Festival Announces More Casting for 2017

J. Todd Adams

Brandon Burk

Michael A. Harding

Geoffrey Kent

Leslie Brott

Michael Elich

Jonathan Haugen

Alexandra Zorn

CEDAR CITY, UT—The Utah Shakespeare Festival recently announced more actors and their roles for the 2017 season. Some of them will be familiar to Festival audiences, while others are new to Cedar City, but well known at other theatres across the country. Please check for the latest casting news at www.bard.org.                       

J. Todd Adams appeared at the Festival in 2016 as Athos in The Three Musketeers, Pistol in Henry V, and Don John in Much Ado about Nothing, as well as in the title role in 2014’s Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure. In 2017 he will be taking on the roles of Oberon and Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream which will be set in the art deco world of the Jazz Age, as well as Black Dog, Israel Hands, and other roles in Treasure Island, and Wile Ed Coats in the world premiere of the melodramatic farce, The Tavern. Adams, a Utah native, is looking forward to returning to Cedar City, saying “I’m thrilled to be back at a theatre I idolized as a budding actor from American Fork, Utah.”

Leslie Brott is very familiar to long-time Festival audiences. She has appeared in fourteen previous seasons, but the most recent was 2012 when she played Mrs. Dubose in To Kill a Mockingbird, Nurse in Titus Andronicus, and Hanna Kennedy in Mary Stuart. Other roles Festival playgoers will remember include Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn in The Music Man (2011), Margaret in Richard III (2011), Dolly Levi in The Matchmaker (2007), Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew (2004), Martha Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace (2001), and many others. This summer she has been cast as Nurse in both Romeo and Juliet and Shakespeare in Love and General Matilda B. Cartwright in Guys and Dolls.

Brandon Burk is appearing again at the Festival, this summer as Gregory in Romeo and Juliet, Adam in Shakespeare in Love, and Ensemble in Guys and Dolls. Last summer he was Borachio in Much Ado about Nothing and Gower and Grey in Henry V. In 2015, he played Professor in South Pacific and Venticelli in Amadeus. Most recently, he has been a member of the educational touring company, in the roles of Lysander, Flute, and Cobweb in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. “I’ve never worked for a company or in a town where the people are so respectful, compassionate, and generous,” he said when talking about the upcoming season. “The Festival is not only about creating amazing art, but about educating generations of people about the importance of theatre in our lives and the unique ness of live performance.”

Michael Elich is acting at the Festival for the first time in 2017. He will play the pirate Long John Silver in Treasure Island, Jaques in As You Like It, and Burbage in Shakespeare in Love. Off-Broadway he has appeared at such theatres as The Public Theatre, Playwright’s Horizon, The York Theatre Company, and Orpheum Theatre Company. He has also worked at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for twenty-one seasons, as well as Hartford Stage Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Artists Repertory Theatre, Clarence Brown Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Syracuse Stage, Dallas Theatre Center, and many others. On television, audiences may recognize him from roles in One Life to Live and Ryan’s Hope.

Michael A. Harding will be a familiar face to Festival audiences, having worked in thirty plays over eleven seasons, including such diverse productions as Twelve Angry Men, Cyrano de Bergerac, Richard III, Foxfire, The Cherry Orchard, Henry V, and Mary Stuart. In 2017 he will be in the roles of Chorus, Apothecary, and Friar John in Romeo and Juliet, Ensemble in Guys and Dolls, and Selwyn Shotwell in The Tavern. Harding says the Festival “has been the cornerstone of my professional career as an actor, director, and playwright. . . . It is a pleasure to return, as the work is always rewarding, challenging, and top notch.”

Jonathan Haugen, who is here for the first time, says he “is very happy to be working at the Festival this season.” He will be playing the roles of Doctor Livesey in Treasure Island, Tilney and Sir Robert De Lesseps in Shakespeare in Love, and Touchstone in As You Like It. His previous experience has been extensive, including seventeen seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in such roles as James Tyrone, Jr., in Long Day’s Journey into Night, Richard Nixon and George Wallace in the world premiere of All the Way, and Brutus in Julius Caesar. Other work includes performances at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Theatre on the Square (San Francisco), American Conservatory Theatre, California Theatre, and others.

Geoffrey Kent, appeared at the Festival in 2009 as Geoff in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) and is returning this year to perform as Oliver in As You Like It, Wessex in Shakespeare in Love, and Billy Bones in Treasure Island. He will also be pulling double duty by working as the fight director for the same three plays. He has appeared at numerous theatres across the country, including the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, and Arvada Center. In 2016, he was named Best Actor in a Shakespeare Play for his role as Iago in Othello for the Colorado Shakespeare Festival.

