Festival Pianist for Twenty Years

By Liz Armstrong 

The talented Doreen Woolley has been playing the piano in the lobby of the Randall L. Jones Theatre for twenty years now. She adds to the Festival experience by playing pleasant “lobby music” in the background before the shows.

“I love seeing and interacting with the patrons and seeing how they respond to music,” Woolley said. “Music is the great equalizer, and it just kind of brings everyone together.” 

Woolley and her late husband retired to Cedar City in 2001 and began ushering at the Festival together. She learned that Scott Phillipis, former executive director, was looking for someone to play lobby music. “I improvised, I think I played something from Les Misérables. And I got about eight bars in and he said, ‘Nevermind how many days a week can you do this?’” Woolley laughed. 

Ever since, Woolley has been invaluable to the Festival, not only because of her expertise tickling the ivories, but because of her dedication. Although there are several Festival pianists, Woolley plays the most at eight shows a week. 

Woolley and Festival patrons shared a beautiful experience together several weeks ago, when a woman asked her to play “Edelweiss” from The Sound of Music. Per Scott Phillips suggestion years ago, Woolley avoids playing music that the Festival has onstage during the season, but the patron was adamant that she play the tune. So, Woolley began playing. 

“She said it was too high for her husband to sing, so I played it at a lower key and he sang,” Woolley said. “And then she announced to the whole lobby that everyone should sing.” Soon, the lobby was filled with singing patrons as more and more began to join in, pulling up lyrics on their phones if they didn’t know the tune. 

Woolley said this isn’t a rare occurrence, noting that she’s never played a show that she can remember that someone hasn’t come through the lobby singing. 

“It’s important for Festival patrons, and that’s why I do it,” Woolley said. 

But it’s important to Woolley too, as playing the piano at the Festival has become her “lifeline” since her husband passed away in 2013. “I’m really grateful to have this that I can go to and get lots of socialization,” Woolley said. 

The virtuoso, however, said that before she came to the Festival, she hadn’t been actively involved in music for many years, besides playing accompaniment and at church. 

Her musical journey really began as a college student when Woolley was hired to play for the Virginia Tanner Children’s Dance Theatre to improvise whatever movement was being performed. She put her husband through medical school and the rest of her own schooling doing this. 

Woolley is a University of Utah alumna, but her education didn’t stop there. She received a master’s degree in counseling from Ball State University before going on to earn a PhD from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Woolley was lecturing and active in the academic setting before she and her husband retired. 

It’s hard to imagine what the Festival was like before Woolley’s piano music, but it just wouldn’t be the same without her. So next time you go to a show, stop by the Randall L. Jones lobby and take a second to surround yourself with Woolley’s music, it’ll be sure to amplify and enhance your experience.

Projections Add to the Magic

By Liz Armstrong

To add to the magic of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, the Utah Shakespeare Festival has implemented a little extra to the set design this season, utilizing projections onstage to help illustrate Shakespeare’s last and most imaginative romance. This is not the first time the Festival has used projections, but this production certainly uses them more than any other in the past.

Director Cameron Knight explained his decision to use projections in the play, noting that the addition helps create the magic and add clarity to the storytelling. “We use them as an additional character to aid in the audience’s experience and understanding of the story,” Knight said. 

One patron from Salt Lake City said that his experience of The Tempest did just that when paired with Prospero’s monologue at the start of the show, helping to transition him into the story. 

Knight said that the use of projections, which were designed by Yee Eun Nam, also helped with cutting and shortening the script. By showing elements visually that would usually be spoken, the projections help keep audience members engaged and interested. Lightning storms, enchanted forests, mystical silhouettes, Ariel casting spells, and even Miranda and Ferdinand playing chess are all projected onstage while the actors continue to tell the story traditionally. 

“This play is so magical already,” Knight said. “Using projections helped elevate that magical realm.” 

In addition to deciding to use projections, Knight’s other artistic decisions made this play into what it is: an escape from reality into a world of magic, fairies, and adventure. 

