News From the Festival
Education Tour Hits the Road
Stefanie Resnick (left) as Lady Macbeth and Jennifer Vosters as Malcolm in the Festival’s 2019 Shakespeare-in-the-Schools production of Macbeth
The Utah Shakespeare Festival is once again hitting the road with its Shakespeare-in-the-Schools touring production—this year performing one of the world’s first psychological thrillers, William Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
The tour will be performing nearly 60 shows for over 120 schools and 25,000 students across the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, and Utah. The cast and crew will be on the road for thirteen weeks from January through April to bring this classic tragedy to schools, community centers, and correctional facilities. Students will have the chance to watch the show and then participate in a post-show discussion and workshops in Stage Combat, Performing Shakespeare’s Text, Technical Theatre and Developing Character through Improvisation.
Macbeth will premiere in Cedar City with school performances on January 22 at Foothill High School Youth Detention Facility and on January 22 and 23 at the Southern Utah University Auditorium Theatre. The first public performance will be on January 23 at 7:30 p.m., also in the Auditorium Theatre. General admission tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the Festival ticket office at 800-PLAYTIX (800-752-9849) or online at www.bard.org/tour. Tickets purchased ahead of time will be available at will call in the Auditorium Theatre. On the night of the performance, only cash and checks will be accepted at the Auditorium Theatre door, whereas credit and debit cards will be accepted at the Festival’s main ticket office next to the Anes Theatre. Admission is free for SUU students.
Michael Bahr, the Festival’s education director for twenty years is directing this year’s touring production. Previously he taught high school in California and northern Utah. He has created numerous outreach programs that serve over 30,000 students annually. He has a bachelor’s degree in theatre and a masters degree in education from Southern Utah University.
“For many of our audiences this will be the first time they have seen a professional Shakespeare production,” said Bahr. “This program seeks to entertain, enrich, and educate with innovative and accessible performances to rural and urban schools and communities, many of which would not have this opportunity otherwise.”
Actors in the touring company include a number who have worked at the Festival, as well as professionally across the country. They are:
Cordell Cole (Witch, Macduff) received his BFA in acting from Brenau University (Gainesville Theatre Alliance). He is new at the Festival, but some favorite credits include American Shakespeare Center Alliance Theatre, American Players Theatre, Georgia Shakespeare, Essential Theatre Festival.
Abby Nakken (Witch, Duncan) is a recent graduate of Southern Utah University and a Cedar City native. She has appeared at the Festival in Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare in Love, Fiddler on the Roof, and The Greenshow. Other credits include work at Second Studio Theater Company and the Neil Simon Festival.
Stefanie Resnick (Witch, Lady Macbeth) previously toured with the Festival’s The Tempest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Originally from New York, she received her BA in journalism from UW-Madison and her MFA in performance from UNLV. She has performed in all but five U.S. states.
Tim Sailer (Macbeth) is new to the Festival. He received an MFA from the University of Houston and spent five years at the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Virginia. Other theatres include Texas Shakespeare Festival, Houston Shakespeare Festival, Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre, and Commonweal Theatre Company.
Karen Thorla (Banquo, Lady Macduff) is a New York based actor and writer with a BFA from Savannah College of Art and Design. She has worked with the Utah Shakespeare Festival (Julius Caesar, educational tour of A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Great Lakes Theater, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, and others.
Jennifer Vosters (Malcolm, Fleance, Musician) is an actor, director, and musician from Wisconsin. She performed at the Utah Shakespeare Festival in 2017 and has also worked at Lyric Repertory Company, Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival, Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival, and several Milwaukee theatres.
In addition, the tour company includes two technical and administrative artists:
Austin Andrews (Company/Tour Manager) is returning to the Festival for his fifth season. He is recent graduate of Southern Utah University’s BFA technical theatre and design program and has worked on productions such as the Festival’s 2016 Henry V and Much Ado about Nothing.
Casey Duke (Technical Director) comes from Mississippi, where she earned her BA in theatre in 2014. New to the Festival, her previous credits include multiple seasons at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, designing lights in the Tallahassee circuit and in regional summer stock companies, and mounting the then-Broadway-bound Holiday Inn at Goodspeed Musicals.
In addition to support from the Shakespeare for a New Generation program which is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, this tour’s school performance partners are the Utah State Office of Education: Professional Outreach Programs in the Schools, Wells Fargo; Mountain West Small Business Finance, Ally Bank, and Southern Utah University.
For more information, visit www.bard.org/tour
Announcing Auditions for Playmakers Youth Program
CEDAR CITY, Utah — The Utah Shakespeare Festival recently announced auditions for its Playmakers production Newsies. Youth ages six to seventeen are invited to audition.
The program provides young actors a chance to rehearse, learn, and then perform this fun and popular musical. An audition workshop is scheduled for January 9 from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Randall L. Jones Theatre. This will give a chance for those interested to prepare for auditions the next day, January 10. Audition music is now available on the Festival’s website at bard.org/playmakers, and a signup form to schedule audition times will be available after the first of the year.
Once auditions are completed and participants are announced, rehearsals will begin on January 14 and extend through the opening performance on March 13. School performances of Newsies will be from March 14 to 18, with special public performances on March 15 and 18 at 7:30 p.m. and March 16 at 2 p.m.
The program trains youth in theatre fundamentals, including how to sing and dance with a live piano, rehearsal and performance etiquette, and how to work, share, give, and play with others.
Britannia Howe is directing and teaching this program. She created a similar program for young performers in Ashland, Oregon, and is thrilled to provide this training for young artists here in Cedar City.
“It’s thrilling to know that the youth of Cedar City will be telling a story about adolescents their very age who lived one hundred years ago,” she said. “Newsies has many themes, but my favorite is that children do, indeed, have power. It’s for that reason I’m excited that Playmakers is producing this delightful play.”
For more information, call 435-865-8333 or visit the webpage at www.bard.org/playmakers.
Michael Bahr Honored as Educator of the Year
The Cedar City Area Chamber of Commerce recently announced the recipients of the sixty-eighth annual Best of Cedar City Awards, including Utah Shakespeare Festival Education Director Michael Bahr as Educator of the Year.
