News From the Festival
A Season of Adventure
From swashbuckling pirates to feuding fairy royalty, from young lovers and warring families to singing and dancing gamblers, from a mysterious vagabond in a tavern in the middle of the Utah desert to magical forests—the 2017 season of the Utah Shakespeare Festival promises a season of adventure for all.
The season, which will run from June 29 to October 21, includes nine plays that run the gamut with music, drama, excitement, and escapades of every kind.
The Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre
Two complementary plays, William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and the theatrical adaptation of the Academy Award-winning movie Shakespeare in Love, will anchor the Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre. Shakespeare in Love is about young William Shakespeare, who, out of ideas and short of cash, meets his ideal woman and is inspired to write one of his most famous plays, Romeo and Juliet. These interdependent story lines provided the impetus behind the Festival producing these two plays in repertory—with many shared elements and cast members.
The Festival has been selected as one of three theatres to present the first United States productions in the United States. It is based on the original screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, with the stage adaptation by Lee Hall. It is presented by special arrangement with Disney Theatrical Productions and Sonia Friedman Productions.
Rounding out the Engelstad Theatre will be the Shakespeare comedy As You Like It. This rollicking frolic of confused courtship between Rosalind and Orlando features beautiful poetry and unsurpassed wit, with love and danger waiting in the Forest of Arden.
The Randall L. Jones Theatre
Four plays will fill the stage in the Randall L. Jones Theatre in 2017, offering a variety of genres stories, and exploits.
First will be the classical musical Guys and Dolls, with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Abe Burrows and Jo Swerling. Considered by many to be the perfect musical comedy, Guys and Dolls ran for over 1,200 performances when it opened on Broadway in 1950. Winner of many Tony Awards and numerous other theatre prizes, it has been frequently revived and has proven to be perennially popular. Featuring such memorable songs as “A Bushel and a Peck” and “Luck Be a Lady,” this oddball romantic comedy will find a comfortable home at the Festival.
Next will be the Mountain West premiere of Mary Zimmerman’s glorious adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson novel Treasure Island. This epic tale based on classic literature will thrill the entire family with tales of buried treasure, cutthroat pirates, the larger-than-life Long John Silver, and the courageous young cabin boy Jim Hawkins. A play with music, Treasure Island is dramatic story-telling at its theatrical best.
Possibly Shakespeare’s most beloved comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream will also appear in the Randall Theatre. This story of fairies, dreams, and moonlight gets a new and exciting look when set in the art deco world of the Jazz Age. It is still true that “the course of love never did run smooth,” and when the feuding king and queen of the fairies interfere in the couplings of mortals, the result is pure pandemonium and magical mayhem.
Playing later in the seson in the Randall L. Jones Theatre will be a world-premiere adaptation of the satirical comedy The Tavern by George M. Cohan. Joseph Hanreddy (who adapted Sense and Sensibility for the Festival in 2014) is adapting this hilarious play and shifting the action and plot to locations and characters in Utah that just might feel familiar. As such, it is a dark and stormy night when a mysterious vagabond, a damsel in distress, and a politician all end up at a remote Utah tavern in the adventuresome melodrama.
The Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre
First up in the 200-seat studio theatre will be William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged), brought to you by the same guys responsible for The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged). The play tells the not-quite factual (well, not at all factual) story of an ancient manuscript purported to be the first play written by William Shakespeare. Using questionable scholarship and street-performer smarts, a trio of comic actors will throw themselves into a fast, funny, and frenzied festival of physical finesse, witty wordplay, and plentiful punning.
And last, but certainly not least, is the nationally-acclaimed world-premiere of playwright Neil LaBute’s How To Fight Loneliness. LaBute recently had two successful shows close off-Broadway and has another, All the Ways To Say I Love You, opening this fall at MCC Theater. He and his work have been recognized with Tony Award nominations and Arts and Letters Awards in Literature, among others. How To Fight Loneliness explores a modern-day husband and wife who are at a life-changing crossroads and struggling to make monumental decisions about life and love.
“This is a season with something for everybody, and one that propels us into the next stage of our development as a theatre company,” said Joshua Stavros, media and public relations director. “It definitely will be an adventure you don’t want to miss.”
Change in Shakespeare's Forests
By Allison Borzoni
Forests are often just a rustic setting, but in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and As You Like It, forests are more than just a place. They are an adventure and an escape. In both plays, characters go to the woods and begin to change in ways they never would have predicted.
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the forest is a safe haven for Hermia and Lysander as they plan their elopement. However, when Helena and Demetrius follow them into the woods, strange things begin to happen. The characters’ escape from an oppressive law becomes an escape from reality as they are influenced by powers greater than their own. As they wander through the night-stricken forest, these young Athenians almost become new people, and in Bottom’s case—an ass. When they leave the forest, they have changed for the better, but can’t quite explain what happened during the night.
