News From the Festival
Festival Launches Believe Campaign
By Liz Armstrong
**Believe (verb): To have confidence in the truth, the existence, or the reliability of something, although without absolute proof one is right in doing so.**
To inspire connectivity this 2023 season and beyond, the Utah Shakespeare Festival has excitedly launched the Believe Campaign. With this campaign, the Festival is asking beloved patrons to believe in the organization and the transformative power of live theatre.
“Believe is a campaign where the Festival is inviting you to feel emotions that are very genuine and real,” Director of Development and Communications Donn Jersey says.
The Inspiration Behind “Believe”
“Only if one believes in something can one act purposefully,” says Jersey.
What started out as a simple brainstorming session in a conference room at the Festival’s administration offices has resulted in a passionate idea to encapsulate the feeling we get from theatre and storytelling, and the power that it holds to transform lives.
Marketing Manager Brittney Corry invites patrons to join the Festival on a journey of discovery and imagination through this campaign.
“We are inviting everyone to open their minds and hearts to new experiences, and to trust that we will deliver unforgettable performances that will leave you inspired and enriched,” Corry says.
Creative Director Clare Campbell reflected on the beginning stages of the creation of this campaign.
“So many ideas were tossed around during that brainstorming meeting,” Campbell says. “When we arrived at Believe, something in the room just clicked.”
Aligning “Believe” with Festival Origins
Perhaps what made the idea of the Believe Campaign fit so immediately was that it is perfectly aligned with the Festival’s goals from the beginning.
“The campaign was inspired by our founder, Fred C. Adams, our local community, the great work the Festival is known for throughout the world, and Festival friends from all over globe.” comments Jersey.
In 1960, Fred C. Adams and his fiancée Barbara Gaddie were doing their laundry at the Fluffy Bundle Laundromat in Cedar City. It was there that the idea to start a Shakespearean Festival was born. The young entrepreneur and actor wanted to produce great theatre in a destination location.
From there, Fred needed to find someone who believed in supporting the idea. It was the local Lions Club who offered $1,000 and the encouragement Fred needed. What started as an idea scribbled on a notepad in a laundromat over sixty years ago has resulted in the Utah Shakespeare Festival, a Tony Award-winning organization operating on a $7 million budget that entertains over 130,000 people a season.
The Festival has become successful because of Fred and so many others, who believed in his idea from the start. It’s successful because of the Cedar City community, including the local Lions Club, who first believed in Fred’s plan. It’s successful because of the year-round staff, company members, donors, and volunteers who return year after year to produce world-class theatre. But most importantly, it’s successful because of you––our beloved patrons that purchase tickets in a simple act of support and belief in the Festival.
What We Believe In
Jersey says: “We Believe in artfully telling stories that broaden our perspectives, enliven our imaginations, and give us a better quality of life.”
“We Believe in creating impactful theatre that reenacts and celebrates our shared humanity.”
“We Believe in teaching minds young and old. Expanding horizons, outlooks, and understanding through camps, classes, tours, seminars, and other helpful resources.”
“We Believe in you.”
The Creative Process Behind “Believe”
“We wanted to create a feeling of the power of theatre and storytelling,” Campbell says. “To invite patrons to come see what we’re working on, and to get away from the real world for a little while and to take in our stories, our sets and costumes, our talent, and our atmosphere.”
Campbell worked on the Believe logo, creating something timeless and sturdy. She explains her creative process below.
“The middle ‘i’ is replaced with a silhouette of a male figure, female figure, or child to use throughout the campaign,” Campbell said. “Our Festival crown is placed on top of the figures to tie in the look with our current logo. These figures also give an energetic, exciting feel to the campaign, to draw patrons in to learn more.”
The starry sky that appears in various iterations with the Believe logo is based on a beloved story of Fred as a young man spending time in Finland, seeing the aurora borealis for the first time. Another of his group advised everyone to “Look up” as they were trudging through the snow. That became a life motto for him and something that beautifully partners with the goals of the Believe Campaign.
Participate in “Believe”
There is something indescribable about the Festival. It is not just about the plays, the tarts, the actors, the staff, the theatres, the grounds. All of these things––and much more––are important individually, but all together, is when our patrons truly start to believe in the power of theatre offered at the Festival. What makes the experience so unforgettable is the entirety of the experience, and the goal of the Believe Campaign is to epitomize this specific feeling.