Alexandra Zorn is working at the Festival for the first time this summer and will be appearing as Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls and Kate in Shakespeare in Love. “I am looking forward to this summer and fall in Utah,” she said. “I’ve heard such fantastic things about the Festival and can’t wait to walk in Sarah Brown’s shoes, explore Shakespeare in Love, and see all the sights gorgeous Utah has to offer.” She recently appeared in the first national tour of the Broadway production of Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella. She has also performed at Signature Theatre in New York City, 5th Avenue Theatre, Gateway Playhouse, Village Theatre, Guthrie Theatre, and many others.

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).

Festival's New Play Director Retires

CEDAR CITY, UT—Charles Metten, a long-familiar face at the Utah Shakespeare has announced his retirement, effective March 31. He will be leaving his post as the Festival’s new plays director to spent more time with his family in Provo.

Metten began as the director of what was then called the Plays-in-Progress program in 2005. However, his began his involvement with the Festival in 1966 when he directed Julius Caesar. He has since then appeared as an actor at the Festival numerous times, as Van Buren in Damn Yankees (1999), Verges in Much Ado about Nothing (2003), Dr. Glass in Room Service (2006), Stephano in The Tempest (2007), and many others.

During his time working with new plays, the program grew and evolved into what (starting in 2017) will be known as Words3, or Words Cubed.

Metten said that the program has improved and grown exponentially, especially the past few years when it was known as New American Playwrights Project (NAPP). “The quality of the writing has become stronger,” he said. “And audiences have grown in number and in their appreciation of the program.”

He also pointed out that new plays are the lifeblood of the future theatre. “Without new plays, we have no more American theatre,” he said. “We need to actively work to nurture and encourage new playwrights and their work. I am pleased that the Utah Shakespeare Festival makes this a priority in their programming.”

Where Elizabethan Meets Contemporary

By Brooke Vlasich

CEDAR CITY, UT— Looking at the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s 2017 season, you may already know several of our titles, including Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. But there are two titles that that may be less familiar. The world premiere of How To Fight Loneliness by Neil LaBute and the regional premiere of William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged) from the famed Reduced Shakespeare Company couldn’t be more different from this season’s line-up. Their contemporary settings are not the only remarkable contrasts to the rest of our shows, but they also add a great deal of insight about humanity and humor to our repertoire.

William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged), is described by director Christopher Edwards as a humorous mash-up of Elizabethan and contemporary settings. It takes the meaning of play-within-a-play to another level by having three actors take on the complicated task of incorporating numerous Shakespeare characters and themes. At the center of the play are Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Ariel from The Tempest who create havoc with forty-nine of Shakespeare’s famous characters. The play asks the question: “What would happen if Shakespeare’s characters connected and interacted in unexpected ways?” As the script answers this question through hilarious scenarios, Edwards sees language and character as essential elements that engage a variety of audience members ranging from those who have a broad knowledge of Shakespeare to those who have little or no exposure to the Bard.

In contrast to the humor of this play is How To Fight Loneliness from playwright Neil LaBute. Known for focusing on controversial subject matter, LaBute’s play centers around Jodie, a woman who is terminally ill and is faced with decisions regarding life and death. Director David Ivers emphasizes that the play is a character study that revolves around the people in the play and their relationship, not issues surrounding the plot. LaBute’s work will immerse audiences in deep conversations about the play as it pulls them into a world that presents a variety of in-depth questions without any direct answers. These questions will be asked through LaBute’s powerful and poetic dialogue that is ready for a classical theatre such as the Utah Shakespeare Festival to develop and pull off the page.

Both William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged) and How To Fight Loneliness offer new perspectives, characters, and stories to our upcoming repertoire. The Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre (where both plays will be performed) will provide the director, artistic team, and actors with opportunities to explore new territory regarding the human condition. Whether you are looking for a new way to experience Shakespeare or see how we’re taking audiences into modern stories, these plays present plenty of experiences to explore in our new theatre.

Tickets are now on sale for the Festival’s 56th season, which will run from June 29 to October 21. Other plays in the season are As You Like It, Shakespeare in Love, Romeo and Juliet, Guys and Dolls, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Treasure Island, and The Tavern. 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).

How to Play Craps

By Allison Borzoni

So you are planning on seeing Guys and Dolls at the Utah Shakespeare Festival and know that parts of the plot revolve around a floating game of craps. You’ve seen people playing craps. You’ve heard about it from others. But how, exactly, do you play this game?

