News From the Festival
The Top (Under) Dog
Charlie costume design by David Kay Mickelsen
By Kathryn Neves
It’s rare that we repeat a non-Shakespeare play here at the Festival— so right off the bat, you should be able to tell how wonderful we think The Foreigner really is. The last time we showed it, audiences fell in love with Charlie right away. With his adorable awkwardness and his lovable shyness, not to mention his cleverness and wit, it’s hard not to love him! After all, who doesn’t love an underdog?
Underdogs seem to be the favorites in almost everything. Whether it be in football games, reality television shows, or even sitcoms, we nearly always root for the underdog. I mean, what do you think the hipster movement is all about? It’s about discovering underdogs. Hipsters seek out underdogs more than anyone!
And Charlie, in The Foreigner, is most definitely an underdog. He’s the classic bottom of the totem-pole, if you know what I mean. Painfully awkward around friends and strangers, losing in love and in life, and a really strong bad-luck magnet— what else can you ask for in a character like him? But strangely enough, it’s these unfortunate qualities that make us root for him. We all want to see the underdog win sometimes!
Some of the most popular characters in theatre, film, and literature are absolute underdogs. Think Chandler Bing or Charlie Brown or maybe Cinderella or even Falstaff. (Of course, try not to think of the obnoxious underdogs— I’m looking at you, Jar Jar Binks.) But Charlie Baker, the star of The Foreigner, tops them all. He is the best underdog of them all. He’s the top (under) dog, if you will. And why is that? What makes him so great?
The great thing about Charlie Baker is that he overcomes his underdog-ness. He makes it to the top and becomes who he has always wanted to be.
It’s amazing to watch Charlie’s development through The Foreigner. He starts out so hopelessly shy that he can’t even stand to talk to anyone; he would rather be alone, all the time, than say a single word to anyone. It’s because of this that his friend Froggy tells everyone that Charlie doesn’t speak English. That way, Charlie will be left alone. Right? Wrong.
After a few painfully uncomfortable scenes, Charlie starts to peek out of his shell. We see him learn to make a fool of himself, and even have some fun doing it. He makes up nonsense words and starts building confidence in the people around him. Little by little, he comes out of himself. Or maybe he grows into himself. He seems to take joy in being silly for silliness’ sake— and then, of course, all sorts of shenanigans ensue.
Now, I don’t want to spoil the show for you, so I won’t say too much else— but I will say that Charlie, by the end of the play, overcomes everything standing in his way. He faces every single fear and learns to like himself. He stands up for himself and for everyone else, and best of all, he learns— finally— how to really have fun. And that’s why we love him so much. We see Charlie go from an underdog to a winner.
Of course, he still keeps all of his fun and nonsense, and even some of his awkwardness. He wouldn’t be the Charlie we know and love without all that.
It’s not so surprising that we love to see an underdog. It’s the Great American Dream to go from rags to riches; from underdog to overdog. When we watch Charlie grow this way, we get to feel like we can too— we see it’s possible for an underdog to become the alpha in a dog-eat-dog world.
So come see The Foreigner this season at the Utah Shakespeare Festival! You’ll see a crazy romp cramped into a rural fishing lodge; you’ll hear words you’ve never heard and you’ll see a cast of characters so eccentric it’s practically like watching a sitcom. But mostly, you’ll see what everyone wants to see— you’ll see the underdog finally come out on top.
Interracial Marriage in Shakespeare’s Day
Desdemona costume design by Kyle Schollinger
By Kathryn Neves
Shakespeare’s Othello is a complex play, and one of the most interesting topics within it is the idea of interracial marriage. With a black Othello and a white Desdemona being at the center of an immense tragedy, audiences for centuries have wondered about the implications of their relationship. An interracial marriage in the sixteenth century? It seems impossible. After all, it’s easy to assume that Elizabethan people were completely backwards in their thinking. And we know that in the last few centuries, interracial couples have faced extreme prejudice, racism, and hatred just for living their lives. So it comes as a surprise to most people to learn that interracial marriages weren’t unheard of in Elizabethan times. Though they weren’t as common as they are today, Shakespeare’s audiences probably wouldn’t be too shocked or surprised by Othello and Desdemona.
The lovers in Othello aren’t the only interracial couple in Shakespeare. Antony and Cleopatra come to mind, as well as Aaron and Tamora in Titus Andronicus. There are even several others this season: The Merchant of Venice’s Lancelet Gobbo has a “Moor” mistress, and Jessica, ethnically Jewish, marries Lorenzo, a Christian; and then there’s the fact that one of Portia’s suitors is a prince of Morocco. And it doesn’t stop at fictional characters. Shakespeare may have been in an interracial relationship of his own; though we don’t know for certain, many scholars believe that the Dark Lady, the subject of a number of beautiful sonnets, was African or Arabic in descent. Is it any wonder that Shakespeare wrote so many interracial couples into his works?
In Elizabethan England, interracial marriages were not uncommon. This might have been because people of color in the Early Modern period were better off than you might assume. This isn’t to say that they didn’t face racism, but we know that black Elizabethans sometimes had decent positions in society, they held property, and they faced fairly equal protection under courts of law (Miranda Kaufman, “Making the Beast with two Backs—Interracial Relationships in Early Modern England,” Literature Compass 12/1 [2015:25]).