“It can be whatever our community of Festival friends want it to be, it can be used to tell their own story as it relates to the Festival’s productions and immersive experiences,” Jersey explains.
“The Festival believes our communities and lives become better at the intersection of arts, humanity, and society. The invitation to our supporters and friends is to come to the Festival and listen, sing, dance, heal, live and connect with the art…all you need to do is Believe in the power of theatre and the Festival.”
For more information or to purchase tickets for the 2023 season, visit bard.org or call 800-PLAYTIX.
Fifth Annual Make A Scene Fundraiser to be the Most Fun-Filled Festival Gala Yet
By Liz Armstrong
The Utah Shakespeare Festival is proud to announce the fifth annual Make A Scene fundraising event on April 19 in West Valley City, UT. The one-night-only gala will feature dinner and a comedic performance of Romeo and Juliet, directed by Quinn Mattfeld.
Doors open at 5:30 p.m. with dinner at 6:00 and the performance at 7:30. This will be an exciting chance to meet with actors, state and local politicians, business leaders, media personalities, Festival administration, and more.
Located at 3333 S. Decker Lake Dr., the event will be held at the West Valley Performing Arts Center and boasts the largest professional cast yet.
Director of Development and Communication Donn Jersey guarantees that Mattfeld who will share the stage with Festival favorites Melinda Parrett and Michael Doherty will have those in attendance “belly-laughing for 65 minutes straight.”
Quinn Mattfeld debuted at the Festival in 2009, and has been in two of the Festival’s past mainstage productions of Romeo and Juliet. He played Benvolio in the 2009 production and Tybalt in 2017. The actor has most recently been in the Festival’s productions of Shakespeare in Love (2017), Hamlet (2019), and Macbeth (2019). Mattfeld’s experience and humor made him the perfect fit to star at the gala.
“Quinn wrote the script especially for this night, and is directing and acting in it too. It’s just going to be so much fun,” Jersey said. “It’s Romeo and Juliet with a comedic twist, and the script is just ridiculous. We are writing four or five different scenes with our professional actors and surprise guests that will be joining onstage.”
Melinda Parrett first came to the Festival in 2007 for roles in Candida and Lend Me a Tenor. She has performed in over twenty roles at the Festival, including last season, when she starred as Mrs. White in Clue and Elsa Schraeder in The Sound of Music.
Michael Doherty debuted at the Festival in 2015. He took roles last season as Mr. Green in Clue, Lavatch in All’s Well That Ends Well, and Jonas Fogg in Sweeney Todd. He also starred in last year’s Make A Scene Gala in the one-actor show, Every Brilliant Thing.
Professional magician and Festival actor Rhett Guter will bring something different to the gala this year, performing magic tricks in the lobby and throughout dinner. His expertise will add another layer of fun to the fundraising event. Guter is known for his roles at the Festival in the 2013 production of Peter and the Starcatcher and his most recent roles in Ragtime and The Pirates of Penzance in the 2021 season.
In addition, Mia Gatherum, an actress from the Caine College of the Arts at Utah State University, will be taking on the role of Juliet alongside Mattfeld as Romeo. She has a strong tie to the Festival, having performed in numerous Playmakers Education Program productions when she was growing up in Cedar City.
“When you get this all-star cast to share their talents and wit…it’s going to be a super fun night,” Jersey emphasized. “It’s going to be whimsical and accessible and fun, while also raising important funds for the Festival.”
The ticket price is $275, and there are sponsorship tables of eight available for sale. Although you don’t have to attend dinner to see the show, don’t miss out on any of this fun-filled night!
To purchase a ticket or reserve a table for this annual fundraiser, contact Development Assistant Emily Cacho at 435-586-7877 or through email at emily@bard.org. Reservations can be made up to the day of the event.
Follow our Instagram and Facebook accounts @utahshakespeare to stay up-to-date on gala announcements.
A Glance Back at A Midsummer Night's Dream Through the Years
Our production for 2023 will be the eleventh time we have done this popular Shakespeare comedy in our 62-year history. Enjoy a look back over our past productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream!