The Forest of Arden in As You Like It also acts as an opportunity for change. Before the play begins, Duke Senior has been exiled, and, according to rumor, “They say he is already in the Forest of Arden, and a/ many merry men with him; and there they live like/ the old Robin Hood of England. They say many/ young gentlemen flock to him every day and fleet/ the time carelessly, as they did in the golden world” (1.1.7–11). Duke Senior and the gentleman that join him in the forest are freed from earthly constraints, but they’re not the only ones. Rosalind retreats to the forest once she is exiled and dresses as a man to travel safely, and even Oliver and Duke Frederick, the villains of the play, become better men in the Forest of Arden.
Although the forest is a place of change and opportunity, it’s up to the characters to decide if the forest was a pleasant place to be. Duke Senior compares the forest to the court and says, “Hath not old custom made this life more sweet/ Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods/ More free from peril than the envious court?” (2.1.2–4). And although Bottom from A Midsummer Night’s Dream may have enjoyed his night of extravagance in the forest, poor Helena might disagree about how fun her adventures were that night.
In the end, Shakespeare used the forest to provide characters with a chance to become something new. They were free to escape the confines of the real world, much like what we hope for you when you attend the Utah Shakespeare Festival this summer.
To Imagine or Not to Imagine: Treasure Island
By Allison Borzoni
Treasure Island is a classic story with a cast of characters we’ve been familiar with since childhood. There have been over fifty adaptations of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel Treasure Island, and most still keep the original characters. Even Black Sails, the television prequel to Treasure Island, features characters like Israel Hands and even Captain Flint himself. The Utah Shakespeare Festival is following this tried-and-true principle this year, by bringing an exciting and adventurous adaptation by Mary Zimmerman’s adaptation to the stage—complete with a full cast of swashbuckling pirates.
Billy Bones is the man who kicks off the adventure in the book and the adaptations. Disney’s Treasure Island (1950) upped the lowly status of Billy Bones to Captain William Bones. Bill Connolly took on the role of Billy Bones in Muppet Treasure Island, and he became one of the only characters to die on screen in a Muppets movie. Our Billy Bones won’t be the first character to die on a Festival stage (I’m looking at you, Polonius), but Billy (played by the Festival’s Geoffrey Kent) will definitely lure the audience into the adventure as he warns Jim Hawkins to look out for a one-legged man.
And that one-legged man is Long John Silver himself. Silver has a long history of a complicated father-son relationship with Jim Hawkins. Treasure Island (1950) doesn’t make this relationship any easier when Silver holds Jim at gunpoint. Treasure Planet, an animated version of Treasure Island that is set in outer space, also puts Silver’s relationship with Jim to the test, when Silver has to either rescue Jim or the treasure. Rest assured, Muppet Treasure Island makes Silver out to be a bit more of a villain, since the movie ends with him marooned on Treasure Island with a singing Moai head. Although our Treasure Island won’t be breaking out in a chorus of “Cabin Fever” as they do in Muppet Treasure Island, the play is full of music perfect for pirates and hidden treasure. And, watch out for Michael Elich, the new-to-the-Festival actor who is playing Long John Silver; he will demand your attention with his charismatic control over the mutinous pirates and his burgeoning friendship with Jim Hawkins.
Although Billy Bones and Long John Silver have consistently appeared in most adaptations, Doctor Livesey has proven to be a more flexible character. Both Treasure Planet and Muppet’s Treasure Island decided against keeping Doctor Livesey as human at all. In Treasure Planet, Doctor Livesey is called Delbert Doppler—and he’s a dog-like alien to boot. Although Delbert Doppler is a Ph.D, not an M.D., Muppet Treasure Island does bring in a medical doctor: Dr. Bunsen Honeydew. The Festival’s Jonathan Haugen may not be a doctor either, but he will certainly bring Doctor Livesey and his calming influence to life as he tries to keep the mutinous crew of the Hispaniola on board.
Captain Smollett is the only character who suspects a mutiny from the very beginning of the story. Disney’s Treasure Island (1950) kept its Captain Smollett as a stalwart man of the sea, although he doesn’t act as a father figure for Jim. Treasure Planet, meanwhile, switches it up by making Captain Smollet into Captain Amelia, a female, cat-like alien. Of course, we won’t have aliens on the Festival stages this year, but we will have Paul Michael Sandberg with us as Captain Smollet to lead the resistance against Silver and his mutinying maties.
