Ten Facts You May Not Know about Intimate Apparel

A crazy quilt similar to the one which figures prominently in Intimate Apparel*.*

By Parker Bowring

Intimate Apparel is a powerful and heartfelt play that takes place against the backdrop of New York City at the turn of the century which we are sure you will enjoy. As you prepare to see the play, you may be interested in these ten facts about the play and its playwright:

1.     Playwright Lynn Nottage began thinking about this play after she found her great-grandmother’s passport photo and wanted to learn more about her and what it was like for her to live in early twentieth century New York City.

2.     Nottage placed a bed in each scene of the play. In an interview with The Guardian, she said: “I wanted to see the way in which it impacts interactions. Even if the bed isn’t used, even if no one sits on it, how does that change the sexual dynamic, the social intercourse?” (https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/may/28/lynn-nottage-intimate-apparel-interview)

3.     Along with being inspired by her great-grandmother, Nottage found inspiration from a photograph of a white satin corset embroidered with orange blossoms. She discovered it in a book that depicted the history of lingerie. 

4.     Nottage is the only woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice.

5.     Intimate Apparelhas won a number of prestigious awards, including the Outer Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play, the Steinberg New Play Award, and an Obie Award.

6.     Nottage has written over ten plays, as well as a number of essays that have appeared in various anthologies. 

7.     As with Intimate Apparel, most of Nottage’s plays carry themes of marginalized people and their stories. 

8.     The play was a co-commission and co-production between Center Stage in Baltimore, Maryland, and South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California.

9.     The main character, Esther Mills, keeps her life savings in her crazy quilt. Crazy quilts such as hers became popular in the last years of the nineteenth century. They were intricately made from scraps of silk, wool, and velvet then heavily embroidered. 

10.  None of the four women in the play are New York City natives, each moved to New York with hopes of achieving their dreams. 

The History behind Intimate Apparel

Costume design by Raquel Adorno.

By Kathryn Neves

This season at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, we’ll get a chance to see Intimate Apparel—a much-acclaimed play by Lynn Nottage. Set around the same time as this season’s musical, Ragtime, Intimate Apparel is a moving story of a young African-American seamstress at the turn of the twentieth century. This young woman, Esther, navigates the world of 1905 New York in a time of great political upheaval and social change. To really understand Esther and her world, we need to understand the history behind the play.

Just nine years before the start of the play, the U.S. Supreme Court passed what is widely considered one of the worst decisions it ever made. The case of Plessy v. Ferguson essentially created a “separate but equal” policy. This made it completely legal for discrimination based on race. As an African American woman in New York City, this case has a profound effect on Esther, essentially codifying into law her status as a “second-class citizen” due to her race.

Another key event in the racial history of America happened in the years before the play: the race riots of 1900 in New York City. After a black man, Arthur Harris, killed a police officer, large crowds of white men mobbed and rioted, attacking many black people in the city as retaliation. Reports of police brutality abounded, and none of the attackers faced legal repercussions. At the time of the play, Esther is living in a city still affected by the racial divisions caused by the riots.

As part of her job as a seamstress, Esther creates undergarments for women of all social classes, including a prostitute. In 1902, a report called The Social Evil was published in New York City, as a way to combat prostitution. This issue was at the forefront of the public consciousness at the time of the play.

Perhaps most significant of all is the Niagara Movement, which began in the year the play takes place. A group of African-American activists, led by W. E. B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter, created a group dedicated to widespread change in regards to racial relations in the U.S. The Niagara Movement sought to effect change by refusing to accommodate or compromise with racist policies. The push for racial equality was well underway at the turn of the century, and in Intimate Apparel, we see Esther living and working in the middle of it.

Intimate Apparelis so moving because of the history behind it. In a time of great political and social upheaval, we get an intimate, personal look at the life of a woman affected by all of it. We see the effects of history, not just on a grand scale, but on an individual level. In Intimate Apparel, we see the humanity behind the history. In Intimate Apparel, Lynn Nottage has created a character made more real and relatable by the history behind her.