Far from being “strange,” “exotic,” or “rare,” there were plenty of people of color in Elizabethan society. Chances are that Shakespeare would have run into them in his everyday life. People of color were commonplace in his day, and as could be expected, they sometimes married white men and women. Charles Gildon, a writer from the mid 1600s, claimed that “Experience tells us there’s nothing more common than matches of this kind, where the whites and the blacks cohabit” (as quoted in Kaufman 2015, 24). This was even more common in Venice, the setting of Othello: according to Dennis Britton, the city “is reported as being a space of inclusion (though surely of a commercial and imperial nature)” (Dennis Britton, “Transformative and Restorative Romance: Re-“turning” Othello and Locating Christian Identity,” in Becoming Christian: Race, Reformation, and Early Modern English Romance [Fordham University Press, 2014]). It makes sense, then, that Shakespeare would set Othello in Venice— a city known for its “melting pot” nature.
The fact that interracial marriages took place, however, didn’t mean that everyone was comfortable with it. We can see this from the very beginning of Othello: after learning that his daughter has eloped with the Moor, Brabantio becomes enraged and sickened, even accusing Othello of sorcery in seducing his daughter: “Damn’d as thou art, thou hast enchanted her; . . . [if she] would ever have, t’incur a general mock, Run from her guardage to the sooty bosom of such a thing as thou—to fear, not to delight” (Othello 1.2.82–90). Even so, we know that legally, interracial marriages were allowed. After all, the senate does not convict Othello of any wrongdoing when it hears his story. In real life, too, these marriages weren’t prosecuted by the law. Interestingly enough, in cases where a black man and a white woman were caught in a relationship outside of marriage, the punishments were exactly the same as if it were a white man and white woman. It’s clear that the law usually treated interracial relationships as valid as relationships between white men and women.
Though there were undoubtedly racist and hateful attitudes in Shakespeare’s day, the fact remains that interracial couples lived their lives in relative anonymity, unbothered by extreme discrimination and prejudice. For the most part, Elizabethan subjects were accustomed to people of color and their relationships with whites. It’s no wonder, then, that Iago fails to hurt Othello on the basis of his race-—after all, the audience sees that it’s Othello’s heart that makes him who he is, not his skin.
Taking a Closer Look at Huck Finn
By Kathryn Neves
Big River is so entertaining and full of good ol’ American fun and catchy music that you’ll probably dance out of the theatre when you see it this summer. Its harmonicas, guitars, banjos, and swinging dance numbers will have you humming and whistling all summer long. And yet underneath this lighthearted, old fashioned fun lies something much more serious, and much more important. Big River, the musical adaptation of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, will ask you to take another look at one of today’s touchiest subjects—race.
It may be a fun, lighthearted romp, but Big River tackles some serious questions about race, prejudice, and tolerance. And within all of it is one detail that makes most people squirm in their seats. Just like the novel that came before it, Big River makes use of the abhorrent “N-word” a number of times. Granted, it’s not as prevalent in the musical as in the original novel by Mark Twain, but it can still be very uncomfortable to hear such a vile term used in the theatre. After all, no one uses the “N-word” in polite conversation today. It’s unthinkable; it’s an extremely ugly word. And that is why it’s so important to discuss it within the context of history and this musical.
Big River takes place in the 1830s and 40s—decades before slavery was abolished in the United States. Of course, Twain wrote the story nearly twenty years after Abraham Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation. But even so, Twain drew from his own experiences in writing the book. He was born in 1835, and he would have known all about the culture surrounding slavery and racism. It was a very normal thing for him. So when he wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, he used words and slang that came directly from his own experience.
It’s clear that racism was deeply ingrained in early nineteenth-century America, and in Twain’s novel. Even characters who are good and kind hearted speak of Jim and other slaves as wildly inferior. They, too, use the “N-word.” Uncle Silas says it, the kind woman Huck meets when dressed as a girl says it, and even Huck himself says it. Characters who we naturally want to sympathize with in this play use one of the worst words in the English language. It can be hard for us to fathom. After all, we live in a far different time than Huck and his friends. We have the benefit of many decades of progress; we have learned from heroes like Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. But Mark Twain and his immortal characters never did.
Many of the characters who use the “N-word” in Big River do it without malice—they have no bad intentions. This does not excuse it; if anything, it only goes to show how deep-set racism was in the 1830s. It was a very common term in everyday usage; they used the word interchangeably with slave. As disgusting as it sounds, the racism and prejudices were hardwired into their brains. Our main character himself is a perfect example.
Despite his good heart and his friendship with Jim, we see Huck engage in acts of racism that we absolutely abhor today. When Huck first sets off with Jim on a raft floating down the Mississippi, he worries about his own soul. Huck honestly believes that he is sinning by helping Jim to escape slavery. While we regard Huck’s action as heroic, Huck thought he was in the wrong. He thought of Jim as someone else’s property, rather than a real friend. Huck’s statement—“All right, I’ll go to hell”— shows just how ingrained racist attitudes were at the time. It’s no wonder he found it so easy to use a word as horrible as the “N-word.”