With at least 50 adaptations to choose from, just remember that Mary Zimmerman, the playwright for this adaptation, keeps her eye on the true prize: “a lifelong pursuit of childlike imagination.” Don’t miss your boat, it’ll be the journey of a lifetime—and not just for Jim Hawkins.
Final 2017 Casting Is In!
Brian Vaughn
Tessa Auberjonois
Corey Jones
Fred C. Adams
CEDAR CITY, UT—The Utah Shakespeare Festival recently announced the last of its casting for the 2017 season, including the three actors who will perform in How to Fight Loneliness: Brian Vaughn, Corey Jones, and Tessa Auberjonois. The complete list of actors and roles is available at bard.org/actorsartist.
Brian Vaughn, one of the Festival’s artistic directors and a long-time favorite of Festival audiences, will be playing two very different roles in two very different plays: Brad, the emotionally conflicted husband in How to Fight Loneliness and Sky Masterson, a swaggering, independent, but somehow loveable gambler, in the musical Guys and Dolls. Vaughn as played over fifty roles in twenty-three seasons at the Festival, including the title roles in Hamlet, Henry V, and Cyrano de Bergerac. Other roles include Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew, Harold Hill in The Music Man, Javert in Les Misérables, Charlie in Stones in His Pockets, and both Felix Unger and Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple. He has also been a prolific director at the Festival, helming such shows as the regional premiere of Peter and the Starcatcher, Henry IV Part One, Henry IV Part Two, and Henry V. This year, he will also be directing the regional premiere of Shakespeare in Love.
“I am thrilled to play these very diverse roles in these very diverse plays,” said Vaughn. “Both shows are perfect examples of our repertory model: a classic American musical comedy coupled with a searing dramatic world premiere. I can’t wait for our audiences to experience them.”
Tessa Auberjonois is returning to the Festival after twenty years to play the role of the wife, Jodie, who has a terminal illness and is now faced with decisions regarding life and death. She last appeared here as Viola in Twelfth Night and Marina in Pericles in 1997. During the last two decades, she has kept busy appearing in plays across the country, including off-Broadway shows of Trainspotting at the Players Theatre, Killers and Other Family at Rattlestick Theatre, and Uncommon Women and Others Lucille Lortel Theatre. She has also appeared in such diverse theatres as South Coast Repertory, the Shakespeare Theatre of Washington, D. C., the Kirk Douglas Theatre, Hartford Stage, Westport Playhouse, Yale Rep, and many others. Television work includes appearances in Shameless, ER, Boston Legal, N3mbers, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, and Jonny Zero. She also appeared in the films The Secret Life of Me, Birth, Touchback, Nostradamus, Ditch!, and I’m Not Rappaport.
“I could not be more thrilled to return to the Utah Shakespeare Festival with this incredible collaborative team and this wonderful role after twenty years,” she said. “My summer at the Festival remains a treasured and unmatched experience. I can’t wait to get started telling this deeply moving story of three people who desperately need each other.”
Corey Jones, who will be playing the role of Tate in How to Fight Loneliness, is also a familiar face to Festival audiences. He played Caliban in The Tempest and the title role in King John in 2013 and Rev. Sykes in To Kill a Mockingbird and Aaron in Titus Andronicus in 2012. He appeared as the General in the national tour of the Broadway production of The Book of Mormon. He has also been in numerous plays across the country, including appearances at Pittsburgh City Theater, Dallas Theater Center, Arkansas Rep, Celebration Theatre LA, Williamstown Theater Festival, Chautauqua Theater, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, PCPA, Illinois Shakespeare, and others.
“There’s no place like the Utah Shakespeare Festival and southern Utah, and I’m looking forward to returning and working in the stunning new facilities of the Sorenson Center for the Arts,” he said. “Making the return even more special is the opportunity to work on a world premiere and a Neil LaBute play—two dreams come true!”
And, if that isn’t enough, Festival Founder Fred C. Adams will be returning to the stage of the Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre this summer as Adam in As You Like It. Check out bard.org/actorsartist to find out more.
Tickets are now on sale for the Festival’s 56th season, which will run from June 29 to October 21. In addition to How to Fight Loneliness, this year’s plays are Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It, Shakespeare in Love, Guys and Dolls, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Treasure Island, The Tavern, and William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged). For more information and tickets visit www.bard.org or call 1-800-PLAYTIX.
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).
Artistic Director Headed to Arizona Theatre Company
David Ivers, Festival artistic director since 2011, announced today that he will be leaving the Festival later this month to accept the role of artistic director at the Arizona Theatre Company, based in Tucson and Phoenix.