First things first, find the craps table, it’ll look like this:

 It’s a fast-paced game and people will be crowded around the table. Because of its fast nature, four casino employees usually run the game.

1. Boxman—He is usually seated and he manages the chips, exchanging them for higher denominations, etc.
2. Basedealers—There are two basedealers, and they will be on either side of the boxman. They collect and pay bets to their respective side of the table.
3. Stickman: He pays bets to the center of the table (or instructs the basedealers to do so). He also announces the results of the rolls and moves dice across the table with an elongated wooden stick.

Craps is made up of two phases, and your bets will differ depending on which phase the table is in.

Phase I: Coming-out Roll

On the table will be a disc called a “button” with one side marked “ON” and the other marked “OFF”. At this point, it will be showing the OFF side. A person called the Shooter will roll two  dice. You’ll be betting on what number will come up. Your options are—

Pass Line: Place your bet here to win if the Shooter rolls a 7 or an 11. But if the Shooter rolls a 2, 3, or 12, which are called “craps,” you lose this bet, and the Shooter keeps rolling.

Don’t Pass Bar: Place your bet here and you will win if the Shooter rolls a 2, 3, or 12.

Now, this could go on for quite awhile if the Shooter keeps rolling 7 , 11, 2, 3, or 12. This phase of the game only stops when the Shooter rolls 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10, and that number becomes his Point. The game then switches to Phase II.

Phase II: Succeeding Rolls

The button is now flipped over to ON. Everybody’s bets stay on the Pass Line and/or Don’t Pass Bar. The Shooter continues to roll the dice, trying to roll his Point and hoping he does NOT roll a 7. If he does roll a 7 before he rolls his point, he loses his bet and so does everyone else who bet on the Pass Line. The Shooter then passes his dice to the next person, and the table goes back to Phase I with the new Shooter.

Let’s say the Shooter’s Point is an 8. When the Shooter rolls an 8 during Phase II, he wins his bet (along with the people who bet on the Pass Line). The Shooter would then go back to Phase I and roll for a new Point.

But there are also a few more bets you can make during Phase II, because remember, the Shooter might roll every number except his Point or a 7 for quite a while.

Come: This is your own, personal “Come-out roll” even though you are not the Shooter. You place a Come bet and, then if the Shooter’s next roll is a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10, that number becomes your personal Come-Point. This Come-Point only affects you and your bet.

Let’s say you place a $5 bet on the Come, and the Shooter rolls a 4. The dealer will then move your $5 over to the 4, and the Shooter keeps rolling. If the Shooter rolls a “4” (your Come-Point) , you win; but if he rolls a 7, then you lose your bet.

Don’t Come: This is the same as the Don’t Pass Bar, but you’re hoping a 7 shows up before your Come-Point.

Let’s say you place $5 on the Don’t Come, and the Shooter rolls a 4. That 4 is now your Come-Point. If the Shooter rolls a 7 before he rolls another 4 (your Come-Point) then you win. However, if the Shooter rolls a 4 before he rolls a 7, then you lose your bet.

Field: If you place your bet on the Field, you select a number out of 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, or 12 that you hope will show up on the next roll. Remember, this bet is just for the next roll; it doesn’t carry over beyond one roll.. You either win or lose.

Place or Buy Bets: These are the numbers inside the boxes, with 6 and 9 spelled out. Here, you can bet that a 10, nine, 8, six, 5, or 4 will be rolled before a 7 does. These bets do carry over until a 7 is rolled.

A few other bets are also possible in craps, but this description will do for this simplified explanation.

Etiquette for the Shooter and Other Players

The Shooter:

• Take the dice with one hand and then roll them with the same hand. The dealer and camera(s) need to see the dice at all times.
• If you need to switch hands, put the dice down on the table and then pick them up with your other hand.
• When you roll the dice, toss them so they hit the opposite side of the table.
• The role of the Shooter gets passed around the table. If you don’t want to be the Shooter, just say “Pass” and the role will be offered to the next person.

Players:

• Don’t ever say 7. Call it ‘Big Red’ if you have to, but keep that on the down-low too. It’s bad luck for the table.
• If you’re betting with the Shooter (Pass Line, Come, Place, or Field), feel free to root for him.
• If you’re betting Don’t Pass or Don’t Come, then you are betting against the shooter, and probably most of the table too. Keep your cheering to yourself as you don’t want to be rude.
• Stay positive when rooting for yourself or the Shooter. For example, don’t root for 7 tonot come up, root for your Come-Point to be rolled instead.
• Keep your drinks off the table and behind the rail.
• Keep your hands out of the table as much as possible, you don’t want to interfere with a roll.
• Finally, remember to tip the dealer.