Through his adventures with Jim, Huck learns what humanity really is. He learns that Jim is as much a person as he is. He learns that a human heart is a human heart, no matter what. Huck’s friendship with Jim grows and deepens as he learns that they are more alike than they are different. In the end, Huck changes. He learns to tolerate and accept others; he takes this lesson to heart and helps Jim to escape from slavery even at the risk of his own safety.
Many of the characters in Big River do and say things that would be absolutely repulsive today. Even so, it’s important for us to understand them and where they came from. Without acknowledging the mistakes of people like Uncle Silas and Huck, we are doomed to repeat them. In the end, we can choose to be like Huck. The only real danger is when we refuse to learn and progress. We all have to change and grow— only then will we ever have the tolerance and friendship that we see at the end of the play with Huck and Jim.
Raised on a Raft
By Kathryn Neves
There’s no better example of a mischievous, carefree boy than Huckleberry Finn. After all, who can forget all of his crazy antics and adventures with Tom Sawyer in Mark Twain’s two famous novels: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn? But in this season’s Utah Shakespeare Festival production of Big River, we get to see young Huck in a different genre and a new light. Big River is a coming of age story; it’s about Huckleberry Finn learning what it means to grow up.
From the very beginning of the story, Huck wants to run away. He’s tired of living in a society that wants to “sivilize” him; he would much rather live wild on his own than spend his days listening to his guardian, the Widow Douglas, or worrying about school. No matter how hard all the adults try to change him, Huck would rather go on being mischievous and wild forever. By the time he runs away from both the widow and his father, he decides he wants to live completely for himself: “I’ll never change for no one, no matter what they say.” And Huck keeps that promise until he meets up with Jim, a runaway slave.
With his Southern folk-wisdom and his fatherly nature, Jim is the first person to really connect with Huck. As the two of them sail along the mighty Mississippi, it’s Jim who teaches Huck all of his important life-lessons: palm-reading, avoiding bad luck, and navigating the raft through stormy waters. More importantly, Jim teaches Huck how to be a good person—and how to be himself.
It’s because of Jim’s example that Huck learns right from wrong. After all, Huck has had almost no family for all of his life; until Jim came along, Huck had no one to raise him. His father was drunk and abusive, and Huck had no one else to take care of him. He didn’t care about the consequences of his actions, even telling Miss Watson that he’d rather go to hell than heaven, just to avoid being around her. It isn’t until Jim and Huck sail together through the southern United States that Huck learns to care for others besides himself: one of the most important lessons anyone can learn. Throughout Big River, it’s Jim who really raises Huck and helps him to become a man. He teaches Huck about compassion—scolding him for his cruel pranks and telling him touching stories about his own children and family stuck in slavery back home. He teaches Huck about important social issues, most importantly slavery. Jim tells Huck all about the horrors of being a slave in the 1840s and helps him to understand the terrible plight of slaves all over the country.
Most importantly, Jim teaches Huck to think for himself. Before his life-changing trip down the beautiful Mississippi river, Huck’s decisions were based on what others had told him— whether based on the Widow Douglas’s teachings or his father’s drunken ramblings, Huck relied on the information of everyone around him. By the end of the play and through Jim’s help, Huck comes to realize that the society around him is wrong; that slavery is wrong. He decides to help Jim escape from slavery, even though he’s been told his entire life that slavery is an acceptable, and even good, thing. “All right, I’ll go to hell!” Huck decides; once and for all, Huck makes the decision to trust his own conscience and compassion for Jim over the rules that “sivilization” has created.
It’s here that Huck really grows up; he learns that he doesn’t need the Widow Douglas or Miss Watson to “sivilize” him. The only “sivilization” that Huck will ever need is on the Mississippi River itself, where he can make his own decisions and become a man in his own right. It’s only when Huck breaks society’s rules once and for all that he really grows up.
Big River is a story about many things; it’s about love, compassion, justice, and good-old-fashioned fun. But more than anything, Big River is the story about a boy growing up. Our last image of young Huck is a young man sailing away along the Mississippi River, off to explore the world and to “sivilize” himself his own way.
The Everyday Comedy
Scenery model by Apollo Mark Weaver
By Kathryn Neves
If there’s one rule to writing, it’s this: write what you know. Ask any writer and they’ll tell you: it’s easiest (and the most fun) to write about your own life, your own culture. And as for the best writer in all of English literature, he definitely followed that rule too. See it for yourself in this season’s The Merry Wives of Windsor. William Shakespeare put references to his times and life into all of his plays, but nowhere is that more obvious than in this zany comedy.
The star of this play is, undoubtedly, Sir John Falstaff— companion to the rowdy Prince Hal, thieving rogue, and womanizer extraordinaire. However, despite Shakespeare firmly placing the character in the early 1400s (in Henry IV Part One, Henry IV Part Two, and Henry V), The Merry Wives of Windsor really doesn’t fit into that century at all. In fact, there are only a couple of references to Prince Hal and King Henry IV; other than that, the play could be set completely in the 1590s, the decade in which it was written (or in the early 1900s, the time period this year’s Festival production will be set in). And even though this annoys some avid historians, it definitely gave the Bard a chance to stuff as much of his own pop culture into this play as he could. For one thing, Shakespeare mentions several books that were written during his own lifetime. The Book of Songs and Sonnets is one, as well as The Book of Riddles. And during the Latin-teaching scene of the play, most of what Sir Hugh teaches is based directly on A Shorte Introduction of Grammar by Lilly and Colet. Besides all that, there’s references to currency that didn’t exist until long after Falstaff should have been dead. References to dances and wines popular in the late 1500s are strewn throughout the play. There’s even a couple of allusions to the song “Greensleeves.” Even though he technically set “Merry Wives” in the 1400s, Shakespeare clearly wanted the play to reflect his own times.