Ivers described his departure as bittersweet. “I have so many memories and inspiring events associated with the Utah Shakespeare Festival that I’ll remain forever grateful to the artists, staff, and guests that make the Festival what it is,” he said. “Everything I know about cultural literacy, everything I know about challenges and rising above them, everything I know about incredible work on incredible stages, I learned at the Utah Shakespeare Festival.”
“This new position is a thrilling professional opportunity, and it dovetails with the needs of my family,” he said. “I am eager to embark on this next adventure, even as I say goodbye to this amazing theatre and company of gifted and dedicated artists and staff.”
Ivers will return to Cedar City to direct the world premiere production of How to Fight Loneliness, opening August 26, 2017
“David has significantly influenced the development, growth and progress of the Festival as an actor, artistic director and innovator,” said Festival Board President Jeffery R. Nelson. “We will always be grateful for his energy, passion, and many contributions; and we wish him and his family nothing but success in his new role."
Ivers has acted and directed at the Festival since 1992. He was hired as co-artistic director along with Brian Vaughn in January of 2011. Festival Founder Fred C. Adams has worked with Ivers through all that time. “David has been a much-loved talent here at the Utah Shakespeare Festival,” Adams said. “Under his co-leadership with Brian Vaughn, the Festival has accomplished remarkable things. Of course, we will miss him and hope to get him back to act or direct Festival productions when his schedule allows. We will always consider him a valued member of the Festival family.”
Co-artistic leader Brian Vaughn has worked with Ivers at the Festival on a nearly daily basis for over six years, and was quick to point out the many changes in that time. “David and I started our leadership tenure at this organization over six years ago,” he said. It is amazing to think of the things that have happened in that time: a new brand, a new logo, the fifty-year anniversary celebration, building new theatres, the Complete the Canon initiative, and the new play program Words Cubed. I will cherish our shared artistic learning and growth. He is a dear friend and will be greatly missed.”
“While we will miss David, we are grateful for his passion for great theatre, his dedication to our art, and the artistic leadership he and Brian have given over the past years,” added Zachary Murray, interim executive director.
Tickets are now on sale for the Festival’s 56th season, which will run from June 29 to October 21. In addition to How to Fight Loneliness, this year’s plays are Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It, Shakespeare in Love, Guys and Dolls, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Treasure Island, The Tavern, and William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged). For more information and tickets visit www.bard.org or call 1-800-PLAYTIX.
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).
The Controversy of Shakespeare and Marlowe
By Brooke Vlasich
Christopher Marlowe
Any celebrity can tell you that with a great deal of fame and respect comes something else: controversy. William Shakespeare is no exception, and speculation continually follows the playwright, especially since we know so little about him. Only a few certain facts are known, and even fewer documents survive regarding Shakespeare. But Shakespeare isn’t the only playwright during his time period to be surrounded by speculation. His contemporary, Christopher Marlowe, is a victim of the same circumstances. Rumors about Marlowe range from espionage to collaboration. Who exactly was Marlowe and what connections does he have to Shakespeare? Join us as we take a closer look into both of these mysterious playwrights.
According to Bill Bryson’s biography Shakespeare: The Illustrated and Updated Edition, we cannot be exactly certain when Shakespeare arrived in London, but we do know that Marlowe was an upcoming playwright in the 1590s, especially after Tamburlaine the Great. Unfortunately, Marlowe also had a short temper, and in September 1589, he became involved in a fight with innkeeper William Bradley. Playwright friend Thomas Watson stepped in and killed Bradley in a duel. Both Marlowe and Watson ended up in prison, and this wasn’t the only time Marlowe ran into trouble with the law. In 1593, anti-immigration notices featured lines from popular dramas, including Marlowe’s Tamburlaine the Great, to dissuade people from seeing these shows.
Marlowe was also accused by author Thomas Kyd of being an atheist, which led to questioning before the Privy Council. After all this, Marlowe still argued over a bill at a bar and began stabbing another bar patron who in self-defense turned the knife on Marlowe and killed him. He was only twenty-nine years old.
At this point in time, Shakespeare was gaining a great deal of recognition for his poetry and had the patronage of an aristocrat, but he decided to return to theatre by writing comedies including Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and The Comedy of Errors. Marlowe, however, had focused on ambitious dramas including The Jew of Malta and The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. Marlowe’s death has left historians and literary scholars wondering what would have happened if he had lived.
William Shakespeare
Some believe Marlowe was assassinated by a request from the Crown. Others think that Marlowe’s death was faked, and that he is the real author of Shakespeare’s plays. The theory behind this is that Marlowe faked his death, escaped, and hid so he could continue to work under the patronage of Thomas Walsingham.