A Midsummer Night’s Dream: 10 Interesting Tidbits About the Play
By Marlo Ihler
As one of Shakespeare’s most popular and beloved comedies, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is filled with rich elements from folklore, literature, nature, mythology, and the supernatural. It tells of the whims, desires, and impulses of love, both mortal and fantastical. Visit our Study Guide for the synopsis and list of characters, if you need some additional background. Now enjoy some fun facts about the play as you prepare for your visit this season:
- The forest in many of Shakespeare’s works, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, is considered a place of transformation, symbolism, or relief from rigid order. In this play the lovers run away from restrictive Athenian customs to hide in the forest, find themselves entangled in a supernatural and chaotic experience, and emerge changed and renewed.
- So what is a changeling child anyway? Titania, the Fairy Queen, is trying to protect a changeling boy from her jealous husband Oberon, the Fairy King, who wants him for his court. According to English fairy lore, a changeling is a fairy who was left in the place of a child that was taken. It can also be a child that was taken by fairies during their infancy. Although the changeling child in this play isn’t a speaking role and in some productions isn’t even seen on stage, he is pivotal to the plot. Shakespeare also uses references to this lore in A Winter’s Tale and Henry IV Part One.
- The Roman poet Ovid’s epic poem Metamorphoses was a primary source of inspiration for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Other sources of inspiration were Plutarch’s Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans and Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales.
- Speaking of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, some scholars believe that Shakespeare used the “rude Mechanicals” characters––the six skilled laborers who aspire to be actors but are not very good at it––as a way to mock the clumsy and inept translation of Metamorphoses from Latin to English by Arthur Golding in 1567.
- As for the Mechanicals, near the end of the show they perform their play-within-the-play, The Most Lamentable Comedy and Most Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisbe. It is a parody of the experiences the lovers had in the forest the night before, except that the lovers obviously survived their ordeal to laugh about it on their shared wedding day.
- Audiences during Shakespeare’s time were used to the patterns of Roman comedy, such as stock characters, slapstick gags, a clever slave, and plots focusing on domestic issues. A Midsummer Night’s Dream introduced the use of fairies, magic, unexpected and uncontrollable events, and desire-induced chaos while also giving glimpses of familiar Roman comedy character types.
- The love potion from the magical flower used by Puck is one of Shakespeare’s most famous. It is supposedly made from a wild pansy called ‘love-in-idleness’, which ironically, is how the characters affected by the love potion behave.
- One of the reasons this play is significant is because it was one of the first during Shakespeare’s time to pull away from the idea of religious topics and values, which writers and poets during his time were expected to highlight. He explored the ideas of places beyond reality that are transformed by magic, enchantment, and the supernatural.
- Puck––or Robin Goodfellow or Hobgoblin––is based on a mischievous brownie-like sprite taken from English folklore or the púca from Celtic mythology.
- This popular story has been adapted and produced as operas, lavish pageants, ballets, films, and a television series.
- BONUS - The Festival’s production during the 2023 season will be the eleventh time we’ve done this show in our 62 year history!
Ten Things You May Not Know about A Raisin in the Sun and Its Playwright
By Liz Armstrong
As we prepare for this coming season’s production of A Raisin in the Sun, let’s dive deeper into it and its inspirational playwright Lorraine Hansberry, as well as the impact she had on the Civil Rights Movement.
Inspired by playwright Lorraine Hansberry’s personal experience as a child when her father purchased a house in a predominantly white neighborhood, A Raisin in the Sun reflects historical significance. The Hansberry family won their right to be heard “as a matter of due process of law in relation to the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, reflecting the familial success and unity that is highlighted in A Raisin in the Sun.
Perhaps just as interesting as the success of the play was the life of its’ inspiring and legendary playwright Lorraine Hansberry. For more information on the playwright, click here.
- This was the first play to be produced on Broadway written by an African American woman – Lorraine Hansberry.
- The title of the play was inspired by the poem “Harlem” by Langston Hughes. He wrote: “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?”
- Hansberry knew Hughes personally, as her family was often visited by the poet, along with other prominent figures, including professor W. E. B. Du Bois, political activist Paul Robeson, musician Duke Ellington, and Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens.