Fifteen Facts for the Bard’s Birthday

By Kathryn Neves

Happy Birthday, William Shakespeare! This year, Shakespeare turns 457 years old! To celebrate the Bard’s birthday, here are fifteen fun facts about the Swan of Stratford-upon-Avon.

1. Shakespeare died on his birthday (probably). William Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616. The vicar of the church where Shakespeare was buried wrote that “Shakespeare, Drayton, and Ben Jonson had a merry meeting and it seems drank too hard, for Shakespeare died of a fever there contracted.” An illustrious ending for the greatest playwright in the English language. It’s too bad he missed out on his birthday celebrations that day! (Assuming, of course, that he actually was born on April 23. Traditionally, babies were baptised three days after birth, and the church’s register lists his baptism date as April 26).

2. Shakespeare may have left a “signature” in the Bible. It’s possible that Shakespeare helped to translate the King James version of the Bible. After all, he was in the king’s service at the time. When the translation was completed in 1611, Shakespeare was forty-six years old. If you look at Psalm 46, you’ll find that the forty-sixth word from the beginning of the verse is “shake” and the forth-sixth word from the end (not counting the liturgical marking) is “spear.” Coincidence?

3. Speaking of signatures, Shakespeare spelled his own name differently nearly every time! He was clearly not a consistent speller. Almost every document with his name is spelled differently! From Willm Shakp, to Wm Shakspe, to William Shakspere, the Bard definitely didn’t care how he spelled his name. Ironically, he never spelled it the way we do today!

4. Shakespeare invented over 1,700  words. Sometimes he combined words, sometimes he changed them into verbs or nouns, and sometimes he just made them up. From “alligator” to “jaded” to “rant” to “bedroom,” Shakespeare is responsible for plenty of words that we use today.

5. Not just words—Shakespeare created some pretty quotable phrases too. Think “eating me out of house and home,” “it’s Greek to me,” “green-eyed monster,” and “in a pickle”!

6. Shakespeare wrote the second-most quoted body of work in the English language. He’s the most quotable of authors. You’ll find him just about everywhere. The number one spot goes to the Bible, incidentally.

7. Shakespeare may have been a secret Catholic. Catholicism was not exactly popular after the disastrous reign of Mary I (Bloody Mary), so if Shakespeare were a Catholic, he definitely hid that fact. He was possibly married in a Catholic ceremony rather than a Protestant one, and many modern scholars find evidence of his possible Catholicism in his works.

8. Shakespeare was an actor. He acted in the plays as well as writing them. In fact, you’ll find several roles in his plays that he wrote for himself— including the Ghost of Hamlet’s father in Hamlet, King Duncan in Macbeth, and possibly even King Henry in Henry IV.

9. Shakespeare was sponsored by King James I. The monarch loved Shakespeare’s work. He sponsored the Bard’s theatre company which changed its name from the Lord Chamberlain’s Men to the King’s Men. In fact, Shakespeare even wrote Macbeth for King James!

10. Shakespeare was pretty wealthy for his time. When most people think of geniuses, they think of unappreciated, starving artists. Not so with Shakespeare! He lived pretty well-off due to the success of his plays.

11. Not everyone was a fan of Shakespeare. He was panned sometimes by critics. Robert Greene called him an ‘upstart crow.’ Even so, audiences definitely loved him! A lot of his plays were even pirated.

12. Shakespeare wrote poetry during the plague. An outbreak of the plague in 1593 shut down the theatres for a few years (sound familiar?). During this time, Shakespeare seems to have focused on his poetry. He wrote quite a few sonnets during this time!

13. We’ll never see some of Shakespeare’s plays. A few of the Bard’s works have been lost over time. Cardenio is one, and Love’s Labour’s Won (the sequel to Love’s Labour’s Lost) is the most famous. We know he wrote them, but unfortunately we’ll never get to see them.

14. Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre burned down. In 1613, a prop cannon misfired during a production of Henry VIII. It sent the very flammable wooden theatre up in flames. Luckily, it was rebuilt the next year.

**15. Shakespeare put a curse on his grave.**Graverobbing was a real problem in Shakespeare’s day. To prevent this, he had this poem inscribed on his gravestone: “Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare,/ To dig the dust enclosed here./ Blessed be the man that spares these stones,/ And cursed be he that moves my bones.” Too bad it wasn’t enough of a deterrent! In 2016, an analysis of his grave proved that Shakespeare’s skull has gone missing!

Third Annual "Make a Scene" Goes Virtual

The Utah Shakespeare Festival is inviting everyone to join in its popular spring fundraising event. The third annual “Make a Scene” festivities will be completely online this year, and registration will be free, with optional opportunities to donate to the Festival available during the event. It all begins on April 23 (Shakespeare’s birthday) at 7 p.m. To request your free login, email make-a-scene@bard.org.

The digital event will include magic, music, and hilarious scenes from The Comedy of Errors, featuring as various characters some the state’s best-known leaders of government, business, and the arts.

“This feel-good fundraiser is so much fun for the cast and Festival friends alike. It is a rare chance to see professional actors alongside the governor, lieutenant governor, and their spouses, as well as other media, business, and government leaders,” said Donn Jersey, development and communication director. “Watching them perform hilarious scenes from The Comedy of Errors will be pure joy. Thank you to our sponsors and supporters for making this evening successful.”

“I hope all of our patrons make time on April 23 at 7 p.m. to join us,” he continued. “To me, this feels like a prelude to our sixtieth anniversary season, which is going to be spectacular.”

Included among those scheduled to appear are Governor and First Lady Spencer J. and Abby Cox; Lt. Governor Diedre Henderson and her husband, Gabe; Senate Majority Leader Evan J. Vickers and numerous other members of the state legislature; Schvalla Rivera, former assistant to the president for diversity and inclusion at Southern Utah University; popular radio personality Doug Fabrizio; Nubia Peña, director of the Utah Division of Multicultural Affairs; and television personalities Fred Grandy and Ted Lange, of Love Boat fame. They will be joined by professional actors from the Festival: Michael Doherty, Betsy Mugavero, Ezekiel Andrew, René Thornton Jr., Rhett Guter, and Richard Henry.

Other cast members are Utah Senators Jani Iwamoto, Michael K. McKell, Derek L. Kitchen, and Jerry W. Stevenson; Utah State Representatives Carol Speckman Moss, Christine F. Watkins and Bradley G. Last; Utah Attorney General Sean D. Reyes and his wife, Saysha; Festival Board Chair Bryan Watabe; and SUU President and First Lady Scott L and Kathy Wyatt. For more information on the cast, visit www.bard.org/make-a-scene.

The fun evening is directed by Vincent J. Cardinal, who directed The Foreigner and Every Brilliant Thing for the Festival in 2018 and 2019.

“Our goal is for the leaders in the state to join our patrons in taking a pause from a stressful year and have fun reading one of Shakespeare’s silliest and most delightful plays,” said Cardinal. “It’s a taste of what it will be like for us all to return to Cedar City this summer and laugh together in the same theatre.”

The Festival’s 2021 season is scheduled for June 21 to October 9. Plays will be Pericles, Richard III, The Comedy of Errors, The Pirates of Penzance, Ragtime, Cymbeline, Intimate Apparel, and The Comedy of Terrors. Tickets are available by calling 800-PLAYTIX or visiting www.bard.org.

Ten Things You May Not Know about Our Theatres

The Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre

The Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre

The Randall L. Jones Theatre

The Utah Shakespeare Festival is proud to produce plays in three very different but beautiful and functional theatres. The Randall L. Jones Theatre provides a beautiful indoor space for “Shakespeares of other lands,” as well as the occasional play by Shakespeare himself. The Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre is patterned after open-air theatres of Shakespeare’s day, offering guests a performance area under the stars, but with modern day amenities. And the Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre offers a smaller playing space perfect for adding an intimate experience for playgoers.