So, you definitely don’t need all this information to enjoy Guys and Dolls, but it may help you out as you try to understand the motivation of the characters—or on your next trip to Las Vegas!

Festival Employee Recognized as Fellow

Long-time Utah Shakespeare Festival employee Judy Adamson was recently made a Fellow of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology at its conference in St. Louis. Adamson represents the very best in costume technology in the United States today and is committed to practicing what she preaches. This major award acknowledges her achievements.

As a draper at the Utah Shakespeare Festival each summer since 2002, she has worked with designers Bill Black, David Mickelsen, Holly Payne, and Kevin Alberts on Hay Fever, Born Yesterday, Morning’s at Seven, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, HMS Pinafore, Lend Me a Tenor: The Musical, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Private Lives, Pride and Prejudice, Scapin, Anything Goes, and The Cocoanuts. Festival audiences might remember the breathtaking red silk dress she created for Carole Johnson in Hay Fever.

Eight of her students or student’s students will work in the Festival costume department this summer and create costumes for the 2017 season. 

Her work includes a long list of Broadway credits. At Barbara Matera Ltd., she was a costume draper for Broadway shows Hairspray, Aida, Crazy for You, Miss Saigon, Lion King, Jelly’s Last Jam, The Secret Garden, Showboat, Sideshow Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, and others, working with designers Willa Kim, Irene Sharaff, Miles White, Toni Leslie James, Theoni Aldredge, Florence Klotz, Pat Zipprodt, William Ivey Long, Bob Mackie and others.

She has also created costumes for American Ballet Theatre, Elliot Feld and Paul Taylor Companies, as well as concert clothes for the Pointer Sisters and Mick Jagger.

She has been the costume director in the Department of Dramatic Art and head of the costume production program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since 1993. At PlayMakers Repertory Company at UNC, she works professionally as a draper and shares her extensive knowledge in the classroom with her students.

Festival Announces First Round of Casting

Cassandra Bissell

Melissa Graves

Melinda Parrett

Kelly Rogers

Jonathan Gillard Daly

James Newcomb

John G. Preston

Paul Michael Sandberg

CEDAR CITY, UT — The Utah Shakespeare Festival recently announced the casting of the first eight actors for the 2017 season. All are familiar faces, having appeared at the Festival in the past. They are Cassandra Bissell, Jonathan Gillard Daly, Melissa Graves, James Newcomb, Melinda Parrett, John G. Preston, Kelly Rogers, and Paul Michael Sandberg,. Please check for the latest casting news at www.bard.org.

Festival audiences will fondly remember Cassandra Bissell who appeared at the Festival in 2014 as Elinor Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility and Adriana in The Comedy of Errors. For the 2017 season she is returning to play three varied women: Rosalind in As You Like It, Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and another Rosalind in The Tavern. “My first season [at the Festival] exceeded my wildest expectations,” said Bissell. “I am thrilled to be a part of the indescribable energy, enthusiasm, talent, and hard work that the Festival represents (and I also can’t wait to get back to some of the best hiking in the country)!”

Jonathan Gillard Daly**,** last appeared at the Festival in 2011 as Antigonus in The Winter’s Tale and Inspector Hubbard in Dial M for Murder. Other roles at the Festival have included Gratiano in Othello, David Bliss in Hay Fever, Cymbeline in Cymbeline, Captain Hook in Peter Pan, and several others. This season he will be appearing at the Festival as Friar Lawrence in Romeo and Juliet, Fennyman in Shakespeare in Love, and Arvide Abernathy and Rabbi in Guys and Dolls. He also directed Always . . . Patsy Cline in 2000.

Melissa Graves said that the Utah Shakespeare Festival “is the ultimate actor retreat—great people, great work, and the great outdoors!” In 2017 she will be playing Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet, Snout/Moth in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Mrs. Shotwell in The Tavern. Last season she played the roles of Portia, Popilius Lena, and Young Cato in Julius Caesar, as well as Cecily Pigeon in The Odd Couple. In previous years she has played Princess of France in Love’s Labour’s Lost, Queen in Richard II, Ceres in The Tempest, and Lady Faulconbridge in King John.