Even more telling, though, about Shakespeare’s own culture are the numerous references to some of his contemporaries. In act 3, scene 1, Sir Hugh quotes, almost verbatim, Christopher Marlowe’s “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love.” And later on in the play, Falstaff directly alludes to a sonnet sequence by Philip Sidney called Astrophil and Stella. Shakespeare was well-read, and his audience likely caught these references quite easily. Marlowe, especially, was extremely popular. It would be almost like Stephen Sondheim referencing Rogers and Hammerstein! Those poetry references were definitely relevant.
And then there’s the setting of the play. Windsor was not Shakespeare’s hometown— he was the Bard of Stratford-upon-Avon, after all. But even so, he was very familiar with Windsor and the surrounding area. It may not have been the most important town in England, but it was still a rather influential place in Elizabethan culture. Windsor was, and is to this day, the sometimes-home of England’s sovereign. It generally houses a large court, and its proximity to London makes it a fairly popular tourist spot. So it’s no wonder that Shakespeare knew the town. It’s definitely the perfect setting for the wacky pranks of Mistresses Ford and Page.
The play’s cultural references and allusions often center around Windsor. There’s one allusion, specifically, that you can track throughout the entire play. Much of the language, setting, and even plot elements focus on the Order of the Garter. This society, still in existence today, was founded in Windsor, and the town was a common meeting place for its members. Shakespeare undoubtedly knew quite a bit about the organization. In fact, in 1597 (around the time this play was written) the Order inducted a new member into its ranks: George Carey, the second Baron Hunsdon, who happened to be the patron of Shakespeare’s acting company. So it makes sense that The Merry Wives of Windsor has allusions to the Order all through its pages. Some people even speculate that the play itself was written in celebration of Lord Hunsdon’s induction. It was a current event that most people in Shakespeare’s circles would have gossiped and speculated about constantly.
Though many of Shakespeare’s plays take place in fantastical lands and ancient times far removed from reality, The Merry Wives of Windsor is more down-to-earth. It’s a play written for Elizabethan audiences. One of the only plays to reflect on Shakespeare’s everyday life so clearly, “Merry Wives” provides a glimpse into the pop-culture that the Bard knew and lived. This play, one of Shakespeare’s most delightful and relatable comedies, gave his audience a chance to feel represented. They could see themselves in Page and Ford, Shallow and Slender. By showing his audiences their own lives back at them, Shakespeare held “as t’were, the mirror up to nature.” The Merry Wives of Windsor really is the essential Elizabethan English Comedy.
The Man, the Myth, the Legend
Falstaff costume design by Bill Black
By Kathryn Neves
The Merry Wives of Windsor has always been a favorite at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. After all, who doesn’t love watching the antics of a ridiculous old man and two clever, witty women? The play is one of the most lighthearted of all of Shakespeare’s comedies, full of silly jokes, tricks, and mischief. At the heart of it all is Sir John Falstaff, perhaps the most famous of all of Shakespeare’s buffoons and definitely one of the most beloved.
Falstaff is interesting in that he is the only character in the Shakespeare canon to appear across genres; rather than being sequestered into the histories of King Henry IV, John Falstaff crosses the bounds and appears in a delightful comedy that barely even references the history that Falstaff is such a big part of. How did Falstaff become such a beloved character? Why would Shakespeare write an entire spin-off featuring this minor character from Henry IV Part One and Henry IV Part Two?
It’s easy to recognize Falstaff in any portrayal; he’s the one with the huge snowy beard, enormous belly, a bottle of sack, and a penchant for cowardice and dishonesty. Still, even with all of his faults, Falstaff has become a well-beloved character for audiences throughout the centuries— perhaps even because of his faults. After all, once we’ve seen the heroic deeds of the royalty and the nobility, it can be a relief to see someone a bit more comedic.
Falstaff is introduced to the world in Henry IV Part One as a companion to the young, unruly Prince Hal; the two spend most of their time carousing in the Boar’s Head tavern. Though we at times see some thoughtfulness from young Prince Hal, Falstaff rarely thinks about more than wine and women. He’s constantly the butt of jokes and the subject of pranks— something we see echoed in The Merry Wives of Windsor, as the entire plot revolves around Mistresses Ford and Page tricking the knight into laundry baskets, disguises, and beatings.
He makes his next appearance in Henry IV Part Two, still the same bumbling rogue that we know and love, but growing more distant from Prince Hal. In fact, the play ends with Falstaff being cast off from the newly crowned king— “I know thee not, old man: fall to thy prayers; / How ill white hairs become a fool and jester!” (5.5.3640-41). With these cruel words, Falstaff is banished. And when Falstaff dies in Henry V, it’s because of his broken heart: “The king hath run bad humours on the knight, that’s the even of it. . . . His heart is fracted and corroborate” (2.1.121-22, 124).