- Hansberry’s father purchased a house in the Washington Park Subdivision in the South Side of Chicago – and many of their white neighbors were angry, an uncanny parallel to the plot point in her play.
- The play was adapted into a film in 1961, including actors from its original Broadway production: Signey Poitier, Ruby Dee, Claudia McNeil, Diana Sands, Ivan Dixon, Louis Gossett Jr., and John Fiedler. Hansberry wrote the screenplay. Poiter and McNeil were nominated for Golden Globe Awards in this film.
- Publications including The Independent and Time Out have listed A Raisin in the Sun among the best plays ever written.
- A musical version of the play ran on Broadway from October, 1973 to December, 1975. It was written by Hansberry’s former husband, Robert Nemiroff. The show won the Tony Award for Best Musical.
- In addition to being the first play written by an African American woman to be produced on Broadway, it was directed by actor Lloyd Richards– the first African American to direct a play on Broadway since Ernest Hogan in 1907.
- It took producer Philip Rose 18 months to raise enough money for the play to hit Broadway, and it was considered a risky investment. However, A Raisin in the Sun was met with flaming success, and in 1983, The New York Times wrote that the play “changed American theater forever.”
- Hansberry’s play appeared in London’s West End at Adelphi Theater in 1959. A Raisin in the Sun was also adapted into a 1989 TV film, receiving three Emmy Award nominations. Other adaptations included a 1996 and 2016 BBC Radio play, 2008 TV Film (watched by 12.7 million viewers), 2004 and 2014 Broadway revival, and 2010 Manchester production.
Ten Fun Facts About The Play That Goes Wrong
By Liz Armstrong
This comedic farce was written by Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, and Jonathan Sayer. It began small, opening in a pub in London. For more information about the play, visit our Study Guide. The Play That Goes Wrong was met with wild success, earning a Tony Award, growing in popularity across the world, and even inspiring television shows.
1- As of January 19, 2023, the play hit its 3,000th performance at London’s Duchess Theatre where it began nine years ago. The Play That Goes Wrong is the longest running play at that theatre since it opened in 1929 and the longest running comedy in the West End.
2- Two TV shows took inspiration from the play––Peter Pan Goes Wrong and A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong, which hit the British Broadcasting Company in 2016 and 2017. A television series called The Goes Wrong Show was created in 2019, and due to its success, it was renewed for a second series in 2021.
3- The original Broadway production in 2017 won a Tony Award for Best Scenic Design of a Play and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Scenic Design of a Play.
4- The play has had productions in over 30 other countries.
5- This was the first play that Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, and Jonathan Sayer had written together. They started writing the play together as roommates in a small flat in London after meeting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
6- Because this is a comedic farce, it’s no wonder the Director Mark Bell did a lot of clowning (Lecoq-style) according to playwright Henry Lewis. The Lecoq acting style focuses on physicality and movement. It comes from French actor and acting coach Jacques Lacoq, who encouraged his students to be creative and focused on the importance of freedom instead of stringent acting rules.
7- Playwright Henry Lewis made it clear that making the play a murder mystery was decided on very early on. “The murder-mystery genre is really well-known, and it’s really important that the audience get what it was supposed to be had it gone right,” Lewis specified.
8- Lewis, Shields, and Sayer acted in the original play. In the Old Lion Theatre, the set was built for only about 300 pounds (or $360). Slayer noted that it got to a point where he was fixing the set with “gaffer tape,” and the walls became a kind of paper-mache of masking tape.
9- The play was originally a one-act play, but when Kenny Wax, a producer, came on board, he said that the play needed to be bigger and longer. The three playwrights went to work and were “ambitious” with it, as Shields noted, not shying away from bigger stunts.
10- As the show got bigger and bigger, the actors underwent circus training. Aircraft Circus, a company in London, gave a specialized training to properly train the actors for specific stunts. This training was meant to make sure the actors could perform these stunts for an extended period of time without hurting themselves.
To purchase tickets to The Play That Goes Wrong, go to bard.org or call 800-PLAYTIX. Click here to see our other 2023 productions.
Festival Welcomes New Company Manager: Karin Edwards
By Liz Armstrong
The Utah Shakespeare Festival is thrilled to welcome Karin Edwards as the new Company Manager.