During Shakespeare and Marlowe’s time in London, the theatrical scene was incredibly busy with intense demands on playwrights and actors. Shakespeare in Love which is enjoying a regional premiere at the Festival this summer, develops the possibility of collaboration between the two playwrights, which was common as playwrights struggled to keep up with the pace of theatrical productions. The play suggests a relationship between Shakespeare and Marlowe as Marlowe mentors the new playwright while he woos Viola and writes his masterpiece Romeo and Juliet.
Putting Shakespeare in Love, is this story of Marlowe true? Was Marlowe’s death faked so he could continue to write the literary masterpieces we attribute to Shakespeare? Bryson indicates that the man behind this theory, Calvin Hoffman, opened Thomas Walsingham’s tomb to uncover manuscripts and letters to prove his case. He found no materials, however, but still made this case in The Murder of the Man Who Was ‘Shakespeare.’
Whether or not the accusations are true, one thing is certain: Whomever wrote Shakespeare’s work, whether it was the playwright or not, the elaborate words, plotlines, and characters continue to resonate with audiences, directors, and actors worldwide. Both the compilation of plays from Shakespeare and Marlowe will always be integrated in our lives and our world as we continue to study, perform, and experience them.
Casting for Romeo and Juliet and Shakespeare in Love
Shane Kenyon
Betsy Mugavero
Jeb Burris
Aaron Arroyo
Quinn Mattfeld
Susannah Florence
Richie Call
Michael Manocchio
CEDAR CITY, UT—The Utah Shakespeare Festival recently announced many of the actors playing roles in Romeo and Juliet and Shakespeare in Love this summer. The two plays are complementary to each other (Shakespeare in Love imagines how the Bard may have written Romeo and Juliet), and many of the actors will play the same or similar roles in the two plays. Please check for all the latest casting news at www.bard.org.
Shane Kenyon is appearing at the Festival for the first time, playing the star-struck lover, Romeo, in Romeo and Juliet and Kit Marlowe in Shakespeare in Love, as well as Jacque DeBoys in As You Like It. He has appeared at numerous regional theatres, including Steppenwolf Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Steep Theatre, Irish Theatre of Chicago, Rivendell Theatre, and more. He has also appeared on television in Chicago Justice, Chicago PD, Empire, Mind Games, and Chicago Code and on film in Jessica and Olympia. “I grew up coming to the Utah Shakespeare Festival, and it has been a dream of mine to perform at the Festival,” he said. “This is the fulfillment of so many childhood dreams. I can’t wait to experience everything performing at the Festival has to offer.”
Quinn Mattfeld is returning to the Festival to play Will Shakespeare in Shakespeare in Love and Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet, as well as Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls. He has played many roles at the Festival, including Black Stache in Peter and the Starcatcher, Edward Ferrars in Sense and Sensibility, Robert in Boeing Boeing, and Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night. Most recently he has also appeared as Mr. Wormwood in the first national tour of Matilda! The Musical, with the Royal Shakespare Company. “I am absolutely thrilled to be returning for my sixth season at the Festival, and playing the Festival’s namesake is such a rare and humbling experience,” he said. “What an honor and joy to get to come back to my artistic home in Utah.”
Betsy Mugavero will play opposite Kenyon as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, and opposite Mattfeld as Shakespeare’s muse and love, Viola de Lesseps, in Shakespeare in Love. She has appeared at the Festival in six separate seasons, playing such roles as Constanze in Amadeus, Julia in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Kitty in Charley’s Aunt, Molly in Peter and the Starcatcher, Jacquenetta in Love’s Labour’s Lost, Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and others. “I am lucky this summer to get to live Shakespeare’s most famous love story in two very different ways and through the eyes of two complex and equally inspiring female characters,” she said in talking about the upcoming season. “I’m humbled, honored, and thrilled.”
Susannah Florence will take on the roles of Lady Montague in Romeo and Juliet and Queen Elizabeth in Shakespeare in Love, as well as Celia in As You Like It. Festival audiences will remember her from last year at the Festival when she played Mrs. Banks in Mary Poppins and Ursula in Much Ado about Nothing. Other theatres she has appeared at include Pioneer Theatre Company (Dolly in One Man, Two Guvnors, Shaindel in Fiddler on the Roof, and Sarah/Ghost/TV Producer in King Charles III) and Sting & Honey (William Shakespeare in Kings’ Men).
Jeb Burris is returning to the Festival to play Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet and Ned Alleyn in Shakespeare in Love, as well as Orlando in As You Like It. Other roles at the Festival have included Jim O’Connor in The Glass Menagerie, Cateby in Richard III, Chiron in Titus Andronicus, Dumain in Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Dauphin in King John, Ferdinand in The Tempest, and Fenton in The Merry Wives of Windsor. “I am thrilled to be returning to the Utah Shakespeare Festival,” he said. “Getting the chance to play Mercutio and Ned Alleyn will be a unique experience for me, and one I very much look forward to.”