And even though you may have been attending the Festival for many years, we are sure there are things you don’t know about our three theatres:

1. This summer marks the fifth anniversary of the Beverley Center for the Arts, the physical home of all three of our theatres. The grand opening was July 7, 2016, and the Engelstad and Anes theatres presented their first plays that summer.

2. The Randall Theatre is older. It opened in 1989 but now joins its younger sibling theatres as part of the Beverley Center.

3. The Randall Theatre is named after a Cedar City native known as the father of tourism in southern Utah and whose family was a major donor toward the building.

4. The Anes Theatre was designed with color-changing LED light fixtures, allowing wide flexibility. Nearly half of these fixtures feature a moving head which allows computerized panning and tilting.

5. The Randall Theatre has approximately 350-400 theatre lighting fixtures, and the Engelstad Theatre has approximately 250-300.

6. There are twenty-eight speakers throughout the Beverley Center to present an aural experience throughout the day.

7. The Englestad Theatre has a sound system that provides an immersive aural experience with forty-six total speakers. At full output they produce 37,900 watts.

8. The Festival’s recording studio can receive audio from any of the three theatres, allowing our artists and technicians to record backing tracks while rehearsal is in progress.

9. The Engelstad Theatre seats approximately 921playgoers; the Randall Theatre, approximately 770; and the Anes Theatre, approximately 200.

10. The Randall L. Jones Theatre was featured in the August 1990 edition of Architecture magazine.

Festival Welcomes New Company Manager

Tracy Blackwell

The Utah Shakespeare Festival recently announced a new face at the Tony Award-winning theatre company. Tracy Blackwell has been hired as the Festival’s company manager and as such will be responsible for supporting the Festival’s 300-plus seasonal company members.

“The company manager’s tasks include the travel, housing, and ongoing support of our 300-plus seasonal company members, but the critical importance of the role is how the company manager works outside of the theatre spaces to make sure that the best work possible can take place inside the shops and theatres,” said Festival General Manager Kami Terry Paul. “Tracy is particularly talented in this field, having worked as a company manager for Cirque du Soleil shows all over the world. She brings experience, professionalism, and amazing personal warmth that our company and community will truly enjoy.”

Blackwell began her arts career as an elementary music teacher for seven years in Ohio, before attending graduate school in musical theatre at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.  After several years of performing, she turned to the administration side of the industry at Blue Man Group Las Vegas, where former Festival staff member Chris Nelson guided her into company management. Then, after a year on tour with Troika Entertainment, she landed a job with Cirque du Soleil, and within a ten-year span was the assistant company manager for four shows, including three in Las Vegas and one in Macau, China.  

“I’ve always regarded the Festival as the pinnacle of regional theatre companies, and I am beyond thrilled to have joined this incredible staff!” said Blackwell. “I’m excited to expand on the work of my predecessor to create a warm and welcoming environment for our entire company.”

Q&A with Cymbeline Director Britannia Howe

Britannia Howe

Britannia Howe wrote and directed The Greenshow for the Utah Shakespeare Festival in both 2018 and 2019. This year, she is making her Festival main stage debut by directing Cymbeline*, as well as once again directing and writing* The Greenshow. She has also directed at Cabaret Theatre, the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, Women of Will, and Innovative View Theater Company. We think you will be interested in her plans for Shakespeare’s Cymbeline to be produced in the Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre.

The Utah Shakespeare Festival: Cymbeline has only been produced at the Utah Shakespeare Festival twice before (1988 and 2002), but you have mentioned that this is one of your favorite Shakespearean plays. Why do you like the play so much, and why do you think this play is not produced more often?