The Merry Wives of Windsor is like a spin-off from the history plays; it has nothing to do with the real history of England, but was only written for Falstaff to make a reappearance. We know Falstaff was a popular character, and he might have been a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I herself! Multiple sources say that she demanded another play starring Falstaff and requested that Falstaff fall in love. And of course, that is where “Merry Wives” comes in. Though Falstaff isn’t really in love, we get to see his escapades in pursuing the various women of Windsor.
After watching the Henry plays over the last several years and looking ahead to The Merry Wives of Windsor, it would be easy to assume that Falstaff is completely fictional. After all, such a colorful, ridiculous character couldn’t have any basis in reality, could he? Actually, he isn’t all fantasy. It’s pretty widely accepted that the character of John Falstaff was based on the real-life knight and prince’s companion, Sir John Oldcastle. Oldcastle, though most of his life is lost to history, was known as a supporter of Prince Henry and a scandalous rogue famous for his heresy. In the earliest drafts of Henry IV Part One, Falstaff wasn’t called Falstaff at all, but Sir John Oldcastle. However, after several of Oldcastle’s descendants complained of Shakespeare’s negative portrayal, he changed the name of the character to Falstaff— modelled after another historical knight, John Fastolf (who, incidentally, makes an appearance in this season’s Henry VI Part One).
Even though he’s a rogue and a scoundrel, Falstaff is undoubtedly one of the best characters Shakespeare created. He’s ribald, hilarious, and a bit of the Everyman, and he will be a great source of entertainment for playgoers this summer.
They're Back! Company Members Arrive
CEDAR CITY, UT — They arrived Monday, May 14.
They traveled here, nearly 300 strong, from New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, and other cities across the country and even around the world. They will be here from eight weeks to five months, depending on their job and their contract. They are the 2018 Utah Shakespeare Festival company of actors, directors, designers, stage managers, builders and creators—and they love being in Cedar City.
For instance, actor Lance Rasmussen calls Logan his hometown, but Cedar City is a type of second home for him. “My family has been seeing the Festival every year of my life,” he said. “I’ve seen 22 seasons and well over 100 plays at the Festival and consider Cedar City my artistic home and the impetus of my career as an actor.”
Tyler Morgan, Festival marketing and communications director, who is enjoying his first summer working at the Festival, said the feeling is shared by the Cedar City and Iron County communities. “This is a chance for our community to shine and welcome,” he said. “The company members are excited; it feels fresh and new; and I think the community feels that too.”
“It is invigorating to see people greeting old friends,” added Frank Mack, executive producer, who is also working his first full season at the Festival. “There are visible friendships between artists and volunteers, townspeople and the company.”
While all these temporary residents are here, they will shop in our stores, live in our apartments, and dine in our restaurants. They will attend our celebrations and visit our museums, parks, and hiking trails. They will enjoy the amazing life that those of us who live here relish year-round. They will become part of our community.
“It feels like summer now,” said Brian Vaughn, artistic director. “There is a palpable energy, and a strong synergy between the company, our amazing volunteers, and the people of Cedar City.”
“The people of Cedar City love Shakespeare and theatre, and they love the actors and artists the Festival brings to the community,” said Morgan. “They welcome the company and enjoy seeing them around town and making them feel at home.”
By the time the last spotlight is dimmed and the last bows are taken in October, the work of these talented theatre professionals will have attracted 100,000 visitors to the fifty-seventh season of the Festival. And, all total, they will have been the impetus of an economic impact of more than $40 million for Cedar City.
“The economic impact of the Festival starts now,” said Mack. “We tend to think that the Festival starts to contribute to the economy when the tens of thousands of audience members begin to arrive in late June. But it really starts now, with nearly 300 men and women who are shopping in our stores, buying their groceries, and spending their time and money. These amazing people are now working and living in our community.”
“If the first day with the company here was a glimpse of what is to come, this will be an engaging, electrifying season that I hope will surpass everyone’s expectations,” concluded Morgan. “The day seems like a harbinger of things to come, of a taste of an amazing collaboration between the Festival company and the community that has welcomed them here.”
Tickets are now on sale for the Festival’s fifty-seventh season, which will run from June 28 to October 13. season will include The Merry Wives of Windsor, Henry VI Part One, The Merchant of Venice, Othello, Big River, The Foreigner, The Liar, and An Iliad*.* For more information and tickets visit www.bard.org or call 1-800-PLAYTIX.
Last Round of Casting Announced
Ezekiel Andrew
Colleen Baum
Brandon Burk
Katie Cunningham
Katie Fay Francis
V Craig Heidenreich
Stephanie Lambourn
Kipp Moorman
Rob Riordan
CEDAR CITY, UT — The Utah Shakespeare Festival recently announced the last round of casting for the 2018 season, including eleven actors who are traveling to Cedar City from across the country. The complete acting company this year consists of nearly sixty performers. Information on all of them is available at the Festival website: www.bard.org/actorsartist.
“This is a remarkable group of actors, with notable experience working at hundreds of theatres across the country,” said Artistic Director Brian Vaughn. “They bring with them an array of talents, and I am incredibly excited to see their work.”