After four months of nominations and voting by the community, the chamber announced the winners in twelve different categories, and will announce the Cedar City Area Chamber of Commerce CEO Award at the chamber gala. The winners will receive their awards and recognition at the annual chamber gala on January 18, 2019 in the Sharwan Smith Student Center Ballroom at Southern Utah University.
“Thanks to the chamber of commerce and to everyone who voted. This is a wonderful honor,” said Bahr. “I am thrilled to be a part of this community which is so supportive of education and our children.”
Other award winners are Southern Utah University President Scott L Wyatt, Man of the Year; Jennie Hendricks, Woman of the Year; Ken Bettridge Distributing, Business of the Year; Southwest Technical College, Employer of the Year; Lin’s Fresh Marketplace, Customer Service of the Year; Southwest Technical College, Innovative Business of the Year; Kenadie Terry, Young Citizen of the Year; Centro Wood Fired Pizza, Restaurant of the Year; Iron County Care and Share, Organization of the Year; Michael Stults, Medical Professional of the Year; and Eric Schmutz, Legacy Award–Lifetime Achievement.
According to the chamber, these awards “honor community members and businesses for encouraging and promoting a positive and vital economy and preserving those unique qualities that make the Cedar City area a very special place to live, work, and visit.”
“I am so glad to see Michael Bahr receive this recognition which is so abundantly deserved,” said Festival Executive Producer Frank Mack. “Michael is a devoted educator and a core part of the Utah Shakespeare Festival, and it’s wonderful to see the community express its appreciation for his brilliant work.”
Announcing the 2019 Directors
Melissa Rain Anderson
Vincent J. Cardinal
Brad Carroll
Kathleen F. Conlin
Britannia Howe
Melinda Pfundstein
Brian Vaughn
Sam White
Henry Woronicz
CEDAR CITY, Utah — Utah Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director Brian Vaughn recently announced a slate of nine highly creative, talented, and experienced directors for the Festival’s 2019 season. The directors come from home bases across the country and bring a wealth of diverse experience to next season, which is themed around the family.
“I have such profound admiration and respect for these directors,” said Vaughn in making the announcement. “They each bring a unique blend of insight, passion and commitment to the work that will electrify these plays with tremendous clarity and immediacy. I’m excited to have them here.”
The 2019 season directors are:
Melissa Rain Anderson is returning to the Festival to direct the tragedy of Macbeth after directing two musical comedies here in the past: The Cocoanuts in 2016 and Big River in 2018.She is a New York-based freelance director and most recently directed a sold out production of Hair at Geva Theater Center where she is an affiliate artist. Upcoming projects include The Wolves at Repertory Theater of St. Louis and A Christmas Carol at Denver Center Theater Company.
“I am thrilled to be returning to the Festival to direct Macbeth,” said Anderson. “I’m interested in examining how any one of us might be tempted by the suggestion of ultimate power and how far we are willing to go to get it. I hope to illuminate the psychological journey, the suspense/ thriller aspect, and most importantly the human tragedy.”
Vincent J. Cardinal, who directed the Festival’s hilarious and popular comedy The Foreigner in 2018,is returning in 2019 to lead Every Brilliant Thing. He is currently the Arthur and Martha Hearron endowed professor of musical theatre, chair of the department of musical theatre, and professor of music at the school of music, theatre, and dance at the University of Michigan. He also directs across the country, with productions of I’m Not Rappaport in Syracuse, New York, and Sweeney Todd in Ann Arbor, Michigan, scheduled for this winter.
“I am eager to return to the festival with the intimate, hopeful, and wonderfully witty Every Brilliant Thing,” said Cardinal. “It is a play that is not so much watched, but experienced as the entire audience joins together to celebrate and remember a million brilliant things through the telling of one man’s journey.”
Brad Carroll is returning this year to direct the family musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. This will be his thirteenth Festival play, including Man of La Mancha, Lend Me a Tenor: The Musical (which he also composed), H*.M.S. Pinafore, Les Miserables*, South Pacific, and 2018’s The Liar. He is currently resident artist at PCPA Theaterfest/Pacific Conservatory Theatre in Santa Maria, California, and has directed, composed, acted, and lectured from Los Angeles, to Phoenix, to Tokyo.
“As seemingly silly and hilarious as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat can be, at the heart of Webber and Rice’s play is a compelling human drama—a story of sibling rivalry, jealousy, betrayal, revenge and, ultimately, forgiveness,” said Carroll. “I find great joy in this piece—in the story, in the music, and in the delightful way it combines the two.”
Kathleen F. Conlin served for twenty-two seasons as the Festival associate artistic director and casting director, as well as directing numerous plays, including King Lear, The Boy Friend, The Lion in Winter, The Cherry Orchard, Born Yesterday, The Tempest, and Tuesdays with Morrie. She is returning to the Festival this year to direct Arthur Miller’s The Price. She is a much-honored director, theatre professional, and university administrator and professor. She was recently honored as the Roe Green Guest Director for Kent State University with a production of You Can’t Take It with You.
“I am pleased to return to the Festival for the 2019 season to direct one of Arthur Miller’s most emotionally vital plays, The Price,” she said. “The play is a dramatic tour de force burrowing into the secrets we come to believe and the grip of the past upon our present.”
Britannia Howe will be at the Festival for her second year in the row as writer and director of The Greenshow. She has directed the Festival’s Playmakers Junior production of We Are Monsters, as well as directing for the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, Innovative View theatre Company, Women of Will, Willow Wind Learning Center, Cabaret Theatre, and various other venues.
“I am thrilled to return to direct and write for the 2019 season,” she said. “The Greenshow is a presentation of laughter, story, song, and audience participation. Keeping with tradition there will be three different shows, each themed to a different country.”
Melinda Pfundstein will be directing this year’s The Book of Will, after her critically acclaimed production in 2018 of The Merchant of Venice. As an actor she has appeared in over forty roles at the Festival. Other directing credits include ReParable with Zion’s Youth at the Smith Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, the Festival Shakespeare-in-the-Schools touring production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and others. She is also the founding executive director of Statera Foundation, a national advocacy nonprofit serving women in theatre.