James Newcomb has played numerous roles at the Festival since 2007, including Earl of Gloucester in King Lear, Lord Chief Justice in Henry IV Part Two, and Count Johann Kilian von Strack in Amadeus (all in 2015), as well as Juror #7 in Twelve Angry Men, Stephano in The Tempest, Iago in Othello, Caius Martius/Coriolanus in Coriolanus, and several others. This summer he will appear at the Festival as Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Big Jule in Guys and Dolls, and Zachariah Freeman in The Tavern.

Festival playgoers have loved performances by Melinda Parrett since 2007 when she first appeared at the Festival as Miss Proserpine Garnett in Candida and Maria Merelli in Lend Me a Tenor: The Musical. Last season she played the roles of Milady in The Three Musketeers, Penelope Martin in The Cocoanuts, and Gwendolyn Pigeon in The Odd Couple. Other notable roles have incuded Ariel in The Tempest, Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes, Emilia in The Winter’s Tale, Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet, and Belinda Blair in Noises Off! This season she will be returning to the Festival as Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls, Hippolyta/Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Woman in The Tavern.

John G. Preston is returning to the Festival to play Duke Frederick and Duke Senior in As You Like It, Lord Capulet in Romeo and Juliet, and Henslowe in Shakespeare in Love. In 2015 he played Captain George Brackett in South Pacific, Van Helsing in Dracula, and Col. Sir Francis Chesney in Charley’s Aunt. Previously, he has played such roles as Doctor Pinch in The Comedy of Errors, Duke Vincentio in Measure for Measure, and Francis Ford in The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Kelly Rogers, who last year appeared as Montjoy in Henry V, Constance in The Three Musketeers, and Margaret in Much Ado about Nothing, is returning this year as Puck/Philostrate in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Phebe in As You Like It, and Sally-Mae in The Tavern. Other roles at the Festival have included Cordelia in King Lear, Amy Spettigue in Charley’s Aunt, and Mina in Dracula in 2015. “I am simply delighted to return to Cedar City for a third spin at the Festival,” said Rogers. “I’m particularly excited about playing Puck—though I’m going to need a strict cardio regimen if I’m going to be able to ‘put a girdle about the earth in forty minutes’ come July!”

Paul Michael Sandberg has a history with the Festival dating back to 1991 when he played Biff in Death of a Salesman and Marcellus in Hamlet. He returned last year to play Julius Caesar and Strato in Julius Caesar and Roy in The Odd Couple—and will be back this year as Captain Smollet in Treasure Island, Sheriff in The Tavern, and Egeus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. When asked about this summer, Sandberg said, “I couldn’t be happier to be returning for my third season with the Festival.”

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).

How Does Long John Silver Stack Up?

By Allison Borzoni

CEDAR CITY, UT—Long John Silver of Treasure Island fame may be the best-known pirate, real or mythical, of all time. But how does Robert Louis Stevenson’s character stack up when compared with real pirates? How does he rate when it comes to diabolical acts and a pirate’s life? To see where he is on the scale, we’ve compared him to seven infamous pirates who have each terrorized the ocean in their own special way.

L’Olonnais is the first on the list for his incredible violence and drive to survive. When he captured a Spanish town and demanded ransom, the Spanish responded with a raiding crew. L’Olonnais beheaded all of the attackers, but left one alive to deliver a threatening message back. “The Bane of Spain” committed one act that put him above all other pirates: eating a human heart. During an expedition to Honduras, his crew was attacked. He escaped the bloodshed with two Spanish captives that knew the way to safety, but both refused to speak. L’Olonnais cut the heart out of one captive and ate it in front of the survivor, threatening that he’d eat his heart too if he didn’t start talking. Ironically, L’Olonnais was later captured and eaten by natives when his ship ran aground.                                          

Second up is Bartholomew Roberts, who never balked at overwhelming odds. This English sailor got a promotion when the Portuguese authorities killed the captain of his ship, Captain Davis. Roberts was then voted captain, and his first move as the new captain was to sail back to the Portuguese settlement, burn it down, and kill everyone in it. Although “Black Bart” was a religious man who held his crew to high standards of no drinking and gambling, he did not abate his cruelty. He often used prisoners for target-practice when they refused to become pirates. One of his greatest successes was in 1720, when his crew of 60 defeated all 22 ships and 1,200 men in Trespassey Bay. “The Great Pyrate Roberts” destroyed 400 ships during his career and was eventually killed during an attack.