“I am a pleasantly persistent perfectionist with a passion for people,” Edwards said of her personal motto. “My superpower is connecting with people and leaving them feeling delighted in our interactions and eagerly anticipating the next time we cross paths.”
Most recently Edwards was the Arts Programming Coordinator at Utah Tech University. She also has previous experience as a company manager, having fulfilled that role at the Tuacahn Center for the Arts for several years. She was also the company manager for the Disney Theatricals touring production of Beauty and the Beast.
“I’m excited to be back in the role of company manager. It’s overseeing a group of people who need you––which I love,” Edwards said.
She describes the role of a company manager as being both a logistics coordinator––handling things like housing and travel––and a caretaker for the seasonal company once they arrive.
“If they have an issue while at work or in their housing and can’t find the answer on Google, they’ll call me!” Edwards joked. “I love it because you build such strong relationships with people that last a long time.”
Edwards received a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Psychology at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, before a Master of Arts in the same subject at Brigham Young University. She is currently completing another master’s degree in Public Administration at Southern Utah University.
Although Edwards participated in community theater in her youth, BYU was where Edwards realized that pursuing a career in theater was an option for her.
“It hadn’t occurred to me that I could do that for a living,” Edwards said. “My ex-husband was an actor, and I started doing things to be connected to the shows.”
Starting out in merchandise, Edwards worked in the costume shop, and moved into management– where she found her niche. Now, she has 20 years of touring and experience in theater under her belt.
Edwards has lived all over the world, including New York City, the Dominican Republic, American Samoa, and Haiti. She moved back to Utah in 2010 when she took the company manager position at Tuacahn. Reflecting back, Edwards noted that her moving frequently while growing up prepared her for a life of being on the road with theater. Although she is now settled in Utah, moving and touring so often has taught her to be flexible and versatile.
Because she worked at Tuacahn only sixty miles south of Cedar City, Edwards is very familiar with the Festival already.
“We did ticket trade with the Festival, so we would come and see the shows all the time and bring actors from Tuacahn,” Edwards said. “I was always super impressed with the way the Festival felt––there was so much pride in what the Festival staff did.”
Edwards worked with a previous employee of the Festival, Ginger Nelson, who encouraged her to apply for the position, insisting she would be a perfect fit.
And Edwards is the perfect fit! As the newest addition to the year-round Festival staff, she wants everyone to be heard and have their needs taken care of.
“I want them to feel like someone has their back all the time,” Edwards said. “And not only the actors, but all members of the company and staff. We are one cohesive family and part of something bigger.”
Festival Announces 2023 Directors
By Liz Armstrong
Traveling from across the country, seven talented directors are coming to the Festival for its sixty-second season.
Interim Managing Director Michael Bahr offers a warm welcome to these creative individuals:
“We are overjoyed to welcome our directors for this upcoming season. They are stellar artistic leaders from all over the country. I know our Festival audiences will love their work,” Bahr said.
Britannia Howe:
The Greenshow
“I’m thrilled to return to writing and directing the Greenshows for the Festival,” Howe said. “This year’s Greenshow scripts are full of nostalgic folk songs and stories with opportunities for audience members to participate with the actors in the storytelling!”
This is the director’s fourth season at the Festival. She directed The Greenshow in 2018, 2019, and 2021, as well as Cymbeline in 2021. She has also worked at Illinois State University, Utah State University, and Illinois Shakespeare Festival, to name a few. Howe received the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival National Directing Fellowship in 2011, and she has teaching credits from Illinois State University, Southern Utah University, and Utah Shakespeare Festival Playmakers and Actor Training.
Howe received a Master of Fine Arts in Directing from Illinois State University, as well as a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Classical Acting and Theatre Education from Southern Utah University.
Howe excitedly announced that the free family-friendly 30-minute shows will be England Regency Garden and Appalachian Night themes. The third rotating theme will be produced by the local Paiute Tribe.
“England Regency Garden is inspired by Jane Austen’s Emma, playing in the Randall L. Jones Theatre, and it is a garden party,” Howe said. “Appalachian Night will include bluegrass music with myths of fairy folklore, influenced by themes in A Midsummer Night’s Dream playing in the Englestad Shakespeare Theatre.”