**“**I am thrilled to return to the Festival to direct The Book of Will on the Engelstad Theatre stage,” she said. “It is a story of the power and legacy of friendship, community, laughter, and language. This play inspires awareness of what great care must be taken to hold precious the things and people we value, and the constant threat of how very easily they might slip away.”
Brian Vaughn, artistic director, is well known to Festival audiences for his acting and directing here for more than twenty-five years. This year, he will be taking the helm of Shakespeare’s masterpiece, Hamlet. Most recently, he directed Shakespeare in Love in 2017 and acted in the roles of Iago in Othello and The Poet in An Iliad in 2018. He has also acted and/or directed at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, Nevada Conservatory Theatre, and Northlight Theatre.
“Hamlet is always relevant,” said Vaughn. “I think there is no better play to produce now in this world, a play about the discovery of authenticity and truth in a quickly shifting, sometimes caustic world.”
Sam White, will be directing at the Festival for her first time this season, taking the reins of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. However, this is not her first connection with the Festival: a visit to here ten years ago was one of the sparks behind her founding the emerging classical theatre, Shakespeare in Detroit. Her work there and elsewhere has earned her recognition across the country, including the 2017 Paul Nicholson Arts Management Fellowship at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, a feature article this past year in Forbes magazine, and Pepsi’s Making Black History Now Award in 2016.
“It’s an incredible gift to be able to come here and direct such a delightful play as Twelfth Night, which centers around a character, or characters, who fall in love and begin a new journey with their respective partners,” she said. “I feel like my story with the Festival has also been a true love story after finding this place that changed my life in 2008.”
Henry Woronicz will follow up his acclaimed direction of Henry VI Part One in 2018 with the rest of the story, The Conclusion of Henry VI: Parts One and Two, in 2019. He has also directed As You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew, Coriolanus, Titus Andronicus, and Richard II at the Festival. He appeared on Broadway with Denzel Washington in Julius Caesar and has directed and acted at such theatres as Actors Theatre of Louisville, American Conservatory Theatre, American Players Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and many others.
“I am very excited to be returning to the Festival to stage the Conclusion of Henry VI: Parts Two and Three,” he said. “These plays always present a terrific opportunity for a director to dig into some early, formative work of Shakespeare. I look forward to the work ahead of us all, and bringing these intriguing and fascinating plays to vibrant, theatrical life.”
“These directors are an amazing group of professional theatre artists and it is exciting to see them develop their ideas and concepts,” concluded Executive Producer Frank Mack. “And this is how we start producing great theatre.”
Tickets for the 2019 season are now on sale: visit the Festival website at bard.org, call 800-PLAYTIX, or visit the Ticket Office at the Beverley Center for the Arts.
It's a Wrap for a Successful Season
Curtain call of The Merry Wives of Windsor
It’s a wrap for the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s 2018 season, and Festival administrators are excited about the season’s success both artistically and financially. The season ended October 13 with the final performances of The Liar, An Iliad, The Foreigner, and Othello. The curtain closed on the other four shows—The Merchant of Venice, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Henry VI Part One, and Big River—the first week of September.
Everybody at the Festival took a deep breath, celebrated for a moment, and then continued work on the 2019 season which is fast approaching. But before they moved on, Executive Producer Frank Mack and Artistic Director Brian Vaughn took a few minutes to review the highlights of 2019.
“It was a great season. Artistically, I loved every show,” said Mack. “Also, we finished the season with a balanced budget. That is a major accomplishment.”
“Artistically, this season was one of the most rewarding ever,” added Vaughn. “I’m proud of the work and I’m proud of the company. You won’t find better productions anywhere of any of these plays.”
“In a season that was filled with complex, challenging subject matter, the work was thoroughly engaging and artistically rewarding both for our company and for our audience,” he said. “Every play was strong, engaging, relevant, and full of powerful performances.”
For example, the musical Big River dealt with some difficult subjects in a sensitive and inspired way. “The relationship of Huck and Jim, as played by Ezekiel Andrew and Rob Riordan, was beautifully woven,” said Vaughn. “And I could say similar things about all our plays.”
Mack agreed: “It was an amazing ensemble of artists. It was really about all of the artists doing amazing work.”
In addition, this was the first full season of the Festival after major leadership changes. Mack, who joined the Festival toward the end of last summer’s season, was excited about the administrative changes that have taken place since then. Since last summer, the Festival has promoted Kami Terry Paul to the position of general manager and has hired Donn Jersey as director of development and Tyler Morgan as director of marketing and communications.
“I am gratified that we filled the staff positions and that we got through all this transition.” said Mack. “We have terrific people across the board who are helping make the organization’s success possible.”
Part of that success and one of the highlights this year for Mack was balancing the Festival’s budget for the first time in several years. “Bringing our expenses in line with our revenue and getting the budget to balance, while maintaining artistic excellence, is to me our biggest achievement,” he said. “Everybody on the staff and board came together to balance that equation, which was extraordinary.”
He also thanked Southern Utah University President Scott L Wyatt, the State of Utah, the Festival board of governors, and many long-time institutional donors who “didn’t waver in their support for us.”
So, what does this mean for the next season of the Festival, and for seasons beyond that? “We are looking forward to next year,” said Vaughn. “This year was a season where we explored with our audiences the ideas of tolerance. Next year we have chosen plays which will focus on the family. We want to see how we can come together as humanity. It will be a season about love, life, and belonging.”
“We always need to keep working and to keep our vision focused,” said Mack. “This year tells us we can do it, and reminds us that telling great stories in a great way is our main purpose, but that we do it better when we are financially responsible.”
He noted that the Festival is engaged in a long-range planning process and will be proposing a new mission statement, vision statement, and statement of values soon. “We are excited about the future. We want to continue to build upon our successes, overcome whatever issues may face us, and produce great theatre for our great audiences.”
Planning is well under way for 2019, and tickets for the season, themed around the family, are on sale at 800-PLAYTIX and online at bard.org. The season will run from June 27 to October 12. Plays are Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Macbeth, and The Conclusion of Henry VI: Parts Two and Three, all by William Shakespeare. Also on the docket are the popular musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber; The Book of Will, a fanciful and fun telling by Lauren Gunderson of how Shakespeare’s plays were saved in print after his death; Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan MacMillan and Jonny Donahue, a funny and moving play which is a tribute to resilience, hope, and life; and Arthur Miller’s American classic The Price.