The last group of actors includes the following:
Ezekiel Andrew will be playing Jim in Big River and Ensemble in Henry VI Part One. “I am beyond excited to experience my first season with Utah Shakespeare Festival,” he said. “As a native of Mississippi, growing up with the stories of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer on the Mississippi River, I am eager to step into the role of Jim and share an oh-so-pertinent message of unconditional love and acceptance of all people. I’m buckling up for an amazing ride this summer.
Andrew has performed numerous roles at a variety of theatres, including Timur in Turandot at Mississippi Opera; Coalhouse Walker Jr. in Ragtime atRevival Theatre Company; Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera at Southern Opera and Musical Theater Company; and Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance, Coalhouse Walker Jr. in Ragtime, and Jake in Porgy and Bess at Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theater in Logan.
Colleen Baum is a well-known actor in Salt Lake City, but she has never appeared at the Festival—until now. She will be playing Betty Meeks in The Foreigner and Widow Douglas and Strange Lady in Big River. Utah audiences will recognize her for her extensive work at Pioneer Theatre, Salt Lake Acting, Plan-B Theatre, Lyric Repertory, and Sting & Honey Company.
“I’m still pinching myself that I get to be in the Utah Shakespeare Festival; it has been a dream of mine since I was in high school,” said Baum. “Betty in The Foreigner is a part I’ve always wanted to play. She’s so honest and charming and I can’t wait to sink my teeth into the role!”
Brandon Burk has worked extensively at the Festival the past few years, and is returning this year to take on the roles of Roderigo in Othello and Cliton in The Liar. Past Festival roles include Paris in Romeo and Juliet, Rusty Charlie in Guys and Dolls, Adam in Shakespeare in Love, Borachio in Much Ado about Nothing, Gower/Grey in Henry V, Ensemble in Three Musketeers, Venticello in Amadeus, The Professor in South Pacific, and Lysander/Flute/Cobweb in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2017 educational tour). He has worked as the artistic director of The Onyx Theatre in Las Vegas and the director of operations at Access Theatre in New York City. Multi-talented, he is also the author and performer in an original one-man show titled Invention.
Katie Cunningham will be performing her first roles at the Festival this summer: Emilia in Othello and the dual roles of Isabelle and Sabine in The Liar. She has a long list of credits in theatres in New York City and regionally. She has worked off-Broadway at TACT/The Actors Company Theatre, as well as the NY International Fringe, The Players Theatre, The Night Shift, American Place Theatre, and Drunken Shakespeare, all in New York City. Regionally, she has acted at Asolo Rep, Clarence Brown Theatre, PlayMakers Rep, Arkansas Rep, Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival, Northern Stage, and many more.
Also new at the Festival this year is Katie Fay Francis who will be playing Catherine in The Foreigner, The Muse in An Iliad, and Susan Wilkes in Big River. She will also be recognized by Utah audiences, mainly for her work at Lyric Repertory Company where she has appeared as Catherine in The Foreigner, Mary Jane in Big River, Alice in You Can’t Take It with You, Cathy Selden in Singin’ in the Rain, Elaine in Arsenic and Old Lace, and Edwin Drood in The Mystery of Edwin Drood; and atUtah State University’s Caine College of the Arts where she has played such roles as Hennie in Awake and Sing!, Lady Olivia in Twelfth Night, Masha in Three Sisters, Lady Larken in Once upon a Mattress, Bonnie in Bonnie and Clyde the Musical, and Violet in Violet the Musical.
V Craig Heidenreich will be playing the roles of Gordon and Richard Nixon and the voices of Announcer, Disc Jockey, and Cab Calloway in Pearl’s in the House. This is also his first season at the Festival. He has produced, directed, and/or acted in more than 250 productions throughout the country from New York and Boston to Chicago and St Louis, and on the west coast, including four seasons with the Old Globe, three with PCPA Theaterfest, and five with Shakespeare Santa Cruz, as well as fifteen seasons and more than eighty productions at Actors’ Theatre of Louisville. Recent roles include Juror 8 in Twelve Angry Men, Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, O’Brien in 1984, Claudius in Hamlet, and Lear in King Lear.
Stephanie Lambourn will be making her first appearance at the Festival as Mistress Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Margaret in Henry VI Part One, and Miss Watson and Sally Phelps in Big River. She has appeared at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, the Aurora Fox and Pace Center for the Arts, Event Theatre Australia, and the Great River Shakespeare Festival. She has also been the artist-in-residence for the Shakespeare-in-the-Schools program at the Great River Shakespeare Festival.
Kipp Moorman, is returning to the Festival after playing Vinnie in The Odd Couple and Lucilius and Decius Brutus in Julius Caesar in 2016; Sir Walter Blunt in Henry IV Part One, Angelo in The Comedy of Errors, and John Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility in 2014; and Juror #2 in Twelve Angry Men, Melun and Chatillion in King John, and Ensemble in The Tempest in 2013. In 2018 he will be playing Geronte in The Liar and Duke of Venice/Ensemble in Othello.
“There are no common phrases adequate enough to express my joy to be returning to the Festival for my fourth season,” Moorman said. “I’m full of anticipation to be back to Cedar City.”
