Festival Receives Two NEA Grants
The Festival recently received word that it has been awarded two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts to help fund the world premiere of Neil LaBute’s How to Fight Loneliness and the Festival’s Shakespeare-in-the-Schools 2018 touring production of The Tempest.
Meet the Festival's New Leadership
After two major announcements and leadership changes in the past few weeks, the Festival now has the right leaders to steer it into the future. To help you get to know Executive Producer Frank Mack and Artistic Director Brian Vaughn better, we recently asked a series of questions about the Festival and its future. We think you will enjoy their answers.
Festival Announces New Executive Producer
The Utah Shakespeare Festival announced today the hiring of Frank Mack, a veteran of theatre companies across the United States, as its new executive producer, replacing the recently retired R. Scott Phillips. Mack will join the Utah Shakespeare Festival on September 1.
A Season of Adventure
From swashbuckling pirates to feuding fairy royalty, from young lovers and warring families to singing and dancing gamblers, from a mysterious vagabond in a tavern in the middle of the Utah desert to magical forests—the 2017 season of the Utah Shakespeare Festival promises a season of adventure for all.
Change in Shakespeare's Forests
Forests are often just a rustic setting, but in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and As You Like It, forests are more than just a place. They are an adventure and an escape. In both plays, characters go to the woods and begin to change in ways they never would have predicted.
To Imagine or Not to Imagine: Treasure Island
Treasure Island is a classic story with a cast of characters we’ve been familiar with since childhood. There have been over fifty adaptations of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel Treasure Island, and most still keep the original characters. The Utah Shakespeare Festival is following this tried-and-true principle this year, by bringing and exciting and adventurous adaptation by Mary Zimmerman’s adaptation to the stage—complete with a full cast of swashbuckling pirates.
Final 2017 Casting Is In!
The Utah Shakespeare Festival recently announced the last of its casting for the 2017 season, including the three actors who will perform in How to Fight Loneliness: Brian Vaughn, Corey Jones, and Tessa Auberjonois. In addition, Festival Founder Fred C. Adams will play Adam in Shakespeare's As You Like It.
Artistic Director Headed to Arizona Theatre Company
David Ivers, Festival artistic director since 2011, announced today that he will be leaving the Festival later this month to accept the role of artistic director at the Arizona Theatre Company, based in Tucson and Phoenix
The Controversy of Shakespeare and Marlowe
Speculation continually follows William Shakespeare, especially since we know so little about him. Only a few certain facts are known, and even fewer documents survive. But Shakespeare isn’t the only playwright during his time period to be surrounded by speculation. His contemporary, Christopher Marlowe, is also a victim. Rumors about Marlowe range from espionage to collaboration. . . .
Casting for Romeo and Juliet and Shakespeare in Love
The Utah Shakespeare Festival recently announced many of the actors playing roles in Romeo and Juliet and Shakespeare in Love this summer. The two plays are complementary to each other (Shakespeare in Love imagines how the Bard may have written Romeo and Juliet), and many of the actors will play the same or similar roles in the two plays.
Shakespeare Cinema Celebration Scheduled
The Utah Shakespeare Festival Education Department and Southern Utah University’s Center for Shakespeare Studies are sponsoring the second annual Shakespeare Cinema Celebration on April 22 in the Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre.
Shakespeare: The Man and the Myth
William Shakespeare is a name that conjures up a lot of thoughts. From Iago to Katherine, his plays have inspired us for hundreds of years. However, this influential artist is difficult to pinpoint historically.
Ten Shakespeare Plays You Didn't Know You Knew
Whenever we gather in a theatre for a Shakespeare play and settle into our seats, we’re excited to get started and watch the show. But if you haven’t seen the play before, you may flip open the program and read the synopsis to get familiar with the story. The likelihood, though, is that you’ve already seen parts of these Shakespeare plays.
Festival Announces More Casting for 2017
The Utah Shakespeare Festival recently announced more actors and their roles for the 2017 season. Some of them will be familiar to Festival audiences, while others are new to Cedar City, but well known at other theatres across the country.
Festival's New Play Director Retires
Charles Metten, a long-familiar face at the Utah Shakespeare has announced his retirement, effective March 31. He will be leaving his post as the Festival’s new plays director to spent more time with his family in Provo.
Where Elizabethan Meets Contemporary
Looking at the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s 2017 season, you may already know several of our titles, including Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. But there are two titles that might leave you wondering what it’s all about.
How to Play Craps
So you are planning on seeing Guys and Dolls at the Utah Shakespeare Festival and know that parts of the plot revolve around a floating the game of craps. You’ve seen people playing craps. You’ve heard about it from others. But how, exactly, do you play this game?
Festival Employee Recognized as Fellow
Long-time Utah Shakespeare Festival employee Judy Adamson was recently made a Fellow of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology at its conference in St. Louis.
Festival Announces First Round of Casting
The Utah Shakespeare Festival recently announced the casting of the first eight actors for the 2017 season. All are familiar faces, having appeared at the Festival in the past.
How Does Long John Silver Stack Up?
Long John Silver of Treasure Island fame may be the best-known pirate, real or mythical, of all time. But how does Robert Louis Stevenson’s character stack up when compared with real pirates?