Food Drive Raises Over 3,600 Pounds
Utah Shakespeare Festival guests made life a little better for those in need this fall, by donating nearly two tons of food to the Iron County Care and Share. The food was donated as part of the Festival’s sixteenth annual Fall Food Drive from September 17 to October 13. Residents of southern Utah and eastern Nevada were able to donate six items of nonperishable food and receive a half-price ticket to a Festival production.
In total over 3,600 pounds of food was donated for the less fortunate in our community. Residents of Iron, Washington, Kane, Garfield, Sevier, Piute, and Beaver counties in Utah took part in the drive, as well as guests from Lincoln County, Nevada.
“We are humbled and grateful to our community members for their support of this effort,” said Tyler Morgan, marketing and communications director. “The Festival’s annual fall food drive started in 2003, and over the years our guests have consistently demonstrated their generosity and caring in support of those in need, and we couldn’t ask for a better community partner than the Iron County Care and Share.”
The Iron County Care and Share was founded in 1984 by a group of local churches of different denominations to address the issue of hunger in our community. Working with partners in the community, neighboring counties, and in the state, the Iron County Care and Share is able to help homeless and low-income individuals and families work toward self-sufficiency. The Iron County Care and Share is located at 900 North 222 West Cedar City, Utah.
The Utah Shakespeare Festival is part of the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts at Southern Utah University, which also includes the Southern Utah Museum of Art (SUMA).
Shakespeare Competition Crowns Winners
Cedar City, UT – This weekend the 42nd annual Shakespeare Competition, hosted by the Utah Shakespeare Festival and Southern Utah University, gave out dozens of awards and scholarships to drama, dance and music students. The competition is the largest scholastic Shakespeare competition in the country, and this was a record-breaking year with nearly 3,600 students from 123 schools in seven states and the U. S. Virgin Islands.
From September 27 to 29, students competed before numerous adjudicators on the Festival’s stages and at many other venues on the SUU campus. Judges consisted of arts professionals with strong literary and performance backgrounds. The judges came to Cedar City from across the country, including California, Maryland, Alabama, and New York, and not only judged the competition, but provided critiques of performances and gave feedback to the young artists. Judges also offered numerous workshops on topics such as stage combat, improvisation, movement, technical theatre, auditioning, ballet, modern dance techniques, and choral performance.
“There really is nothing like the Shakespeare Competition,” said Michael Bahr, education director for the Festival. “For over forty years the competition has provided young people an outlet to share their passion and excitement for the arts, while also cultivating the future generation of arts professionals.”
Providing wonderful opportunities, the competition recognizes and educates students in four areas: acting, dance/choreography, music, and technical theatre. At the conclusion of the competition selected students received trophies and scholarships to study with professionals at Southern Utah University and the Utah Shakespeare Festival.
As part of the total experience, students were able to attend the Festival’s productions of The Liar, Othello, The Foreigner and An Iliad, as well as an SUU production of Richard III.
The competition was divided into six divisions: Buckingham (large public high schools), Oxford (midsize public high schools), Cambridge (small public high schools), Westminster (charter schools), Stratford (junior high and middle schools) and Essex (schools or groups which are not members of state high school associations).
ACTING COMPETITION
For the acting portion of the competition, students were able to compete in monlogues, duo/trio scenes, and ensembles. Monologue competitors presented for the judges a two- to four-minute monologue from a Shakespeare play or sonnet. In the duo/trio scenes competition, two or three actors presented a three- to five-minute scene from a Shakespeare play or sonnet. In the ensemble competition, a group of students from a school presented a six- to ten-minute Shakespearean scene.
In addition, first, second, and third place overall sweepstake prizes were awarded to the school in each division with the most total points from all categories.
Also, several scholarships were presented in the acting competition:
The first place winners in the duo/trio scene and monologue categories are awarded scholarships to either Southern Utah University or the Utah Shakespeare Festival summer classes, depending on the grade of the student.
Ray Jones Award: Given to seniors, this award is a $1000 scholarship to Southern Utah University.
Barbara Barrett Award: Given to juniors and under, this award is a $500 scholarship to the Festival’s summer acting intensive Actor Training, or a tuition scholarship to Shakespeare for Junior Actor Training.
Larry Lott Acting Award: In conjunction with the ensemble competition, judges annually recognize the best actor in an ensemble scene in each division. The recipient of this award received a trophy for his or her accomplishments and, if a senior, a $1,000 scholarship to SUU.