Britannia Howe: The show itself is a puzzle. Written in Shakespeare’s last years, many are critics to the text.  Yet it is a favorite of mine because it reads like a classic storybook. There is a sense of mystery that may be difficult to explain: potion-mixing, the forest, a secret cave that a family dwells in, and sword fighting—a mirror to classic story books. When reading it, I am reminded of the classic sketches of artist Arthur Rackham, who illustrated King Arthur, Sleeping Beauty, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

I also think that audiences will recognize Shakespeare’s tropes and symbols as they sit and enjoy Cymbeline for the first time. What I mean by this is that Cymbeline is full of plot points, props, and tricks from other Shakespeare work. There is a myriad of these examples: two lovers marry in secret (Romeo and Juliet), a woman protagonist dressed as a man (As You Like It), a deep sleep poison (Romeo and Juliet), a complicated father–youngest daughter relationship (King Lear), Iachimo’s deceptions and his name (Iago in Othello), lost children reunited (The Winter’s Tale), and a daughter lost and reunited with her father (Pericles). I’m excited for audiences to seek these out without prompting. Audiences will find familiarity and lean in.

Because it is a tragi-comedy, I could see that many theatres may find it difficult to label and produce. The first half of the show feels more comedy, but one of Shakespeare’s strengths is using antithesis; so the play has tragedy, too; and it ends with a family reuniting.

The Festival: You are designing this production as a “trunk show.” Can you explain what that is and why you are presenting the play in this manner?

Howe: A trunk show is a play with few actors, where the only props and costumes used are contained in a single trunk. From the beginning I have imagined Cymbeline as a “manuscript of wonder.” The story unfolds as the actors speak Shakespeare’s text and they pull items from the trunks to place on themselves. It is as if the trunks are filled with stories just waiting to be opened, similar to this story that often collects dust on a shelf because it is seldom-produced. Not all objects and costumes will be pulled from the trunk, yet all objects are important for they are tokens for the story. Traditionally trunk shows were portable performances that traveled from town to town bringing familiar stories and magic. This performance is not portable and will not be traveling but it will be performed in the Anes Studio Theatre in an intimate setting. Some of my favorite performances have been in the Anes Theatre as adaptations or time-period changes to Shakespeare’s plays.

 When presenting this idea to the designers I was pleased to hear that they too were excited about a trunk show. As theatre practitioners, we speak of doing a trunk show, but it is very rare that we actually do one. Instead of one trunk, we will be using many to reveal primary props that will propel our story forward.

 I also think that many of these characters carry baggage figuratively, and we will explore this in rehearsal. Actors will be playing multiple characters and this will help facilitate quick costume changes as well.

The Festival: In your preliminary director’s notes, you say “Cymbeline is an opportunity for audiences to come together and understand themselves and their place in an arbitrary universe.” Would you please elaborate on that idea?

 Howe: Families and friends are separated in the story, and at the moment in the play, it may seem arbitrary, or for no specific reason, but we find by the end of the performance that there are connections. Whether it be the work of fate, providence, or deities, the characters in this play forgive and are reunited to find their place.

The Festival: You and your team have cut the script some, which isn’t uncommon at most theatres. Can you explain a bit what you cut and why?

 Howe: Yes, Lezlie Cross, our dramaturg, and I worked closely to make a cohesive adaptation to fit eight actors. Many of these actors will be playing two or three roles for the show, so it was essential to make the play ensemble-friendly. Another thing that was important to me was gender parity, so you will find that some of the roles have had pronoun changes. The biggest script change comes in the beginning of the play. Usually, there is a sort of introduction where two gentlemen give us a trigger event and backstory. Instead, we have adapted it where all eight actors will deliver us the backstory as an ensemble and then hurl us into the story.

 The Festival: You directed The Greenshow in 2018 and 2019 (and are doing so again in 2021), but this will be your first time at the helm of one of our main stage productions. Any thoughts on returning to the Festival in this expanded role?

 Howe: As a young child I would peer over the banister on my tippy toes at the old Adams Theatre to watch the plays. The Festival is a second home for me, and I credit the company for some of my theatre-education. As a spectator I witnessed composition, character, relationship by sitting in those orange seats. The Greenshow is the heartbeat of the Festival as it shares tradition, music, and laughter with the community. Yet, I am looking forward to using Shakespeare’s words, his text on the stage of the Anes Studio Theatre.