For more information on Howe, follow her on Instagram @howetelling.
Geoffrey Kent:
The Play That Goes Wrong
“I am delighted to bring comic chaos to the Randall,” Kent said excitedly.
This is Kent’s fourth season back at the Festival, with three seasons under his belt as an Actor and Fight Director here. He was Oliver in As You Like It (2017), Billy Bones in Treasure Island (2017), and the Prince of Arragon in The Merchant of Venice (2018), to name a few. He has also worked at DCPA Broadway, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, and Arvada Center. Kent received a Henry Award for Excellence in Fight Direction. His teaching credits include University of Northern Colorado, University of Denver, and Asolo Conservatory.
For more information on Kent, visit his website at geoffreykent.com or on Instagram @geoffreykent.
Jessica Kubzansky:
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Kubzansky is the Artistic Director of Boston Court Pasadena, where she has worked on world premieres of Kit Steinkellner’s Ladies, Sarah B Mantell’s Everything That Never Happened, Stefanie Zadravec’s Colony Collapse, and more. She has also worked on The Father at The Pasadena Playhouse, Othello at A Noise Within, and Hold These Truths at San Diego Repertory Theatre. Awards include Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle’s Margaret Harford Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatre.
Kubzansky teaches graduate playwrights and directors at University of California Los Angeles. She received a Master of Fine Arts in Direction from the California Institute of the Arts after obtaining an undergraduate degree in Creative Writing from John Hopkins and Harvard University.
For more information on Kubzansky, visit her Performing Arts Center website bostoncourtpasadena.org.
Derek Charles Livingston:
A Raisin in the Sun
Currently the Interim Artistic Director and Director of New Play Development at the Festival, Livingston also acted as Thurgood Marshall in the Festival’s 2022 production of Thurgood. He has also directed Polar Bears, Black Boys, and Prairie Fringed Orchids at the Festival’s 2022 Words Cubed reading. He has also taken on roles in productions at other theaters of Thurgood, The Pillowman, and The Whipping Man to name a few.
Livingston was awarded the New Hampshire Drama Award for Best Actor, as well as the LA Stage Scene Awards for Best Director. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts from Brown University, as well as a Master of Fine Arts in Film Production and Direction from the University of California- Los Angeles School of Theater, Film, and Television.
Betsy Mugavero:
Romeo and Juliet
“Directing Romeo and Juliet at the Englestad is a dream come true,” Mugavero said. “I am humbled and honored to have the opportunity to work with some of the most talented collaborators in the country on a play that is so very dear to me.”
Mugavero is a familiar face at the Festival, having been in 21 productions since 2008. She was in Romeo and Juliet (2017), Peter and the Starcatcher (2013), and Shakespeare in Love (2017). She has also performed at The Folger Theater, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, and Great Lakes Theater to name a few. She was also Producing Artistic Director at the Southwest Shakespeare Company from 2018 to 2020. She received the Broadway Cleveland Award of Best Actress for her role in As You Like It.
The director received a Master of Fine Arts from the University of California Irvine after getting a Bachelor of Arts from Temple University. She has taught various master classes at several universities.
“We will see this familiar story told in a truthful, heartfelt and robust way and honor Shakespeare’s timelessly poignant words,” Mugavero added.
For more information on Mugavero, visit her website at betsymugavero-com.webs.com.
Lisa Peterson:
Timon of Athens and Coriolanus
Peterson is a two-time Obie Award-winner for her productions of An Iliad and Light Shining in Buckinghamshire. Recent credits include Shipwrecked, Motherhood Outloud, and The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek. Shakespeare productions include Antony and Cleopatra at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Hamlet at Oregon Shakespeare Theatre, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Hartford Stage.
She has also directed at the Mark Taper Forum (where she was Resident Director for ten years), La Jolla Playhouse (where she was Associate Director for three years), and Guthrie Theatre, to name a few. Peterson is also a member of Ensemble Studio Theater and on the executive board of Stage Director and Choreographers Union.
For more information on Peterson, visit playwrightshorizon.org.