“The score and composition by Lindsey Jones, really leaning in to the ’90s rock, grunge, and R&B created an amazing setting for the world,” Knight said, “along with Jaymi Smith’s amazing lighting, Yee Eun Nam’s projections, and Raquel Adorno’s beautiful costume design.” The combination of technology, music, and acting layer on top of one another, resulting in a play experience that patrons have never before seen at the Festival.

To see The Tempest and to be immersed in an evening of pure magic, visit bard.org/plays or call 800-PLAYTIX to purchase tickets.

Presenting Sensory-Friendly Performances

In an effort to serve those with autism spectrum disorders, sensory sensitivities, or other similar disabilities, the Utah Shakespeare Festival recently announced it will present sensory-friendly performances of two of its most popular shows.

The Tempest, Shakespeare’s most magical romance, will be featured September 10 at 2 p.m. in the Anes Studio Theatre. The Sound of Music, the beloved family musical, will be September 17 at 2 p.m in the Randall L. Jones Theatre.

During these special performances, patrons will be able to enjoy the show together with family and friends in a welcoming, inclusive, and relaxed space. Tickets are half-price, with some additional education and group discounts available. More information about the plays is available online at www.bard.org, but tickets must be ordered by calling the Ticket Office at 800-PLAYTIX.

“Theatre rules will be relaxed for these performances. Patrons can freely respond to the shows in their own way and without judgment,” said Interim Education Director Stewart Shelley. “This is our third time undertaking these types of performances, and our patrons enjoyed it so much that we are continuing the tradition again this year.”

These changes include the following:

• House lights will be left on slightly so patrons may see to easily move around. Some patrons may want to stand or walk a bit.
• Playgoers may engage in self-expression, singing and clapping along—or talking or making other noises to themselves.
• Playgoers will have the freedom to take breaks during the performance; they will be welcome to come and go as needed. The Randall Theatre cry rooms will be available to all patrons.
• Playgoers may bring a fidget toy or other calming object.
• Playgoers may look at phones and tablets or wear headphones during the performance.

“Modifications will be environmental, not artistic, so that patrons can enjoy the same artistic product seen during other performances,” said Shelley. “However, we may decide to lower or dim any strobe lights or sudden, loud noises that could startle patrons.”

Children must be four years of age or older in order to attend this performance.

Michael Doherty: Making People Laugh

By Liz Armstrong

Actor Michael Doherty has been making audience members fall off their seats with laughter even before he began acting professionally in 2008. In third grade, Doherty acted in Pinocchio at his school; calling it his “actor origin story,” it was at this young age that Doherty discovered he could use acting to bring humor to those around him. 

“I was an odd little boy and when I did my callback in front of my peers it was the first time I heard people laughing at me in a way that I was in control of,” Doherty said. “It felt like everything that made me weird and different was utilized as a kind of superhero—I could make people feel things.”

Although Doherty participated in community theatre in middle and high school, it wasn’t until several intensive summer programs that he discovered that acting was something he could take incredibly seriously. 

“I applied to be a musical theatre major at a few colleges, got into almost none of them and was going to pivot again when I got into the University of Arts in Philadelphia and learned about regional theatre,” Doherty recalled. 

In his junior year of college, Doherty began working at Philadelphia theatres, living there for fifteen years while also traveling all over the country to act. “I was able to learn on the job and hone my skills by people taking a chance on me in a smaller community,” Doherty said.

Returning for his fifth season this year, Doherty first came to the Utah Shakespeare Festival in 2015, playing three comedic roles: Lord Fancourt Babberley in Charley’s Aunt, Tranio in The Taming of the Shrew, and Speed in The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Since then he has played such roles as Charlie Baker in The Foreigner, the Narrator in Every Brilliant Thing, The Joneses in The Comedy of Terrors, and Dromio of Syracuse in The Comedy of Terrors. 