Richie Call is appearing at the Festival for the first time. He will be playing the roles of Lord Montague in Romeo and Juliet and Peter and Ralph in Shakespeare in Love, as well as several roles in Guys and Dolls. He is an assistant professor of acting at Utah State University and has appeared at numerous regional theatres. Although this is his first time acting at the Festival, he actually has a rather long history here: “I first attended the Festival in 1998 when I was an apprentice working for the Lyric Repertory Company,” he said. “I now run that apprentice program, and I’ve been bringing students to see Festival shows for years. It’s an honor to get to work in these spaces, with these people, on these shows, for this company.”
Aaron Arroyo is new to the Festival this year, playing the roles of Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet, Nol and Ensemble in Shakespeare in Love, and Ensemble in Guys and Dolls. He has also appeared in Love’s Labour’s Lost, Our Class, and Sight Unseen at the University of California at Irvine; and Death of a Salesman and The Winter’s Tale at Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. In addition, he has toured with the Missoula Children’s Theatre.
Michael Manocchio is also new to the Festival this year. He will be playing Sam in Shakespeare in Love, Balthasar in Romeo and Juliet, and William in As You Like It. He has worked at numerous other theatres, including Moscow Art Theatre School, Goodman Theatre, American Theater Company, Teatro Vista, Chicago Dramatists, Titan Theatre, Hilberry Theatre, the side project, and 20% Theatre Company.
Tickets are now on sale for the Festival’s 56th season, which will run from June 29 to October 21. For more information and tickets visit www.bard.org or call 1-800-PLAYTIX.
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 Cinema Celebration Scheduled
CEDAR CITY, UT—The Utah Shakespeare Festival Education Department and Southern Utah University’s Center for Shakespeare Studies are sponsoring the second annual Shakespeare Cinema Celebration on April 22 in the Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre. This year, the celebration centers around William Shakespeare’s birthday (April 23) with adaptations of Shakespeare on film in an all-day movie marathon.
Participants may attend any number of movies, with prizes for those who attend every film in the series. This event is free of charge. Please be aware that not all movies are appropriate for all age groups.
“Each year the committee takes special care to select a broad range of film titles that will celebrate classics in cinema while also introducing audience members to cinema they might not have seen before,” said Festival Education Director and Director of the Shakespeare Studies Center Michael Bahr. “There is a wide range of film being offered from Gnomeo and Juliet and She’s the Man for young audiences to the timeless West Side Story and Kiss Me Kate for classic musical fans.”
The Cinema Celebration includes the following films:
- Gnomeo and Juliet (rated G) from 9:15-10:45 a.m.
- She’s The Man (rated PG-13) from 11 a.m.-12:45 p.m.
- West Side Story (rated G) from 1-3:30 p.m.
- Kiss Me Kate (Not rated) from 3:45-5:45 p.m.
- Ran by Akira Kurosawa (rated R) from 6-8:45 p.m.
- Shakespeare in Love (rated R) from 9-11 p.m.
Bahr continued, “One of the highlights for this year is the Academy award-winning film Shakespeare in Love. The Utah Shakespeare Festival has the unique opportunity of being one of the only theatres in the country this summer producing the play which is based on the film.”
Audience members are welcome to enjoy the seating or bring a blanket and pillow to watch.
Shakespeare: The Man and the Myth
By Allison Borzoni
CEDAR CITY, UT—William Shakespeare is a name that conjures up a lot of thoughts. From Iago to Katherine, his plays have inspired us for hundreds of years. However, this influential artist is difficult to pinpoint historically. Marriage licenses and other legal documents are useful, but they aren’t good records for describing the man or the personality. For example, he was an actor in the years of 1592, 1598, 1603, and 1608, but we don’t know what he acted in. He defaulted on his taxes two years in a row, but it’s anyone’s guess as to what that tells us about the Bard.
Even the records we do have of William Shakespeare tend to muddy the waters rather than clear them. It’s commonly known that William married Anne Hathaway; however, a clerk recorded that William Shakespeare had applied for a marriage license to marry a Ms. Anne Whateley. This could have been the love triangle that inspired some of William’s future plays, or it was an incompetent clerk. The same clerk that wrote up this request also recorded the names of ‘Barbar’ as ‘Baker’, and ‘Edgecock’ as ‘Elcock’ in past entries. To make matters more suspicious, the clerk was also working on the case of Mr. William Whateley the same day that Shakespeare applied for his marriage license. Besides the problem with the clerk, Anne Whateley also lacks any record that would indicate her existence, like a birth or death certificate. Luckily, a different clerk wrote the marriage bond which records Anne Hathaway as the eventual bride.