Anne Bonny was about as crazy as they come. She was as beautiful as she was violent, even before she turned to piracy. She killed a serving girl with a knife; and when a suitor made advances on her, she attacked him so fiercely that he was in bed for weeks. Anne eventually met and fell in love with Calico Jack, and the two went into piracy together. Anne Bonny stole a docked ship for their escape—armed with only a pistol and sword. Her pirating career would end about a year later when a British ship attacked her ship. The drunk pirate crew hid below decks—except for Anne, Mary Read, and one unnamed crew member who fought until they were captured. During her stay in prison, Anne had this to say about Calico Jack: “If he had fought like a man, he need not have been hang’d like a dog.” She wasn’t executed immediately due to her pregnancy, but there are no records showing what happened to her or the baby. 

Charles Vane was another dangerous pirate who sailed in the Atlantic**.** For his pirating debut, he captured two Bermudan ships and then tortured and murdered their crews. He was wildly successful as a pirate, but was also known as a selfish captain. When the governor of New Providence sent two ships to capture him, Vane piled explosives onto one of his smaller ships, set it on fire, and sent it towards the enemy. The distraction worked long enough for Vane and his crew to escape. His crew eventually mutinied, probably because Vane had a bad habit of fleeing battles when the other ship was larger. They left Vane on a deserted island, where he was eventually rescued, recognized, convicted, and hung for his crimes.

Mary Read’s life was of Shakespearean proportions. In order to get money from the in-laws, Mary’s mother masqueraded the little girl as a boy for her whole childhood. Mary never grew out of it, joining armies and navies for several years. She ended up working as a privateer in the colonies until her ship was captured by Calico Jack. She was forced to join the pirate crew and even fell in love with a crew member. When her lover was challenged to a duel by a fellow pirate, Mary took things into her own hands. She challenged that same pirate to a duel and won the fight-to-the-death just before her lover was scheduled to fight. Her career ended when a British ship attacked them, and nearly the entire crew hid below deck. Disgusted, Mary shot into her own ship, killing two of her shipmates. They were all captured, and Mary later died of fever in prison.

Second to last on the list is Calico Jack, a man known for his motley, brightly-colored clothing. He began his career as a pirate captain by mutinying against Charles Vane. He was brave and successful during this time in his career, but ended up taking a pardon. Later, Jack returned to the pirate life with Anne Bonny by his side, stealing a docked ship and shoving the guardsmen over the side once Anne subdued them. He captured more ships and treasure for about a year, but then his ship was attacked by the British. Jack hid below deck with all of his crew except for Anne Bonny, Mary Read, and one other pirate who fought on deck to protect them all. His execution was also on the showy side.  Calico Jack was hung, gutted, and displayed as a warning for other pirates.

Benjamin Hornigold’s pirate crew spawned one of the most famous pirates ever: Blackbeard. Hornigold apprenticed the young Blackbeard, and even gave him the famous ship, Queen Anne’s Revenge. Hornigold started out as a privateer for the British Royal Navy, but turned to piracy once resources began to run low. Once Governor Rogers began offering pardons, Hornigold left the pirate life. Governor Rogers commissioned Hornigold to go hunt pirates, and gave him the authority to capture or kill any pirates who had broken their pardon. He chased pirates like Charles Vane, Major Stede Bonnet, and John Auger. Out of all of the pirates that accepted pardons, Hornigold was one of the few who regained his esteem and fame through hunting pirates.

Long John Silver’s actions throughout Treasure Island make it tough to categorize him. He was a pirate to the core, leading his cohort of men to mutiny against Captain Smollett and take the treasure for themselves. Despite murdering Tom and attacking Captain Smollet’s men, he did show different sides to his personality. For example, Jim Hawkins described Long John Silver as a clean, pleasant man to be around. Silver even went out of his way to protect Jim from the other pirates throughout the book. Treasure Island doesn’t share much about his past, but Long John Silver is still remembered as a dynamic pirate with selfish motives and an almost-golden heart. Braver than Calico Jack, but less violent than L’Olonnais, Long John Silver seems to fit somewhere in the middle among these historic pirates. For these reasons, we’re putting him in the same area as Mary Read. Hopefully he never gets in a duel with her though, because Mary might just win that one.

Thanks to Our Volunteers

The evening of March 20 was set aside at the Utah Shakespeare Festival to recognize our wonderful volunteers. Over 200 men and women put in countless hours each year hosting, ushering, preparing mailings, and completely numerous other tasks.

Thus, at the Volunteer Recognition evening, the Festival honored them with short speeches, a lively performance by the Festival Playmakers, and dinner, as well as years of service pins to those who have served for five, ten, twenty, and more years.