Acting Competition Winners
Buckingham Division
Sweepstakes First Place (tie): American Fork High School, American Fork, Utah; and Salt Lake School of the Performing Arts, Salt Lake City, Utah
Sweepstakes Third Place (tie): Skyridge High School, Lehi, Utah; and Westlake High School, Saratoga Springs, Utah
Ensemble First Place: Bingham High School, South Jordan, Utah
Ensemble Second Place: Skyridge High School, Lehi, Utah
Ensemble Third Place: American Fork High School, American Fork, Utah
Duo/Trio Scenes First Place: Zack Elzey (Ray Jones Award) and Abi Scoville (Ray Jones Award), Lone Peak High School, Highland, Utah
Duo/Trio Scenes Second Place: Sammie Cook, Mekyja Jenkins, and Sumner Shoell, Salt Lake School of the Performing Arts, Salt Lake City, Utah
Duo/Trio Scenes Third Place: Chelsea Ottley, Kartchner Perkins, and Kate Zander, Riverton High School, Riverton, Utah
Monologue First Place: Casey Keefe (Barbara Barrett Award), Salt Lake School of the Performing Arts, Salt Lake City, Utah
Monologue Second Place: Alice Ellsworth, Skyridge High School, Lehi, Utah
Monologue Third Place: Lora Smith, Skyridge High School, Lehi, Utah
Larry Lott Acting Award: Milo Marsden, Salt Lake School of the Performing Arts, Salt Lake City, Utah
Oxford Division
Sweepstakes First Place (tie): Corner Canyon High School, Draper, Utah, Hillcrest High School, Midvale, Utah, and Salem Hills High School, Salem, Utah
Ensemble First Place: Hillcrest High School, Midvale, Utah
Ensemble Second Place: Lehi High School, Lehi, Utah
Ensemble Third Place: Corner Canyon High School, Draper, Utah
Duo/Trio Scenes First Place (tie): Kaleb Maher (Ray Jones Award) and Paige Richards (Barbara Barrett Award), Corner Canyon High School, Draper, Utah; and Katy Cox (Ray Jones Award) and David Mitchell (Ray Jones Award), Provo High School, Provo, Utah
Duo/Trio Scenes Third Place: Ashley Horiuchi, Frankie Otis, and Oliver Smith, Hillcrest High School, Midvale, Utah
Monologue First Place: Gabriel Moyar (Barbara Barrett Award), Salem Hills High School, Salem, Utah
Monologue Second Place: Kami Loertscher, Hillcrest High School, Midvale, Utah
Monologue Third Place: Emma Butler, Salem Hills High School, Salem, Utah
Larry Lott Acting Award: Casey Black, Provo High School, Provo, Utah
Cambridge Division
Sweepstakes First Place: Liahona Senior Preparatory Academy, Pleasant Grove, Utah
Sweepstakes Second Place: Cedar City High School, Cedar City, Utah
Sweepstakes Third Place (tie): Canyon View High School, Cedar City, Utah; and Orem High School, Orem, Utah
Ensemble First Place: Cedar City High School, Cedar City, Utah
Ensemble Second Place: Canyon View High School, Cedar City, Utah
Ensemble Third Place: Liahona Senior Preparatory Academy, Pleasant Grove, Utah
Duo/Trio Scenes First Place: Jose Briseno (Ray Jones Award) and Ashley Hansen (Ray Jones Award), Tuacahn High School
Duo/Trio Scenes Second Place: Amelia Gatherum and Lincoln Paul, Canyon View High School, Cedar City, Utah
Duo/Trio Third Place: Spencer Evans, Gabriel Leavitt and Anthony Madsen, Liahona Senior Preparatory Academy, Pleasant Grove, Utah
Monologue First Place: Marlie Root (Ray Jones Award), Tuacahn High School for the Performing Arts, Ivins, Utah
Monologue Second Place: Joseph Lee Sawyer, Orem High School, Orem, Utah
Monologue Third Place: Joleah Long, Liahona Senior Preparatory Academy, Pleasant Grove, Utah
Larry Lott Acting Award: Lincoln Paul, Canyon View High School, Cedar City, Utah
Westminster Division
Sweepstakes First Place: Rockwell Charter High School, Eagle Mountain, Utah
Sweepstakes Second Place: DaVinci Academy of Science and Arts, Ogden, Utah
Sweepstakes Third Place (tie): American International School of Utah, Murray, Utah; and Venture High School, Marriott-Slatersville, Utah
Ensemble First Place: Rockwell Carter High School, Eagle Mountain, Utah
Ensemble Second Place: DaVinci Academy of Science and Arts, Ogden, Utah
Ensemble Third Place: American Leadership Academy, Queen Creek, Arizona
Duo/Trio Scenes First Place: Emma Hailstone (Barbara Barrett Award), Alexia Muhlestin (Barbara Barrett Award), and Jashub Young (Ray Jones Award), Karl G. Maeser Preparatory Academy, Lindon, Utah
Duo/Trio Scenes Second Place: Isaiah Anderson and Kathryn Hull, Rockwell Charter High School, Eagle Mountain, Utah
Duo/Trio Scenes Third Place: Jake Meese and Kade Santiago, Rockwell Charter High School, Eagle Mountain, Utah
Monologue First Place: Bronwyn Kennington (Barbara Barrett Award), Karl G. Maesar Preparatory Academy, Lindon, Utah
Monologue Second Place: Caleb Farlick, American International School of Utah, Murray, Utah
Monologue Third Place: Moriya Nelson, American International School of Utah, Murray Utah
Larry Lott Acting Award: Samantha Lofgren, Rockwell Charter High School, Eagle Mountain, Utah
Stratford Division
Sweepstakes First Place (tie): Karl G. Maeser Preparatory Academy, Lindon, Utah; and American Fork Junior High School, American Fork, Utah
Sweepstakes Third Place (tie): DaVinci Academy of Science and Arts, Ogden, Utah; and Liahona Junior Preparatory Academy, Pleasant Grove, Utah
Ensemble First Place: Timberline Middle School, Alpine, Utah
Ensemble Second Place: Karl G. Maeser Preparatory Academy, Lindon, Utah
Ensemble Third Place: American Fork Junior High School; American For, Utah
Duo/Trio Scenes First Place: Elizabeth Ashton (Barbara Barrett Award) and Hannah Evans (Barbara Barrett Award), Timberline Middle School, Alpine, Utah
Duo/Trio Scenes Second Place: Viola Day, Leo Sanjinez, and Gregory Tullis, Karl G. Maeser Preparatory Academy, Lindon, Utah
Duo/Trio Scenes Third Place: Samuel Karlinsey and Hannah Ziedner, American Fork Junior High School, American Fork, Utah
Monologue First Place: Ciara Johnson (Barbara Barrett Award), Karl G. Maeser Preparatory Academy, Lindon, Utah
Monologue Second Place: Garrett Taylor, DaVinci Academy of Science and Arts, Ogden, Utah
Monologue Third Place (tie): Harley Thomas, American Fork Junior High School, American Fork, Utah; and Lucy Josephson, Vista Heights Middle School, Ivins, Utah
Larry Lott Acting Award: Max Wright, Karl G. Maeser Preparatory Academy, Lindon, Utah
Essex Division
Sweepstakes First Place: First Stage Young Theatre Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Sweepstakes Second Place: Youth Theatre–University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
Sweepstakes Third Place: Logan Youth Theatre Company, Logan, Utah
Ensemble First Place: Sweet Harmony Performing, Kaysville, Utah
Ensemble Second Place: Youth Theatre–University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
Ensemble Third Place: First Stage Young Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Duo/Trio Scenes First Place: Sylvie Arnold (Ray Jones Award), Chantae Miller (Ray Jones Award), and Jonathon Neustifter (Ray Jones Award), First Stage Young Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Duo/Trio Scenes Second Place: Mary Jensik and Bradley Nowacek, First Stage Young Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Duo/Trio Scenes Third Place: Connor Macintosh and Olivia Warner, Youth Theatre–University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
Monologue First Place: Clay Webb (Ray Jones Award), Youth Theatre University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
Monologue Second Place: Claire Zempel, First Stage Young Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Monologue Third Place: Lily Groll, Logan Youth Shakespeare, Logan, Utah
Larry Lott Acting Award: Ashley Nord, First Stage Young Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
DANCE/CHOREOGRAPHY COMPETITION
For the dance portion, students were able to compete in duo/trio or ensemble groups. In the duo/trio competition, two or three dancers presented a three- to six-minute interpretation of a Shakespeare play or sonnet. In the ensemble competition, a group of dancers from a school interpreted a three- to four-minute Shakespeare play or sonnet.