 The Festival: Besides theatre business, what is the one thing you plan on doing while in Cedar City?

 Howe: Hiking the red rocks! I mentioned the Festival was my second home, but I’ve since moved away. I currently live in Illinois, and I miss the sunshine and the red rock. It’s funny because the West feels both new and old. It’s where people travel to when they get lost. Historically that’s what people have done, travel West, a sort of pioneer spirit.

Is Cymbeline a Fairy Tale?

Susan Shunk (left) as Imogen and Michael David Edwards as Iachimo in the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s 2002 production of Cymbeline.

By Kathryn Neves

Once upon a time, a man from Stratford-upon-Avon moved to London to write some of the best masterpieces in the English language. In fact, he was very popular, writing horrific tragedies, gut-busting comedies, and glorious histories that had his audiences constantly returning to see more. But after writing these stories for many years, the man decided to try something new: he began writing romances. One of the best of these was a play called Cymbeline.

Cymbeline has always been one of Shakespeare’s most beautiful, and unique, works. While using elements of both comedy and tragedy, this play becomes something more than both of them put together. Most people, after seeing this play, have the same thought: Cymbeline is a fairy tale! So much of Cymbeline seems like it could have come straight out of the Brothers Grimm, with folklore plots and characters that have been passed down for millennia. These are stories we all know; stories we’ve heard since birth, that our ancestors have heard since birth. And it’s these fairy tale elements that make Cymbeline so universal—and so fun.

One of the most fundamental parts of any fairy tale is its ending. In so many stories, a prince or princess marries a commoner, and the commoner becomes a part of the royal family. Thus, the story ends. Interestingly enough, we can see this in Cymbeline—not at the ending, but at the beginning. As the play starts, we learn that Princess Imogen—daughter of King Cymbeline—has married a young man named Posthumus. Posthumus is not a prince; he’s not royalty or nobility at all. He is an orphan who was adopted into the court. In other words, he is a commoner. Imogen marries him, not for money or position, but for love; something that doesn’t sit too well with King Cymbeline. Just like Cinderella marrying her prince, or Rapunzel marrying hers, or Beauty marrying her beastly prince, or the soldier marrying the princess in “Twelve Dancing Princesses,” or even Aladdin marrying the Sultan’s daughter in The Arabian Nights—Posthumus marries Princess Imogen, and the play immediately begins to feel like a fairy tale.

Another theme that can be found throughout folklore and fairy tales is long-lost royalty, or royalty disguised as commoners, while no one— sometimes not even themselves— knows their true heritage. “The Goose Girl” comes to mind; so does “Sleeping Beauty” and “Snow White.” We can even see this in the Arthurian legend, as the young Arthur is raised as a commoner and doesn’t realize his heritage until he pulls the sword from the stone. Shakespeare knew the power of this kind of story, and put it into Cymbeline. At the beginning of the play, we learn that the king’s two sons were abducted long ago. Later on, we meet them, living in a cave as hunters with no knowledge of their royal birth. At the end they return to the court and learn that they are princes. This reunion calls to mind plenty of fairy tale endings.

At one point in the play, Posthumus believes that Imogen was unfaithful to him, and he tells his servant Pisanio to kill her. Pisanio, though, can’t do it. He knows that Imogen is pure and good, and can’t make himself follow his master’s orders. “Disloyal?” he says. “No. / She’s punished for her truth and undergoes, / More goddesslike than wifelike, such assaults / As would take in some virtue” (3.2.6-9). Instead, Pisanio urges Imogen to disguise herself and to flee the court; to run away and go into hiding—which she promptly does. Anyone who’s ever even heard of “Snow White” can pick up on the similarities. The huntsman cannot kill Snow White, and tells her to go into hiding far away from the evil queen and her plots.