Even William Shakespeare himself doesn’t make it any easier for scholars. Although it may seem there is a right and wrong way to spell Shakespeare, “William Shakespeare” was one of the few spellings that William didn’t take advantage of during his lifetime. From surviving documents, the Bard signed his name as: Willm Shaksp, William Shakespe, Wm Shakspe, and William Shakspere.
Despite the discrepancies, we do have enough records to dispel myths that have risen up over the years. One common story about William is that, as a young man, he poached a deer on the estate of Sir Thomas Lucy. Due to this crime, Shakespeare fled to London where he eventually rose to fame as a playwright. If this rumour were true, it would give scholars a potential date of when William went to London. In reality, there is no legal document that suggests Shakespeare was ever charged with deer poaching. The myth of this crime comes from Nicholas Rowe, who wrote a forty-page biography on Shakespeare about a century after his death. In the biography, Rowe also claimed that Shakespeare had three daughters instead of just two. Most of Rowe’s “facts” came from legend or hearsay, and the deer-poaching tale is one of those.
Thankfully, we do know of one legendary incident which did occur in Shakespeare’s life. When the lease on the Globe Theatre expired, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men tried to renew it. The landlord, however, refused to renew the lease with the troupe, so the Lord Chamberlain’s Men took things into their own hands. On December 28, 1598, the theatre troupe and some workmen began the process of dismantling the Globe Theatre and moving it across the Thames that night. It likely took several months to complete the project, but at least it gives us one interesting story about the Bard.
Overall, we have a rough list of facts about Shakespeare. Some of what we know is that he was christened, bought properties, hated by a Robert Greene, feared by a William Wayte, praised by others, wrote at least 38 plays, and died on April 23, 1616. Legends and rumors will continue filling in the gaps of Shakespeare’s life for now, but maybe new records will show up and provide us more insight into his life. However, the man behind the plays may never be quite pinned down, because with our luck, Shakespeare’s perfectly preserved diary will be where he kept his grocery lists.
This article was made possible thanks to the book Shakespeare: The Illustrated and Updated Edition by Bill Bryson
Ten Shakespeare Plays You Didn't Know You Knew
By Allison Borzoni
Sam Ashdown (left) as Prince Hal and Henry Woronicz as Sir John Falstaff in Henry IV Part One, 2014..
CEDAR CITY, UT— Whenever we gather in a theatre for a Shakespeare play and settle into our seats, we’re excited to get started and watch the show. But if you haven’t seen the play before, you may flip open the program and read the synopsis to get familiar with the story. The likelihood, though, is that you’ve already seen parts of these Shakespeare plays. The plots, tropes, and characters that Shakespeare used back in London are still in use today, and here are just ten of them:
1. Hamlet: The plot of Hamlet is adapted point by point in Disney’s The Lion King. Simba represents Hamlet in this adaptation of Shakespeare, and Simba is surrounded by characters similar to the originals Scar as Claudius, Timon and Pumbaa as Rosencratz and Guildenstern, and Rafiki/Zazu as Polonius. Although the Disney version has a significantly lower number of casualties, the basic plot still follows. Boy’s father is killed by the uncle, boy runs away from responsibilities and big decisions, boy speaks to his father’s ghost, boy returns to his kingdom and kills his uncle.
2. Troilus and Cressida: One word here: Illiad. Troilus and Cressida isn’t the most popular of Shakespeare’s plays, but don’t worry about not knowing the context. Troilus and Cressida takes place during the Trojan War, fully equipped with Achilles, Ajax, Ulysses, and Agamemnon. Once you know that the play takes place during the Illiad, and when you learn that Troilus is a Trojan prince, there are going to be some sad times ahead. Although the love story between Troilus and Cressida never takes place in the Illiad, you have enough context to sit down, kick back, and enjoy the play.
3. Henry IV Part One: One of the main points in both Henry IV Part One and the Jungle Book is that the protagonists must face their rival and their responsibilities. Prince Harry spends most of the play living a prank-filled life with the fat Falstaff, and Mowgli does the same with the jolly Balloo. King Henry keeps appealing to his son to come back home and be the prince that England needs, while Bagheera keeps attempting to deliver Mowgli to the safety of the Man-Village. Prince Harry eventually takes on his mantle and defeats Hotspur, and Mowgli manages to defeat his own Hotspur, Sher-Khan. Although Mowgli’s jungle isn’t torn apart by civil war, his journey throughout the movie is similar enough to Prince Harry’s to guide you through the play.