Rob Riordan will be spending his first summer at the Festival this year when he takes on the two major roles of Huckleberry Finn in Big River and Ellard Simms in The Foreigner. He has appeared on stages at Broadway Playhouse Chicago, Geva Theatre Center, Festival de Teatro de la Habana, Variety Children’s Theatre, Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, New Jewish Theatre, The Fireside Theatre, Grandstreet Theatre, and Hope Summer Repertory Theatre. He has also appeared on television in The Marvelous Ms. Maisel and on film in Sweet Caroline.
Tickets to the Festival’s fifty-seventh season, which will run from June 28 to October 13, are now on sale. For more information and tickets visit www.bard.org or call 1-800-PLAYTIX.
The Story of "The Other"
By Kathryn Neves
What do slaves, merchants, Greek warriors, soldiers, and painfully shy foreigners all have in common? Maybe not a lot. At first glance, this season looks like an eclectic collection of stories and tales, all different and from different places and times. There’s nothing they have in common— or is there? Well, look closer. There’s a thread that runs through nearly all of the plays this season at the Utah Shakespeare Festival: the story of “The Other.”
The Other? you might ask. What do you mean, The Other? What a broad, vague term. Well, what better to cover such a diverse group of stories than this broad term? Most of the Festival’s plays this season focus on telling stories about people outside the “in” group; whether it be religious or racial minorities, or foreigners and dreadful wars, this season is all about tolerance. It’s about learning to respect, appreciate, even love “The Other.”
Big River zooms in on the life of an individual African American in the midst of tense racial situations. Big River, the musical version of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, focuses on Jim— a runaway slave seeking freedom along the Mississippi River. Through Big River, Huck Finn learns to love Jim as a father figure and a friend; he realizes that Jim is a person too, even though the entire culture of the South says he isn’t.
Othello, too, focuses on racial differences— and racial similarities. It’s the story about a Moor who becomes a great military general despite huge barriers in his way, who ends up losing it all because of his unfounded jealousy. Much of the play is about Othello’s success despite his status as a Moor. In Shakespeare’s day, a Moor could refer to any number of things. It was usually a term used to describe anyone that wasn’t white and European. Likely, by Moor, Shakespeare either meant someone of African descent or someone of Arab descent. In Othello, we see how Othello’s status of an outsider leads the villain, Iago, to extreme jealousy and hatred. Because Iago cannot and will not tolerate any “others” in his world, he contrives to make Othello lose everything he has worked for— costing the lives of more people than even Iago bargained for. It’s the fear and hatred of “The Other” that causes the great tragedy.
Then, of course, there’s The Merchant of Venice. This play is a favorite for many; afterall, who doesn’t like stories about love overcoming impossible odds? But this play is about more than Bassanio and Portia’s whirlwind romance. Merchant is also about Shylock— a Jew who has become bitter and angry after years of abuse at the hands of his fellow men. In The Merchant of Venice, we see that Shylock (and maybe many others) has lost sight of what it means to be human, because he has been treated with intolerance throughout his whole life. You could say that Shylock’s story is more compelling than Bassanio and Portia’s, for the simple fact that his story is more important. We learn from Shylock that if we hate members of the “other” group, the “other” group may learn to hate us in return.
The Foreigner is another one of those plays that everyone seems to love. It’s funny, it’s zany and farcical, and it’s so relatable. But this play, too, at its heart, is about “The Other.” Throughout the play, Charlie (out of his extreme shyness) pretends to be a foreigner. And instead of being ignored, as he expected, everyone in the play becomes fascinated with him. We see some of the characters, like Ellard and Betty, treat him like a friend. Charlie makes friends with people he would never have connected with before. And then we see other characters throughout the play who don’t befriend him— they hate him. Even though they’ve never met Charlie before, they know he’s a “foreigner” and that’s enough for them. They don’t bother to take the time to get to know Charlie, and before anyone can say “blasny-blasny,” the whole gang is caught up in a mess of intolerance and danger.
And then there’s An Iliad. Everyone knows the story; the ancient Greeks and the antics of the Trojans are pretty much universal. Who didn’t have to sit through hours of lectures in high school? But I can bet you’ve never seen the story presented this way. In this one-man show, we see the Trojan war, not as a fight for honor and glory, but as a horrendous waste of life. The Greeks hate the Trojans, and the Trojans hate the Greeks. Each side becomes “The Other” to everyone else. And tragically, we see what can happen if our hatred and fear of “The Other” goes too far.
If there’s one thing you can take away from this season, it’s that the idea of “The Other” shouldn’t matter. After all, everyone’s an outsider to someone else. No matter what our skin color is, what our political beliefs are, our religions or our ideals, everyone underneath is the same; we’re all human. There is no “other”; there’s only us.
Popular Actors Returning for 2018
John Ahlin
Jeb Burris
A. Bryan Humphrey
Chris Mixon
Brian Vaughn
Russ Benton
Michael Doherty
Dan Kremer
Jim Poulos
CEDAR CITY, UT — The Utah Shakespeare Festival recently announced more casting, including a number of actors who are returning to the Festival for the 2018 season. Of the nine who were announced, some were here last year, others have not worked here for a few years, but all will be fondly remembered by Festival audiences. All are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers. Please check for the latest casting news at www.bard.org.
