The Tempest, Camelot, and The Greenshow. She has also worked at Otterbein College, the Pleasure Guild in Columbus, Ohio, North Royalton Theatre, and Playhouse Square.

Lillian Castillo will return to the Festival this year to play the independent French maid in Private Lives and Pinch in The Comedy of Errors. In past seasons she has played Georgette in The School for Wives, Marcella and Carmelia in The Taming of the Shrew, Gertrude and Cook in The Matchmaker, and various other roles. She has appeared as Dee Dee in Why Do Fools Fall in Love at the Stackner Cabaret at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre and is a student at Southern Utah University.

“We are pleased to have these five fine actors returning to the Festival to create our version of Private Lives,” said R. Scott Phillips, Festival executive director. “They are wonderful actors to work with and to watch on the stage.”

Tickets are now on sale for the Festival’s 2009 season at www.bard.org and 800-PLAYTIX (800-752-9849). The summer season runs from June 29 to August 29 and includes Shakespeare’s As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, and Henry V, in addition to Noel Coward’s Private Lives, the touching drama Foxfire, and the popular musical The Secret Garden. The fall season runs from September 18 to October 17 and features Tuesdays with Morrie, the ghostly and mysterious The Woman in Black, and the hilarious farce, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged).

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