This season he is delighting Festival patrons as Mr. Green in Clue, Lavatch in All’s Well That Ends Well, and Jonas Fogg in Sweeney Todd.

“Mr. Green is giving me the most exploration in the realm of [physical comedy],” Doherty said. “I feel like it is such an amazing form of expression that doesn’t require me to be a technically proficient dancer but will still let me totally explore my fullest range of motion in order to tell the story.”

Doherty noted that this role in Clue is some of the most fun he’s ever had onstage. “It’s going to go down as one of my favorite shows I’ve ever done for sure,” Doherty said.

His role as Lavatch in All’s Well That Ends Well is fun, but a challenge. Lavatch has been known as Shakespeare’s most “expendable and lascivious” clown. “I love a Shakespearean clown—I love the marriage of physical comedy and language,” Doherty said. 

In regards to Sweeney Todd, Doherty said that it may contain his most favorite musical score ever written, so “it’s been exciting to experience and listen and sing through each night.”

A heartwarming and talented actor, Doherty is perhaps most known for bringing physical comedy to the stage. A patron of the Festival laughingly recalled Doherty in The Foreigner, when he “melted off a chair.” This season, one of his most comedic feats is dodging, in slow motion, the falling chandelier in Clue. 

“When I come to the Festival, there is always some physical bit I end up doing in the shows that I’ve never attempted before,” Doherty said. “Last season I had to do a suitcase trick where I did half a split while grabbing the suitcase with my teeth.”

The trick to successfully executing physical comedy for Doherty is remembering to be safe and build those physical moments in a way that is repeatable. “Like so much of acting, it is an imperfectible exercise,” Doherty said. “It’ll never be right every time, but you try and get as close as you can which taps you into that in-the-moment kind of theatre.”

Perhaps most important, though, is being honest with audience members. Doherty explained that there is a huge difference in trying to be funny and authentically executing that humor by continually raising the stakes. “That line is interesting to ride. [I was told once] to stack the deck for yourself.” Doherty said. “That’s stuck with me the most . . . just knowing those marks you have to hit . . . but then letting all of that go and executing that in a way that feels very grounded and authentic and true to your natural emotion.” 

Doherty explained that as an actor, if he can raise the stakes high enough, if the emotions and the fear and the sweat becomes real enough, “it becomes funny, regardless of the circumstances—like if people are dying all around you in Clue.” 

Comedy has always been important to Doherty because of what it brings to the stage. “As soon as you start to add that sense of play and mischief into the equation, that’s what makes theatre magical and brings it to the next level,” Doherty said. 

To see Doherty’s talent onstage and to enjoy his humor, purchase tickets at bard.org/plays or call 800-PLAYTIX.

People in Our Neighborhood: Maria Twitchell

By Liz Armstrong 

This article is the second in a series people in the Festival neighborhood. Some will be new patrons of the Festival, and some like Maria Twitchell are life-long fans. We hope you enjoy getting to know our neighbors.

Maria Twitchell, executive director of Visit Cedar City • Brian Head, has been a Festival fan since childhood. She grew up in Cedar City, a block away from Festival grounds, and has been buying tickets to the plays for over thirty years. 

“I tell people all the time that in the summertime as kids we would walk up to the Shakespeare Festival so we would watch The Greenshow,” Twitchell recalled. “It gave us something to look forward to.” She also admitted that as young children, they would often try and sneak in to watch plays—until they got caught. 

Twitchell said that the Festival was a major part of her formative years, giving her a perspective she may not have otherwise had in the small town of Cedar City. 

“As a kid, it was an eye-opening experience,” Twitchell said. “We were able to see things from a different light and grow up with different people around us.”

Twitchell marvels at the success the Festival has experienced in her lifetime. “For a town of 28,000, it’s amazing that we can put on world-class theatre,” Twitchell said. “When you look at the demographic, it shouldn’t work at all. But it does, and once you’ve experienced it, it makes perfect sense.” 