4. Henry V: Going into a history play can be intimidating, but when it comes to Henry V, just sit back and replace King Henry with Thor, the French with Frost Giants, and Catherine with Jane. Shockingly enough, Thor is an excellent parallel to Henry V. In both the play and the movie, a young royal has to prove himself to his family and supporters. He has to sacrifice a lot in order to win what looks like a losing fight, but in the end he triumphs. Both Henry and Thor get the girl from another land too, despite the language barriers and broken coffee mugs.
5. King Lear: The plot of Thor will also help you with another Shakespeare play - King Lear. If you’re intimidated by this intense tragedy, don’t be; just reach back into your knowledge of Thor and you’ll get a good chunk of the plot. One of the sub-plots in King Lear is the story of Edward, Edgar, and their father Gloucester. Edward is the bastard son who convinces his father that his legitimate son Edgar can’t be trusted. Edgar is then forced to leave and hide from Edward’s manhunt. This should sound a bit familiar, as Loki is a parallel to Edward. Odin exiles Thor without Loki’s urging, but Loki does his best to take down Thor and get Odin’s throne for himself. The Thor/Edgar trope ends relatively happy in both the tragedy and the movie, with both Thor and Edgar getting back into their father’s good graces.
6. Julius Caesar: Et tu, Brute? You probably know that line already, which means you also know that Julius is doomed to die. It’s an exciting part of history that is common knowledge, and Shakespeare doesn’t deviate too far from the facts. Caesar’s wife warns him to not go to the Senate and to beware the Ides of March, but Caesar ends up going anyway. He’s stabbed twenty-three times by the senators and his closest friends, and eventually Marc Antony takes power. The play, of course, digs into the specifics, but it’s a Shakespeare play you can predict as soon as you hear, “Hail, Caesar!”
7. As You Like It: Shakespeare’s comedies can be complicated farces, but there is actually a Will Ferrell movie that can help you understand this play, and it’s Megamind. In both productions, someone wins a battle he shouldn’t. Orlando wins a wrestling match against a professional, and Megamind kills Metro Man despite the fact he has never won a fight. One trope shared between the play and the movie is the disguising trope. Rosalind disguises herself as a boy and later convinces Orlando to practice flirting with “Ganymede” so he can successfully win Rosalind’s heart later. Megamind also participates in an awkward game of disguise when he disguises himself as Bernard and works with Roxanne to try and take down—that’s right—Megamind. Despite the complications of promises to marry and finding an invisible car, both play and movie end happily.
8. Much Ado about Nothing: The trope of two characters who swear they’ll never get married and insult one another due to pride and misunderstandings is as old as time. In Much Ado about Nothing, there is the subplot of Beatrice and Benedick, two individuals who share insults, jokes, and a declaration that they’ll never marry. Beatrice and Benedick share some striking similarities with another popular love story: Pride and Prejudice. Although Shakespeare’s jokes are less subtle than Pride and Prejudice’s satirical jokes and insults, they are remarkably similar. The fact that another love story is occurring alongside Beatrice and Benedick/Elizabeth and Darcy only adds to the similarities. All four of those characters do their best to bring their friends and relatives happiness while debating and then finally committing fully to their own love story.
9. The Comedy of Errors: Twins are the name of the game this time, with separated parents each having a twin in both The Comedy of Errors and The Parent Trap. Both play and movie have a farce-like trading of identities. The Comedy of Errors throws its characters into these situations without their knowledge, but in The Parent Trap, the twins don’t realize they have a sister until they meet at summer camp. This twin trope is popular throughout comedies and highly successful, as shown in the popularity of both shows. In the end, The Comedy of Errors and The Parent Trap reunite the parents and fix all of the love triangles.
10. The Winter’s Tale: The Winter’s Tale has a dark and insightful beginning, but with a fairytale ending—and so does Frozen. Although the plots do not line up stanza for stanza (and Frozen has a large lack of bears), the shows do share several tropes. A young woman grows up separated from her family, a woman turns from a statue back into a human due to familial love. Granted, the statues have shifted in characters, Hermione is a mother who was verbally attacked by her husband and Anna was accidentally attacked by her sister. However, both King Leontes and Elsa greatly regret their decisions and are horrified that they “killed” Hermione/Anna.
All of Shakespeare’s plays are their own shows, but Shakespeare’s tropes and plots have been revived and reworked into other popular movies over the years. So next time you go into a Shakespeare play you’re not familiar with, don’t worry about it! Set up a movie night with Thor, The Lion King, or The Parent Trap, and you’ll be all set to enjoy Shakespeare too.