Of course, another key part of “Snow White” is the poison apple. The wicked queen, jealous of Snow White’s beauty, gives the princess a poisoned apple that sends her into a deep, enchanted sleep—so deep that the dwarves think she is dead. Then we have “Sleeping Beauty,” where the witch entices the princess into pricking her finger on a spinning wheel and the princess falls asleep, enchanted. This is a plot point Shakespeare clearly enjoyed. We’ve all seen Romeo and Juliet and know about the potion that sends Juliet into a deep sleep for several days. This idea of poison and death-like sleep makes its way into Cymbeline, too. The queen sends Imogen a bottle containing what she thinks is poison; she plans to kill the princess. However, a doctor secretly switches the poison with a potion. The potion, the doctor explains, will send the drinker into a harmless sleep that looks exactly like death. Imogen takes the potion, believing it to be medicine, and sleeps so deeply that everyone around her believes she is dead. They mourn her and prepare to bury her, before she wakes up.

But perhaps it’s the queen that is the most fairy-tale like of all. She represents one of the most common characters in all folklore and fairy tale: the evil queen. The evil stepmother. Cymbeline’s wife, like Snow White’s queen and Cinderella’s stepmother and even the stepmother in “Hansel and Gretel,” will stop at nothing to accomplish her nefarious deeds. She tries to force Imogen to marry her son, Cloten. She plans on killing both the king and Imogen in order to secure her place on the throne. She tries to poison Imogen, just like her fairy tale predecessors. She even has some very witchy qualities: we learn that she used to study potion and perfume-brewing in her youth. “Hast thou not learned me how / To make perfumes, distil, preserve. . . . I will try the forces / Of these thy compounds on such creatures as / We count not worth the hanging—but none human— / To try the vigor of them” (1.5.15-24). It’s easy to picture her huddled over a cauldron like any fairy tale witch. Cymbeline’s evil queen could have jumped from the pages of any number of fairy tales.

Fairy tales and folklore have been around for centuries. We know these stories, and we love them. We understand them, because—like Shakespeare—they are universal. They tell us what evil is, what love is, what power is; they show us human nature. That’s why Cymbeline is such a fantastic play. It’s not only a good story but a universal one— as exciting, and familiar, as a fairy tale.

Performing Large Shakespeare Plays in a Small Theatre

The Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre

By Parker Bowring 

For the 2020 season, the Utah Shakespeare Festival will present Cymbeline, Shakespeare’s rarely performed romance. Cymbeline is a large play in setting, plot, and character—and the Festival has chosen to perform it in the rather small, 200-seat Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre. Of course, performing a large play in a small theatre comes with challenges, but with great rewards. The Festival artists and administrators chose the Anes Theatre because they wanted to reimagine Cymbeline and create a more active experience for this heart-rending play.

Set in the classic country of Great Britain, Cymbeline explores a king who banishes his daughter’s husband to the ancient city of Rome. This diverse and evolving plot is filled with soldiers, woodsmen, ghosts, and evil stepmothers as the characters fight for love, truth, and honor. The Anes Theatre will put the audience close to the action, on three sides of the stage.

“The space is intimate, it asks the audiences to engage and lean forward, the work here [in the studio theatre] is contemporary and takes risks. . . . I’m thrilled that Cymbeline is being produced in this space,” said Britannia Howe, the director.

The studio stage is smaller, creating a more intimate setting for both the audience and actors in Cymbeline.  This allows the actors to interact with the audience and create a more personal experience with a play this large.

With more than a dozen characters and five acts, Cymbeline is not a small production. So this is a chance for the Festival and its audiences to break boundaries and reimagine productions to create a lasting impression. As imagined by Howe and her creative team, “Cymbeline is an epic story that we are telling with eight actors in a trunk-show performance” said Howe. A trunk-show typically uses one trunk to house many of the props and costumes. That is not the case with Cymbeline. The play will have several different trunks and suitcases that will hold the props and costumes.