Twitchell has worked for Visit Cedar City • Brian Head, Iron County’s tourism bureau, for over twenty-eight years, and has been the director since 2005. Because of her career, Twitchell works closely with the Festival. This has resulted in a connection with the Festival both in her personal and work life. 

“In regards to my job, the Festival is important because it’s an economic driver. We rely a lot on their success,” Twitchell said. “The Festival has always been a great partner, always open to ideas and working together, so we love working with them.” 

Recalling some of her favorite plays, Twitchell noted that she loves all of the productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well as The Spitfire Grill and the 2014 production of The Comedy of Errors. 

Twitchell holds a special place in her heart for the Festival because of the larger point of view it gave her as a child, and so she greatly admires the education tour held annually, which brings theatre to rural communities throughout the west. 

“The community and the Festival are really ingrained together,” Twitchell said. 

Go to visitcedarcity.com to stay up to date on local news and events, and join Twitchell in purchasing tickets for this season at bard.org/plays or by calling 800-PLAYTIX.

Actor Relates to Struggles in Trouble in Mind

By Liz Armstrong 

NOTE: The original version of this article had the timeline and ages in the sixth paragraph incorrect. They are now corrected, and we apologize for the error.

Yvette Monique Clark, who is playing the lead role of Wiletta Mayer in the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s Trouble in Mind, sees parallels between Wiletta’s struggles in the play and her own challenges she has faced as a black performer in a predominantly white industry. 

This role is close to Clark’s heart because she sees herself in Wiletta. “I relate to the struggles she goes through in the play,” Clark said. “It’s very taxing on my emotions, because I’m so close to it in that respect.”

Clark discovered the play a few years ago. As she was reading, she realized that her and Wiletta’s lives paralleled in a “modern-sense.” “Like Wiletta, I’ve had people try to pigeon-hole me into different roles, . . . and I’ve fought that throughout my career.”

Clark’s goal as the lead is to make Wiletta as “human as possible,” and to do playwright Alice Childress’s work justice. “I hope someone will point to me and say, ‘I have a cousin like that, I have an aunt like that,’” Clark said. “I want to make her as relatable as possible, because if she’s relatable, [the audience] will listen to what she has to say.”

Clark’s acting journey started for her at a young age. “As a child I was an award-winning storyteller,” Clark said. “I knew I loved being onstage.”

Her career changed direction a bit when she made the decision to pursue singing. “When I was thirty-three and my son was about nine-years old, I decided I wanted to start singing. My background is in musical theatre, but as it progressed, I branched off into doing other things,” Clark said. 

Clark’s “branching off” saw success, and she worked for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Gateway Playhouse, Capitol Repertory Theatre, New Harmony Theatre, and internationally with Living Arts Inc. and African Globe Theatreworks, as well as many others. 

Additionally, she has acted for the big screen, landing roles in the wildly popular show Orange Is the New Black, as well as Seasons of Love and Stealing Martin Lane to name a few. 

“This is my first time at the Festival,” Clark said. “This past year I was at the Denver Center for Performing Arts, the Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre, and the Depot Theatre.”

This is an exciting season for Clark not only because it’s her first season at the Festival, but because the role of the Countess of Rossillion in All’s Well That Ends Well is her first Shakespeare role, and the role of Wiletta in Trouble in Mind is her first time being a lead. 

Although the play premiered sixty-five years ago, it is only now that it is having its moment in the spotlight. “I wish [Childress] could see this happening now,” Clark said. “It’s great that people are getting to see this story, and maybe one day it won’t be relevant anymore. But that’s not what we can say right now.”

Ultimately, Clark hopes that the audience recognizes and sees humanity in the play. “As a human community, we forget that other people’s situations are different from ours because it’s not our reality,” Clark said. “I’m hoping this gives them a window into what happens to people of color in all walks of life, in all situations.”

Festival Announces New Marketing Manager

By Liz Armstrong 

The Utah Shakespeare Festival is excited to announce the latest member of its year-round staff: Cedar City native Brittney Corry started August 1 as the Festival’s new marketing manager. 