Dance/Choreography Winners
The dance scholarships to Southern Utah University were awarded to Anika Grimes, Corner Canyon High School, Draper, Utah; and Darcie Miles, Timpanogos High School, Orem, Utah.
Buckingham Division
Ensemble First Place: Skyridge High School, Lehi, Utah
Ensemble Second Place: Westlake High School, Saratoga Springs, Utah
Ensemble Third Place (tie): Lone Peak High School, Highland, Utah; and Salt Lake School of the Performing Arts, Salt Lake City, Utah
Duo/Trio Scenes First Place: Lily Hammons and Tanner Robertson, Westlake High School, Saratoga Springs, Utah
Duo/Trio Scenes Second Place: Nathan Ahlstrom and Morgan Wellman, Lone Peak High School, Highland, Utah
Duo/Trio Scenes Third Place: Jayden Herman, Luis Ortiz, and Edwin Perez, Granger High School, West Valley, Utah
Oxford Division
Ensemble First Place: Corner Canyon High School, Draper, Utah
Ensemble Second Place: Provo High School, Provo, Utah
Ensemble Third Place: Lehi High School, Lehi, Utah
**Duo/Trio Scenes First Place:**Sydnee Frazier, Bree Schwendiman, and Sarah Sullivan, Desert Hills High School, St. George, Utah
Duo/Trio Scenes Second Place: KC Bell, Kayla Farrimond, and Cameron Sheppard, Kearns High School, Kearns, Utah
Duo/Trio Scenes Third Place: Anika Grimes, Hannah Mohr, and Britney Sullivan, Corner Canyon High School, Draper, Utah
Cambridge Division
Ensemble First Place: Canyon View High School, Cedar City, Utah
Ensemble Second Place: Hurricane High School, Hurricane, Utah
Ensemble Third Place: Tuacahn High School for the Performing Arts, Ivins, Utah
Duo/Trio First Place: Caler Tregeagle and Mercedes Waite, Orem High School, Orem, Utah
Duo/Trio Second Place: Anna Hammond and Anna Warren, Pacfica Christian High School, Newport Beach, California
Duo/Trio Third Place: Sydnee Sabaitis and Baylie Wright, Pine View High School, St. George, Utah
Westminster Division
Ensemble First Place: American International School of Utah, Murray, Utah
Ensemble Second Place: Karl G. Maeser Prearatory Academy, Lindon, Utah
Ensemble Third Place: Venture High School, Marriott-Slatersville, Utah
Duo/Trio First Place: Jordan Gulledge and Cassidy Weirsdorf, Karl G. Maeser Preparatory Academy, Lindon, Utah
Duo/Trio Second Place: Moriya Nelson, Abbie Simpson, and Abirami Tharmarajah, American International School of Utah, Murray, Utah
Duo/Trio Third Place: Matthew Crosby and Rebecca Harper, Paradigm High School, South Jordan, Utah
Stratford Division
Ensemble First Place: Vista School of the Performing Arts, Ivins, Utah
Ensemble Second Place: Vista Heights Middle School, Saratoga Springs, Utah
Ensemble Third Place: Willowcreek Middle School, Lehi, Utah
**Duo/Trio Scenes First Place:**Sydni Desmond, Sydney Johnson, and Kelsey Tippetts, Vista Heights Middle School, Saratoga Springs, Utah
Duo/Trio Scenes Second Place: Lyvia Day, Ambrie Kirkman, and Emma Lamb, Timberline Middle School, Alpine, Utah
Duo/Trio Scenes Third Place: Esther Dittmann, Isabella Sarria, and Kecia Terrell, Vista School of the Performing Arts, Ivins, Utah
Essex Division
Ensemble First Place: Canyon View Arts Center, Riverton, Utah
Ensemble Second Place: Youth Theatre–University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
**Duo/Trio Scenes First Place:**Maile Edwards, Ainsley Keppner, and Kirsten Whitefield, Canyon View Arts Center, Riverton, Utah
MUSIC COMPETITION
The music competition encouraged students to explore and develop a relationship with the music of the Renaissance (music prior to 1650). Students were encouraged to utilize creative combinations of instruments; however, no instrumentation was required. For the music competition, students were able to compete in Madrigals and Minstrels. Madrigals (a minimum of five people) presented six- to ten-minutes of Renaissance music. Minstrels (one to four people) presented three- to seven-minutes of Renaissance music. Schools in the music competition were divided into two divisions, according to size: large and small.
Music Winners
Large School Division
Madrigals First Place: Pleasant Grove High School, Pleasant Grove, Utah
Madrigals Second Place: Jordan High School, Sandy, Utah
Madrigals Third Place: Corner Canyon High School, Draper, Utah
**Minstrels First Place:**Venture High School, Marriott-Slaterville, Utah
Small School Division
Madrigals First Place: Paradigm High School, South Jordan, Utah
Madrigals Second Place: Salt Lake School of the Performing Arts, Salt Lake City, Utah
**Madrigals Third Place:**DaVinci Academy of Science and Arts, Ogden, Utah
Minstrels First Place: Payson High School, Payson, Utah
Minstrels Second Place: American International School of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
Minstrels Third Place: Perry High School, Gilbert, Arizona
Honorable Mentions
Madrigals Honorable Mentions: Herriman High School, Herriman, Utah; and Pine View High School, St. George, Utah
Outstanding Performers
Minstrels Outstanding Performer: Jessica James Lewis, Davinci Academy of Science and Arts, Ogden, Utah
TECHNICAL THEATRE COMPETITION
The final competition was in the technical theatre area for students who work behind the scenes creating sound, lighting, props, scenery, and costumes. In the portfolio area, students were given the chance to have their technical and/or design portfolios evaluated by professionals in technical theatre. Technical theatre students were able to compete in Tech Olympics, with winners named in costumes, lighting, make-up, props, rigging, set construction, sound, and stage management. Overall school winners were also named. The best portfolio and runners-up were also recognized.