“Using the device of a trunk show, we will be clever with our elements of artistry for the production,” continued Howe. “I’m very excited about this as the design team and I have already found clever ways to add wonder inside the trunks and suitcases. I also love this idea that all of these characters carry baggage figuratively. The luggage trunks will not only house Iachimo in Act 2 Scene 2, but will solve other challenges the show carries,” said Howe.

Because a studio theatre set can easily be rearranged and reconfigured to fit each scene of the production, this unique stage allows for the play to have a diverse setting, with props and the background more minimal in order to not obstruct the sight of the audience. According to Howe, “Cymbeline is a manuscript of wonder and the design is purposefully minimal to encourage audiences to find imagery within the text. The play moves very quickly through many settings.”

In Howe’s early director’s notes she said: “Cymbeline is a celebration of storytelling. A comedy, written in Shakespeare’s last years, it is full of humor and mystery. This play is about the search and reunion of family,” she wrote. In the end, Imogen “is overjoyed that she has found a family. There is a purpose in having an ensemble-type show telling a story about characters who are foraging for connection and reconciliation.” 

Festival Hires Director of New Play Development/ Artistic Associate

The Utah Shakespeare Festival is excited to announce the hiring of Derek Charles Livingston as director of new play development/artistic associate. In this newly-created position, Livingston will be responsible for re-envisioning and overseeing the Festival’s new play program, Words Cubed, as well as other artistic and senior staff duties.

“I could not be more excited to welcome Derek to the staff of the Festival. His experiences and talents developing new plays, and as an actor and director, will contribute much to the artistry of the Festival,” said Executive Producer Frank Mack. “We have sought to expand our new play development series, Words Cubed, for a long time; and I have never felt more confident in our ability to bring great new stories to stages at the Festival and beyond than I do now that we have Derek’s amazing skills to help lead that work.”

For the past few years, Livingston’s primary artistic work has been as an actor. Las Vegas (where he currently resides) audiences have seen his work in Thurgood, The Pillowman, and The Whipping Man. Last year he was awarded the New Hampshire Drama Award for Leading Actor in a Professional Play for his portrayal of Hoke in Driving Miss Daisy.

Prior to that, Livingston was primarily a theatre director, producer, and new play developer.  He served for over four years as the managing artistic director of Los Angeles’s Celebration Theatre (the country’s second oldest, continuously operating LGBT-focused theatre).  During that time and after, he produced and/or directed several acclaimed plays and musicals; those productions received over fifty Los Angeles theatre awards or nominations (including acknowledgements for Derek’s directing work on five productions). Later he lived in San Diego where he produced or co-produced a host of new play festivals, helping give life to over forty new plays. For San Diego’s Diversionary Theatre, he directed the award-nominated San Diego premiere of Tru, depicting the life of Truman Capote.

“I am both humbled and excited about the opportunity to serve the Festival as its director of new play development and as an artistic associate,” said Livingston. “To be entrusted by this great institution with stewarding works of new, diverse theatre voices, while simultaneously keeping one of the theatre’s greatest voices alive, is an honor I take very seriously. I am eager to begin this great journey of words and wonder.”

Separate from the arts, Livingston has had an extensive career in social justice work. He served as a case manager to homeless men in recovery, a group facilitator in domestic violence re-education programs, an HIV prevention educator, an executive director of a statewide LGBT political action committee, and one of four national leaders for the 1993 March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation. 

Livingston will join with Festival Stage Manager/Artistic Associate Tanya J. Searle in rounding out the artistic team led by Artistic Director Brian Vaughn.

“I am incredibly excited to welcome Derek to the Festival’s artistic team,” said Vaughn. “Derek brings a wealth of experience and insight into the work of new play development, and his exciting vision for the Festival’s Words Cubed New Play Programand its continued cultivation of new plays and playwrights within the Festival’s traditionally classical repertoire is a welcome addition. I greatly look forward to his collaboration as well as his stewardship and oversight of the program.”

Livingston will begin work at the Festival on April 15.