Thank you, our indispensable volunteers and friends!

Nathan Detroits through Time

By Allison Borzoni

Frank Sinatra as Nathan Detroit

Guys and Dolls has been popular ever since it premiered on November 24, 1950. It has won dozens of awards throughout its runs and revivals, and, through time, there have been many faces for Nathan Detroit. From Bob Hoskins to Patrick Swayze, famously talented men have taken on the role in their own way. Here are just a few through the decades:

Sam Levene (1950): The man who first took on the role of Nathan Detroit was an American Broadway and film actor. He was prolific on Broadway, appearing in 37 shows over 50 years—a majority of which were original Broadway productions. Nathan Detroit’s solo of “Sue Me” was written in one octave because of Levene’s limited vocal range. A hit from the very beginning, the first production of Guys and Dolls ran for 1,200 performances and it won five Tony Awards along the way. If you’re wishing that you could have been there, just buy the original cast recording—it was transferred onto CD in the 1980s.

Frank Sinatra (1955): Ol’ Blue Eyes sold more than 150 million records worldwide and won eleven Grammy Awards and an Academy Award for From Here to Eternity. He produced his own record label and acted in movies, as well as musicals. Finally, he beat out Sam Levene for the role of Nathan Detroit in the 1955 film version of Guys and Dolls. Frank Loesser wrote three new songs for the movie version, and “Adelaide” was written specifically for Sinatra. The movie made over $5 million and has a 90 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Robert Guillaume (1976): Guillaume toured the world as a cast member of the Broadway musical Free and Easy. He soloed on The Tonight Show and was a member of the Robert De Cormier Singers. He was also nominated for a Tony Award for his role as Nathan Detroit. Guillaume was a part of the all-black cast for the first Broadway revival of the show in 1976. Guillaume and Ernestine Jackson were nominated for Tony and Drama Desk Awards while Ken Page won a Theatre World Award for his performance. The show closed after 239 performances and 12 previews.

Nathan Lane (1992): Lane has covered all of the bases as an American stage, film, and television actor and writer. You may recognize him as the voice of Timon from The Lion King or from his roles on Modern Family. He had the role of Nathan Detroit for the most successful revival of Guys and Dolls since the premiere. The show ran for 1,143 performances and received eight Tony Award nominations. The show won four of those nominations, including Best Revival, as well as a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival. This run featured several revisions, including new music and redesigned orchestrations.

Henry Goodman (1996): He’s been in movies as well as theatre, such as Doctor List from Avengers: Age of Ultron. He has won the Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actor three times, as well as a London Critics Circle Theatre Award. He brought his talents to the role of Nathan Detroit for a revival of Guys and Dolls in Great Britain. This rendition of Guys and Dolls received three Olivier nominations and won Best Supporting Performance in a Musical. The Critics Circle Theatre awarded the revival Best Direction and Best Musical.

In the summer of 2017,  the Utah Shakespeare Festival will introduce a new Nathan Detroit, who will continue the oldest established permanent floating craps game in New York, in Cedar City, Utah. Buckle your seats for Havana and back, ladies and gentleman—we’re bringing Guys and Dolls to Cedar City this summer.

Top Ten Shakespeare Plays in Pop Culture

By Allison Borzoni

There is no question that Shakespeare has influenced our language, our literature, and our way of looking at many things. But it may surprise you how much of the Bard’s plays have crept into our modern culture, not just words, but entire plots and characters in many cases. We are sure you can find plenty of examples of your own, but here are our choices for the top ten plays in pop culture today.

Melisa Pereyra (top) as Juliet and Chris Klopatek as Romeo in the Festival’s educational touring production of Romeo and Juliet, 2013.

1. Romeo and Juliet
The greatest love story ever retold has been done in dozens of different ways. From Taylor Swift’s song “Love Story” to the animated movie Gnomeo & Juliet, we just can’t seem to get enough. There’s always another way to spin this Shakespeare classic, or you can snap it out to West Side Story instead. With all of these popular adaptations of Romeo and Juliet, it has definitely made a mark on our collective psyche, or on our brains like in the zombie movie Warm Bodies.

Danforth Comins as Hamlet in Hamlet, 2012.

2. Hamlet
The most popular scene of Hamlet may just be the misuse of poor Yorick’s skull during Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy. Even Nightmare before Christmas references it in “Jack’s Lament.” One of the most well-known adaptations is The Lion King, but one way to get everyone on board with a Shakespeare adaptation is to translate into—that’s right—Klingon. The Klingon Language Institute has taken Chancellor Gorkon seriously and brought the original Klingon version back to us humans in The Klingon Hamlet.