Valerie Rachelle:
Jane Austen’s Emma the Musical
Rachelle is returning to the Festival, having been the Assistant Director for All’s Well That Ends Well. She has also worked at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Syracuse Opera, and Utah Festival Opera to name a few. She is currently the Artistic Director at Oregon Cabaret Theatre.
She boasts teaching credits from the University of California Los Angeles, PCPA, and Southern Oregon University. She received a Master of Fine Arts in Directing from the University of California Irvine after a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting from the California Institute of Arts.
For more information on Rachelle, visit her website at valerierachelle.com.
“We are thrilled to welcome those coming for their first time and those that are returning,” Bahr said. “It will be an electric season.”
Tickets are now for sale for the 2023 season and may be purchased by visiting bard.org/plays/ or by calling 800-PLAYTIX.
Our Cornerstone: Four Shakespeare Productions In 2023
By Liz Armstrong
“It’s a season to stimulate minds and hearts in ways in which only Shakespeare can.” - Derek Charles Livingston
The first season of the Utah Shakespeare Festival in 1962 featured three of Shakespeare’s plays. With his works as our cornerstone, each season that followed produced the same number. Thirty years later, 1992’s season was the first time a fourth Shakespeare play was added. Since then the number of the Bard’s works has always fluctuated between three or four on our stages.
Let’s take a look at what Shakespeare productions have been chosen for the upcoming 2023 season, as well as what Interim Managing Director Michael Bahr and Interim Artistic Director Derek Charles Livingston have to say about them.
Bahr noted that this season is keeping the flame alive that founder Fred C. Adams lit long ago, “full of bright, resonant, and connective productions that share relatable themes to today.”
“This season affirms the Festival’s strong commitment to Shakespeare’s work, both the popular and lesser known plays,” Bahr said. “This is why we have lasted for 62 years, because of our commitment to produce Shakespeare’s timely work for today’s audiences!”
Livingston added to the statement, encouraging patrons to attend the productions.
“Our choices this year provide our audiences a great opportunity to see how Shakespeare could brilliantly take various theme and create masterful works,” Livingston said.
Shakespeare’s Works in the Festival’s 2023 Season
Englestad Shakespeare Theatre
June 22 – September 9, 2023
Directed by Jessica Kubzansky
This luxurious tale of fairies, dreams, and moonlight is Shakespeare’s most popular comedy. “The course of true love never did run smooth” and when the feuding king and queen of the fairies interfere in the mercurial romances of mortals, the result is magical mayhem. Leave it to the roguish Puck, impish fairies, young lovers, and bumbling would-be actors to create pure pandemonium!
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream reveals the humor, antics, and ultimately, love that exists in a world filled with magic and hope,” Livingston said.
Englestad Shakespeare Theatre
June 21 – September 8, 2023
Directed by Betsy Mugavero
A timeless tale of “star-cross’d lovers,” Romeo and Juliet tells how two young people rise above their families’ hatred and find love. The price is tragic, and its lesson is what makes this one of Shakespeare’s best-known, most-loved, and more-enduring tragedies.
“Romeo and Juliet dramatizes the perils of young lovers’ passion that strives to persist in an animosity-filled world,” Livingston said.
Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre
July 15 – October 7, 2023
Directed by Lisa Peterson
An arrogant, proud, and hot-headed military hero, Coriolanus is seduced by the notion of becoming Rome’s ruler, but he must go among the “commoners” he disdains to win their votes. His loathing becomes public, and the people drive this skilled general from Rome and into allegiance with a sworn enemy. Coriolanus now threatens to attack those whom he sought to rule. This rarely produced play’s themes of ambition, love, family, and power will crackle in our intimate Anes Theatre.
“Coriolanus reveals how a man’s misanthropy is his fatal flaw,” Livingston said.
Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre
July 14 – October 7, 2023
Directed by Lisa Peterson
Timon’s compulsive generosity makes him the most popular man in Athens. The people flatter and praise him, all the while accepting his gifts. Timon is everyone’s best friend—until his wealth is suddenly gone. Destitute and disillusioned with so-called friends who have abandoned him, he turns his back on the world. A play for our times, Timon of Athens is hilarious, satiric, and deeply moving as it explores friendship, wealth, and the foibles of a materialistic society.