Corry calls herself a “southern Utah gal,” having grown up in Cedar City. She graduated from Southern Utah University with a degree in strategic communication in 2014 and currently teaches dance at Cedar High School. 

The SUU alumna owned a dance studio at one point and does freelance graphic design work. She loves paddleboarding, hiking, and crafting with her two kids. Corry strongly believes in giving back to the community and hopes this position will be a great opportunity to do so. 

Her role at the Festival will include, among other duties, website curation, email marketing, and digital campaign planning and analysis. 

We are thrilled to have Brittney join the team as the marketing manager,” Director of Development and Communication Donn Jersey said. “She is from Cedar City, has a solid connection to our community and the Festival, and will bring exciting new ideas to our organization.”

Corry feels that this is the perfect job for her. “I love [technical writing] and personal relations, and that’s why I chose to pursue strategic communications,” Corry said. “But there’s also a very creative side to me. I love dance and performing arts and watching theatre, and so this is a dream opportunity.”

Corry plans to offer a unique perspective to the Festival. “I’m a local, but I sometimes feel like I don’t fit into the Cedar City climate,” Corry said. “I feel like I know what locals value but also what those visiting might be looking for.”

She said she can’t wait to start at the Festival and contribute. “I loved growing up here. The Festival felt like the biggest thing in the world, it’s sensational. So I couldn’t be more thrilled to be included and have this opportunity,” Corry concluded.

Modernizing Shakespeare

By Liz Armstrong

Shakespeare’s first plays were performed in the 1590s. This means that his plays have been seen for over 400 years, inspiring and impacting audiences around the world for centuries. Because his plays have been performed for so long, it’s understandable that updates and changes are often implemented. This year, The Tempest is utilizing projections to aid in the storytelling and has set the play in the 1990s, while Director Melinda Pfundstein decided to set All’s Well That Ends Well against the backdrop of 1940s France and Italy. 

Pfundstein explained that “Shakespeare’s plays were written through his particular lens in the world, and were relevant in his time, meant to stir conversation, provoke thought and inquiry, entertain the senses, serve as a mirror to society, and so much more.”

Even though the plays were written so long ago, the core themes remain relevant in today’s society, which is why Shakespeare is still so beloved. But modernizing the plays a bit can make them even more relatable.

“We have an opportunity with his plays to present All’s Well That Ends Well through a contemporary lens—without making any contemporary language additions, in a way that may inspire the same outcomes as Shakespeare’s time: conversation, inquiry, thought, etc., and make his themes relevant to our current world and audience,” Pfundstein said.

“His plays are repeated over and over at the Festival, and I am excited by the opportunity to breathe fresh perspective into these beloved and sometimes lesser-known stories, in a way that allows my own children to see themselves and the world around them represented within,” Pfundstein said. 

Cameron Knight, who is directing The Tempest this year, agrees, adding that modernizing any Shakespeare play allows for the audience to wrestle with the story of the plays in a more immediate way. 

“It allows for Shakespeare to truly transcend and become the representative and inclusive author that we believe him to be,” Knight said. “The impact is profound when an audience and the artists can see themselves in the work.”

Although modernizing Shakespeare is sometimes controversial, it ultimately gives audience members the opportunity to connect to the plays on an even deeper level while enjoying the fresh take directors choose to implement. 

Enjoy the productions of All’s Well That Ends Well, The Tempest, and morethis 2022 season. The changes and creative decisions that directors have made will ensure that they are productions you have never seen before, and that is the beauty of modernizing Shakespeare.

The Journey of Creating Prospero

By Liz Armstrong 

Jasmine Bracey is candid about her experience preparing to play the role of Prospero in The Tempest this summer at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. She is quick to note that there are so many things about this role that scare her. 

“I’ve seen The Tempest four times, and I think it’s a wonderful play, but I never remember Prospero, because I’ve never really followed that line of vengeance and orchestrating-puppet-master,” Bracey said. 