Chelsea Steverson (left), Lillian Castillo, and Monica Lopez as Weyward Sisters in Macbeth, 2010.

3. Macbeth
The witches seem to have taken the throne when it comes to references to Macbeth. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban contains a choir rendition of “Double double toil and trouble.” And even Spock shares his opinion of, “Very bad poetry, Captain,” when a version of the witches appears in the Star Trek episode, “Catspaw.” However, Beauty and the Beast takes it back to the main characters when Gaston appropriates Lady Macbeth’s line, “Screw your courage to the sticking place” while riling up the villagers—maybe he reads more than Belle gives him credit for.

Brian Vaughn (left) as Petruchio and Melinda Pfundstein as Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew, 2015. 

4. The Taming of the Shrew
The most shocking connection between Shakespeare and pop-culture may be that the word ‘Bedazzled’ actually comes from The Taming of the Shrew. And Katherine doesn’t use the word to describe how she has studded her hem or cat with plastic jewels, but to say, “so bedazzled with the sun” (4.5.46). One adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew is the movie, 10 Things I Hate About You, but the movie’s real achievement is giving to dads everywhere the hero that is Walter Stratford. The teenager’s explanation: “Mr. Stratford, it’s just a party.” The dad’s response: “And hell is just a sauna.”

Nell Geisslinger (left) as Viola (disguised as Cesario) and Grant Goodman as Orsino in Twelfth Night, 2014*.*

5. Twelfth Night
Shakespeare is the man to thank for inspiring this quote: “And when I close my eyes, I see you for who you truly are, which is UUUG-LAY.” Yep, She’s the Man is an adaptation of *Twelfth Night.*Although the plot of the movie follows pretty closely with the tangled net of love triangles in the play, don’t read the play looking for characters flashing each other in a soccer stadium.

Sam Ashdown as Henry V in Henry V, 2016*.*

6. Henry V
As BBC’s Sherlock comes to a close, there’s one more mystery to solve. “The game’s afoot,” did not originate with Sherlock Holmes and his deerstalking cap. King Henry shouts the phrase before his army goes, “once more into the breach.”  This Shakespeare quote has made its way into pop culture from the days Arthur Conan Doyle all the way to the present day through the household name of Sherlock Holmes.

Elijah Alexander as Richard in Richard III, 2011*.*

7. Richard III
Yet another quote we shout at one another has a misunderstood origin. The bulbous Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland was not the first to use the phrase, “Off with her head!” The subject of execution is a man in Shakespeare’s play, but Richard’s four-word answer to the problem of Lord Hastings is, “Chop off his head.” Another reference is the Netflix series, House of Cards, which borrows the soliloquy nature of its anti-hero from Richard III. In both play and show, the audience is in on the murderous plots from the very beginning. Whether its king or president, Richard and Underwood will make their way to their rightful place. 

Jonathan Earl Peck (left) as Othello and Lindsey Wochley as Desdemona in Othello, 2008*.*

8. Othello
This tragedy is also the source of a common quote. It’s usually used with the connotation of sharing your feelings with others as a sensitive soul, but when Iago said, “wear my heart upon my sleeve,” he was condemning it as a vulnerability. The name Iago should also ring a bell, as a certain parrot in Aladdin has the same name. Just like the real Iago, he acts harmless around the Sultan until the killer moment. 

Gary Neal Johnson (left) as Antonio and Tony Amendola as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, 2010. 

9. The Merchant of Venice
Speaking of, “I just want to be King”, Lion King II has a reference to The Merchant of Venice: “If you need your pound of flesh.” The young Kovu says the line when he crosses into the Pridelands by accident. For the Trekkies, Star Trek: The Next Generation also references The Merchant of Venice when the droid Data adapts a quote for his own use, “When you prick me, do I not leak?”

David Pichette (left) as Fool and Tony Amendola as Lear in King Lear, 2015*.*

10. King Lear
Adaptations cross cultures all the time (count how many American shows are direct adaptations from Great Britain’s shows, I dare you). This cross cultural adaptation is very evident with Ran (1985). The plot of King Lear is superimposed on the culture of Japan, and it’s as moving as the original. King Lear has also made it into song, in Elton John’s “The King Must Die.” The jester plays a major part in King Lear, and the first stanza of Elton John’s song references a jester, very possibly King Lear’s.