“Timon of Athens shows the pitfalls of a man who loves his fellow humans too deeply,” Livingston said.
Bahr described the productions as a “kaleidoscope of choices.”
“This year we have a Shakespeare feast: a brilliant buffet of compelling plays for every palette,” Bahr said. “We get to dive deep into the fun, frivolity, pathos, and passion all within the same year."
Contrasting with three other popular and profound productions this season––Jane Austen’s Emma The Musical, The Play That Goes Wrong, and A Raisin in the Sun––Bahr noted that Shakespeare’s plays will provide social commentary in ways that only the Bard can.
To purchase tickets, go to bard.org/plays or call 800-PLAYTIX.
About Lorraine Hansberry: The Playwright of a Raisin in the Sun
By Liz Armstrong
Lorraine Hansberry was the first African American woman to write a play produced on Broadway. A Raisin in the Sun opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Broadway in March, 1959 and was extremely successful.
It tells the story of the proud Younger family as they grapple with different definitions of the American dream and how to achieve it, while battling racial discrimination, financial pitfalls, and relationship challenges. These threaten to pull the family apart and push their dreams out of reach.
Hansberry won a Drama Desk Award for her debut play. After receiving this award, she sat down for an interview in her home in Chicago.
“I believe that one of the most sound ideas in dramatic writing is that in order to create something universal, you must pay very great attention to the specific,” Hansberry said.
But let’s backtrack before diving into Hansberry’s success as a playwright. Born May 19, 1930 in Chicago Illinois, Hansberry proved to be passionate about writing at a young age. In high school, she was drawn to theater.
The playwright attended the University of Wisconsin from 1948-1950 and was briefly enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago and Roosevelt University. To focus on her writing and further her skills, Hansberry also studied at the New School for Social Research. While attending this school, Hansberry wrote for the Pan-Africanist newspaper Freedom, working alongside intellectuals Paul Robeson and W. E. B. Dubois.
A Raisin in the Sun tells the story of a lower-class African-American family set in 1950s Chicago, so Hansberry took experience from her own life – depicting the struggles this family faced in a realistic (and heartbreaking) way. This is reflected in a letter Hansberry wrote.
“As one raised in a subculture experience (I am a Negro) where those within were and are forever lecturing to their fellows about how to appear acceptable to the dominant social groups, I know something about the shallowness of such a view in and of itself,” Hansberry wrote.
“What ought to be clear is that one is oppressed or discriminated against because one is ‘different’, not ‘wrong’ or ‘bad.’ This is perhaps the bitterest of the entire pill,” Hansberry continued.
A Raisin in the Sun was later adapted into a film, released in 1961, starring Claudia McNeil and Sidney Poitier. At age 29, Hansberry received the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, the youngest playwright to do so. She was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play.
Although A Raisin in the Sun was the first play she wrote, it wasn’t the only one. In 1964, she penned The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, a play following the story of a man named Sidney, focusing especially on his struggles in Bohemian culture. It included themes of race, suicide, homosexuality, and coping and navigating life. Other works included The Drinking Gourd (1960) and What Use are Flowers? (1960).
In 1963, Hasberry met with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, a meeting set up with the famous American writer James Baldwin. The meeting was an attempt to improve race relations in the United States, resulting in a positive turning point in Kennedy’s attitude toward the Civil Rights Movement.
Hansberry passed away at the young age of 34 on January 12, 1965 from pancreatic cancer. Of her death, James Baldwin said, “It is not at all far-fetched to suspect that what she saw contributed to the strain which killed her, for the effort to which Lorraine was dedicated is more than enough to kill a man.”
Four years later, Robert Nemiroff, Hasberry’s husband of 11 years, produced To Be Young, Gifted, and Black on Broadway. It was the longest running Off-Broadway play of the 1968/69 season. A selection of Hansberry’s writings, the play was adapted and published in book form in 1970.
Through her writings, Hansberry explored her identities as a writer, lesbian, feminist, black woman, and part of a heterosexual marriage. Her works challenged themes of segregation, racism, oppression of homosexuality and focused on African struggles for liberation and their impact on the world.
Of Hansberry, Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Her creative ability and her profound grasp of the deep social issues confronting the world today will remain an inspiration to generations yet unborn.”