“We have a remarkable array of actors in our company this year,” said Artistic Director Brian Vaughn. “Many returning faces coupled with incredible newcomers bring with them a vast collection of experience and talent that promises to make a lasting impact on our audiences. I’m so excited to share their work across the season.”
John Ahlin will be remembered for his roles as Sir John Falstaff in Henry IV Part Two and Vincentio in The Taming of the Shrew in 2015. This season he will again play the loveable knight Sir John Falstaff, but in The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Sir John Fastolfe, the Mayor of London, and Reigner in Henry VI Part One, as well as Pap Finn and Sheriff Bell in Big River.
Last appearing at the Festival in 2000, Russ Benton will be familiar to Festival audiences for such roles as Reignier and Lord Hastings in The War of the Roses and Old Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice (2000), John in The Lion in Winter and Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1999), Pharaoh and Gad in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1998), and Doctor Pinch in The Comedy of Errors (1996). This year he will be playing Owen Musser in The Foreigner and Lafe, Counselor Robinson, and Silas Phelps in Big River.
Jeb Burris is returning to the Festival to appear in the Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre as Cassio in Othello and in the Randall L. Jones Theatre as Dorante in The Liar. Last season he appeared as Orlando in As You Like It, Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, and Ned Alleyn in Shakespeare in Love. Other Festival roles in the past have included Jim O’Connor in The Glass Menagerie, Catesby in Richard III, Chiron in Titus Andronicus, Dumaine in Love’s Labour’s Lost, as well as a host of others.
“I am thrilled to be back for my fifth season in Cedar City,” he said. “This will be my first performance in the Anes Theatre, and I couldn’t be more excited. To tell this powerful story of Othello in such a beautiful space is going to be a real gift for both audience and cast and crew.”
Festival audiences will remember Michael Doherty for his hilarious turns as Lord Fancourt Babberley in Charley’s Aunt, Tranio in The Taming of the Shrew, and Speed in The Two Gentlemen of Verona. This year he will be appearing as Charlie in the comedy The Foreigner and as Tom Sawyer in the classic musical Big River. Multi-talented, he has won numerous awards including the 2013 Independent TV Festival Award for Best Writing.
A. Bryan Humphrey is a long-time favorite at the Festival, having appeared here in various seasons since 1995. This summer he will be playing Sir Hugh Evans in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Henry Beauford in Henry VI Part One, and various roles (including the sonorous Judge Thatcher) in Big River. In past seasons he has played such roles as Juror #4 in Twelve Angry Men, Gonzalo in The Tempest, Marcus Andronicus in Titus Andronicus, Judge Taylor in To Kill a Mockingbird, Master Frank Ford in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Harry Binion in Room Service, and Froggy LeSueur in The Foreigner.
Dan Kremer has been a popular Festival actor off and on since 2006 when he appeared here as the Ghost of Hamlet’s Father and the Clown in Hamlet, Enobarus in Antony and Cleopatra, and Doctor Caius in The Merry Wives of Windsor. More recently, he appeared in such towering roles as Titus in Titus Andronicus, Lear in King Lear, and Gaunt in Richard II, as well as playing Vandergelder in The Matchmaker, Morrie in Tuesdays with Morrie, and many others. This season he will be playing the Duke of Gloucester in Henry VI Part One and Shallow in The Merry Wives of Windsor.
Chris Mixon is returning this year to play Froggy LeSueur in The Foreigner (he played Charlie Baker in the Festival’s first production of this popular play in 2005) and The King/Ensemble in Big River. Other past roles at the Festival have included Charlie Brown in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Feste in Twelfth Night, Alaric in Peg o’ My Heart, Lancelot Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice, Trinculo in The Tempest, Yvan in ‘Art’, and many others.
Jim Poulos appeared at the Festival in 2016 as Chico in The Cocoanuts and Robertson Aye in Mary Poppins. This season at the Festival he will perform the roles of Henry VI and Gunner’s Boy in Henry VI Part One, Host of the Garter in The Merry Wives of Windsor, and The Duke and Preacher in Big River. He has also appeared on Broadway as Mark Cohen in Rent and Huck Finn in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; as Seymour in the national tour of Little Shop of Horrors; off-Broadway as Feste in Illyria and Young Man in My Life with Albertine; and in theatres across the country.
And, last but certainly not least, Brian Vaughn will be taking off his artistic director hat and appearing this summer in two powerful roles: Iago in Othello and The Poet in An Iliad. He has played over fifty roles in twenty-four seasons at the Festival, including Hamlet, Henry V, Prince Hal, Hotspur, Leontes, Benedick, Petruchio, Cyrano de Bergerac, Harold Hill in The Music Man, Javert in Les Misérables, and Charlie in Stones in His Pockets.
He has also directed such plays as Shakespeare in Love, Henry V, Henry IV Part Two, Henry IV Part One, and Peter and the Starcatcher. He has directed and acted around the country and has been artistic director at the Festival since 2011.
Vaughn also noted that casting is nearly complete and other announcements will be coming quickly, including many wonderful actors who have not appeared at the Festival in the past.
Tickets are now on sale for the Festival’s fifty-seventh season, which will run from June 28 to October 13. For more information and tickets visit www.bard.org or call 1-800-PLAYTIX.