Bracey, who last season was at the Festival as Belarius in Cymbeline and Mrs. Dickson in Intimate Apparel, said she was honest with director Cameron Knight about the role: “You’re having me play a character that I don’t usually care about, so how can we remedy that?”

But this isn’t a problem for Bracey, but rather an exciting challenge. “There’s so much about Prospero that I don’t understand and don’t know, but I can honestly say that I’m very excited to figure that out and go on that journey,” Bracey said. “It’s the first time I’ve really been challenged with a role.” 

Bracey encourages patrons to come and see The Tempest because of how fun it is. “Regardless of my complications with my character, the story holds. It’s messy, like life is, and in a comedic spirit, that’s really great for audience members to experience.”

Because Prospero is usually a male character played by a male actor, Bracey will give the role a fresh, female perspective. “Prospero definitely has a mercurial nature; and it will read differently, I think, coming from a female instead of a male,” she said. 

Bracey also noted that a mother-daughter relationship is viewed differently than a father-daughter relationship because “there is an assumption that females are more communication- and connection-based,” which results in the actress thinking of Miranda differently with Prospero as her mother.

“Though these relationships can be explored regardless of gender, I have a feeling that it may hit differently with me being both female and black, depending on the gender or racial biases in the audience,” Bracey said.

Ultimately, Bracey has been on a journey, trying to navigate how to make this character someone she would personally want to watch. “I’ve done Shakespeare for over a decade, and I’ve never encountered a role like this,” Bracey said. 

To see Bracey as Prospero and experience the imaginative romance of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, purchase tickets at https://www.bard.org/plays/the-tempest/.

10 Things You May Not Know about The Tempest

By Liz Armstrong 

Shakespeare’s last romance, The Tempest is brimming with magic. Full of fairies, monsters, and shipwrecks, this play encompasses themes of love, harmony, and redemption. Before you see this fantastical and fun play, check out the fun facts below. 

1—Prospero battles with fitting into society, as well as knowing when to retire. Because this is one of Shakespeare’s last plays, many believe this to be a reflection of the playwright’s inner struggles as he neared the end of his career. 

2—Shorter than even A Midsummer Night’s Dream and A Comedy of Errors, The Tempest is one of Shakespeare’s shortest plays, coming in at just about 17,000 words. Hamlet, Shakespeare’s longest, boasts almost 30,000 words.  

3—Romeo and Juliet inspired West Side Story, while Lion King, reflects Hamlet’s themes. So what did The Tempest inspire? Yellow Sky, a 1948 Western film seems to fit the bill. 

4—Ever wonder why it’s called The Tempest? The play is named after the storm that occurs during much of the first scene. 

5—Shakespeare is said to have introduced over 1,000 words and phrases into the English language, so let’s take a peek at what he coined in this play. “Into thin air,” “brave new world,” and “in a pickle,” seem to have been popularized from The Tempest. 

6—The shipwreck in Shakespeare’s play may have been based off of a real one in 1609. William Strachey wrote A True Reportory of the Wracke and Redemption of Sir Thomas Gates, Knight and many believe the playwright took inspiration from this account.

7—Of the twenty-seven known moons of the planet Uranus, twenty-four are named after characters from Shakespeare’s plays, and The Tempest provided the inspiration for the names of several—more than any other play. Curiously, Ariel isn’t one of them. There is such a moon, but it was named for a character called Ariel from Alexander Pope’s poem “The Rape of the Lock.”

8—The first recorded performance of the play was before James I for his royal court in 1611 at Whitehall Palace.

9—The Tempest has been adapted into a startling forty-six operatic productions, the first being a semi-opera in 1695 by Henry Purcell. 

10—Many times, Miranda is the only human female character in The Tempest, which means it has the fewest female characters of Shakespeare’s plays. However, many productions cast Ariel as a female, and several companies, including the Festival this season, have reimagined Prospero as a woman.