Tech Olympics Winners
Costumes: Ambe Kingdon, Salt Lake School for the Performing Arts, Salt Lake City, Utah
Lighting: River Sprague, Payson High School, Payson, Utah
Make-up: Aubree Hatch, Salt Lake School for the Performing Arts, Salt Lake City, Utah
Props: Shyler Naegle, Corner Canyon High School, Draper, Utah
Rigging: Kate Zander, Riverton High School, Riverton, Utah
Set Construction: Colton Lowther, Perry High School, Gilbert, Arizona
Sound: Tyler King, Brighton High School, Salt Lake City, Utah
Stage Management: Sage Jacobs, Riverton High School, Riverton, Utah
Overall School Winners
**First Place:**Hillcrest High School, Midvale, Utah
**Second Place:**Riverton High School, Riverton, Utah
Third Place: Salt Lake School for the Performing Arts, Salt Lake City, Utah
Tech Portfolio Winners
Overall Winner: Camryn Crowe, Corner Canyon High School, Draper, Utah
Runners-up: Skylar Graham, Del Sol Academy of the Performing Arts, Las Vegas, Nevada; and Rachel Love, Davinci Academy of Science and Art, Ogden, Utah
Remembering Charles L. Metten
Charles L. Metten
CEDAR CITY, Utah — It is with sorrow that Southern Utah University and the Utah Shakespeare Festival share the news that Dr. Charles L. Metten, founding dean of the College of Performing and Visual Arts and long-time director, actor, and administrator at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, passed away on the morning of September 27 at the age of 91.
“Chuck inspired all of us with his humor, honesty, and genuine love for humanity,” said CPVA Dean Shauna Mendini. “He loved this school and the arts. Chuck will be dearly missed.”
As Verges in Much Ado about Nothing, 2003
Metten came to SUU in July 1998 to serve as the founding dean of the College of Performing and Visual Arts until his retirement in 2004. He provided the leadership and advocacy needed to successfully launch the college. Under his watch, he organized and updated several bachelor degrees, started a new emphasis in graphic design, launched the MFA in Arts Administration program and moved many of the faculty and instructional functions of the college under one roof, at South Hall.
“We learned so much from Chuck,” said Festival Founder Fred C. Adams. “We learned devotion and dedication. We learned how important the human spirit was. We will definitely miss our good friend.”
As Stephano in The Tempest, 2007
Metten began his involvement with the Festival in 1966 when he directed Julius Caesar. He has since appeared as an actor at the Festival numerous times. In 2005, he began work at the Festival as the director of the Plays-in-Progress Program, nurturing new playwrights and their work through a program that has since evolved into what is now known as Words Cubed. Metten retired from the Festival in 2017.
Metten was born in Fort Bragg, California, on September 7, 1927. He studied Theater Arts at the University of California in Los Angeles where he earned his bachelor and master degrees. He went on to obtain a doctorate at the State University of Iowa in Speech and Dramatic Arts in 1960. He worked at Brigham Young University as the associate director of the Honors Program, chairman of the Department of Speech and Dramatic Arts, and chairman of the Department of Theatre and Cinematic Arts.
He received many awards in his life, including the Kennedy Center ACTF Lifetime Achievement Award and the National Arts and Humanities Award. He appeared on Touched by an Angel, Promised Land, and “Movies of the Week” television films. He was above all else the dearest friend.
During a celebration in August for the 20th Anniversary of the College of Performing and Visual Arts, Metten took the stage and told wonderful stories of his time at SUU and the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Of his time as the dean at SUU, he shared, “The College is a great part of sweet and important memories for me. I believe CPVA produces dedicated professional artists, scholars, and teachers who bring happiness and worth to those whose lives they have touched.”
Dr. Charles Metten made a lasting impact on the arts and culture of the region. He will be deeply missed.
Pierre Corneille — The French Bard
Betsy Mugavero (left) as Clarice and Katie Cunningham as Isabelle in The Liar
By Kathryn Neves
We’re coming to the end of the season here at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, but there’s still a couple more weeks to come and see The Liar! It’s a hilarious farce that you definitely don’t want to miss; with twins, mistaken identities, and hilarious misunderstandings, the play is almost Shakespearean! But The Liar isn’t a Shakespeare play— no, this is a Corneille.
Before seeing a play, it can be interesting to learn more about the playwright. Who was Pierre Corneille? What was his life like? What were his inspirations for writing such amazing plays? There are many interesting things to learn about Corneille and his play The Liar (or Le Menteur, as he would have called it).
The Liar is an absolutely hysterical comedy, which is why it may come as a surprise that Pierre Corneille was far more known for his tragedies than his comedies. A lot of writers have called him one of the fathers of the French tragedy! Corneille began his life in Rouen, France, as the son of a lawyer. As he grew up, he studied law. Corneille was in the legal profession for quite a few years and wrote in his spare time, almost as a hobby. And as luck would have it, he showed his first play, Mélite, to a group of traveling actors who fell in love with it. The play became a huge success in Paris, and Corneille started his career as a prominent playwright.
Right from the start, his plays were different, especially his comedies. He described his style as “une peinture de la conversation des honnêtes gens,” or “a painting of the conversation of the gentry.” His characters imitated the lofty language and mannerisms of fashionable Parisians, instead of the more lowbrow humor that was common in French farce at the time. And finally, in 1635, he wrote his first tragedy: Médée. The play’s success spurred him on to write more tragic plays.
As Corneille grew more popular, one powerful person in particular started to notice him: Cardinal Richelieu (the villain of last season’s The Three Musketeers, interestingly enough). Richelieu was putting together a program of sorts for writers, called Les Cinq Auteurs, or The Five Poets. With this group, Richelieu wanted to promote his own ideals and virtues through literature and drama. And because Corneille was becoming very successful, Richelieu hired him as part of this group. However, after only a short time, Corneille started to fight with Richelieu. He felt that the cardinal’s rules and restrictions for the group were stifling. Corneille couldn’t write his best work in the group, no matter how influential and powerful Richelieu was. So when his contract ran out, Corneille quit.
Right after leaving the group, Corneille published Le Cid (or The Lord). Most people today agree that this is his best play. It was very different from anything France had seen before; it broke all the rules— especially Richelieu’s rules. The play was extremely popular with audiences, but it sparked an enormous controversy that would come to be known as Querelle du Cid. Many critics, Cardinal Richelieu included, felt that the play was bad because it broke the rules. Among those rules were Aristotle’s classical unities of drama. In a nutshell, critics were upset because Corneille had broken the Unity of Time (the play should take place in twenty-four hours or less), the Unity of Place (it should have only one setting) and the Unity of Action (there should only be one problem or conflict). The heated debate went on for such a long time, and with such ferocity, that Corneille temporarily quit the theatre.
In the 1640s, Corneille finally decided that he could come back and write more plays. These were a little more traditional: clearly, he was affected by all of that criticism about Le Cid. He only wrote one comedy during this period: Le Menteur, or The Liar. These new plays were decently popular, and he did well for quite some time. He married and had several children, and in the early 1650s wrote another widely detested play: Pertharite. It was so unpopular with both audiences and critics that Corneille quit the theatre for a second time.
He came back to the theatre after several years and published Trois Discours Sur le Poème Dramatique (Three Discourses on Dramatic Poetry), which was essentially a defense of his writing style— especially when it came to the earlier controversy over Le Cid. He argued that the Aristotelian Unities had a lot of value, but if they were too strict, they would stifle progress and innovation.
Corneille went on to write a few more plays, but they were less and less successful— though, at this time, he did collaborate with Molière (the playwright of Scapin, produced here at the Festival in our 2012 season) to write Psyché. And in the mid 1670s, after another flop, he retired permanently from the theatre and died ten years later.
He was an influential writer from the very beginning of his career; later writers, most notably Voltaire, admired him greatly and cited him as an influence in their own writings. His legacy in the world of theatre can still be seen to this day. That is why, even in our own time, we see new, modern translations and adaptations— especially this season’s The Liar by the brilliant David Ives— that ring just as funny and true today as they did in 1644.
So now that you know a little bit about Pierre Corneille, be sure to see The Liar before it ends on October 13. You’ll find yourself laughing all the way through it— and you might find a new appreciation for classic French theatre along the way.
A Strange Servant and a Stranger Master
Katie Cunningham (left) as Isabelle and Brandon Burk as Cliton in The Liar
By Kathryn Neves
There are many types of relationships in Shakespeare— but if there’s one that really stops and makes you think, it’s the relationship between masters and their servants. From The Taming of the Shrew to King Lear to The Comedy of Errors, the ways that masters interact with their hired (or enslaved) help can reveal a lot about the play’s themes and even the characters themselves. This isn’t only true in Shakespeare; the master/servant relationship is a very important part of this season’s The Liar, by Pierre Corneille (with a new translation by David Ives). However, the master/servant dynamic is somehow very different in The Liar than in anything we’ve really seen in Shakespeare.
This sort of bond between employer and employee is very clearly defined in Shakespeare. In comedies, the servant is a witty buffoon. He’s almost a punching bag within the script; he’s the unfortunate character who serves as the butt of all the jokes. The master in these plays usually tolerates his servant, even though he might take part in all the ridicule. The master is almost always right, he is always intelligent, and he is usually very noble (to some extent); think Shrew’s Petruchio and his servant Grumio. Then take the tragedies: the master is often dignified, sober, and often very sad; the servant in this dynamic is usually there to both cheer up the master, and point out his flaws. Often, the servant can be wiser than the master. A good example of this is Lear and the Fool.
If we take a look at The Liar, it’s pretty obvious from the start who our master and servant are: Cliton, one of the main players, tells us outright that he’s a servant looking for employment. He has many of the traits of a literary servant: he is goofy, he’s witty, and he spends most of his time making blunt, honest observations about the world around him. Then we have Dorante, the master; he accepts Cliton’s suit and takes him as a servant. However, he seems almost reluctant in his role as the master— he accepts Cliton but has no intention of paying him, and he doesn’t seem to have a real need for Cliton in many ways. It’s right here that the master/servant dynamic begins to be subverted. There is less of a power imbalance between the two; Cliton and Dorante seem to be more friends and confidantes than employer and employee.
Cliton certainly seems to fit the role of the servant— but it takes two to make the master/servant relationship. And Dorante’s actions don’t fit the Shakespearean or traditional “master” model. Dorante is not honest or noble like most of Shakespeare’s masters; he is foolish, and he is a dirty-rotten-liar. Not only that, he knows it; he is aware of his faults and doesn’t care to try to change them. Now, you might argue that there are plenty of masters in Shakespeare’s canon like this. Going back to King Lear, it’s clear that the king is prideful, flawed, and unwilling to listen to advice. The difference in King Lear, though, is that Lear’s servant possesses many of the noble qualities that his master doesn’t; the Fool works hard to show Lear his own faults and fix them. The Liar’s Cliton, though, doesn’t do this at all. Quite the opposite, actually: throughout the play, Cliton tries to become more like his foolish master. There’s an entire scene where Cliton begs Dorante to teach him to lie. This is something you probably won’t find in your run-of-the-mill Shakespearean play.
In the end, The Liar shows us a master/servant relationship that is different, fresh, and exciting; it certainly makes for an extremely entertaining play. And after you watch the play, you might understand why the characters don’t fit well into that master/servant dynamic. Cliton and Dorante, though practically complete opposites of each other, have much more in common than meets the eye. So come and see The Liar here in Cedar City; it’s different from anything you’ve ever seen, and you definitely don’t want to miss it!