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Samuel Ashdown

Henry Woronciz

Cassandra Bissell (Elinor) and Eva Balistrieri (Marianne) in Sense and Sensibility

June 5, 2014 · 3 min read

Mattfeld as Edward Ferrars, Bissell as Elinor Dashwood. Photo by Karl Hugh

Eva Balistrieri

Costume Designs by Holly Payne

Cassandra Bissell, new to the Festival, calls Chicago home. She graduated from the University of Chicago and has performed at numerous theatres including the Chicago Shakespeare Festival and Great Lakes Theatre.

Eva Balistrieri, also new to the Festival, grew up in Wisconsin, graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Parkside, and has performed at Milwaukee Rep and the Illinois Shakespeare Festival. They’re both excited to be here, performing in a world-premiere.

We recently chatted with them about their characters and the Jane Austen era.

Talk with us about this play and the period:

Cassie: Sense and Sensibility is an adaptation of the Jane Austen novel. It’s set, like all of her novels, in the Regency Period. It is a time in which class and status were very well defined in English society. And although everything is stratified, you are beginning to see some movement between the classes so things like marriage for love begin to occur. That’s great fodder for this play.

Tell us a bit about your characters

Eva: I (Marianne) represent the “sensibility” – Joe Hanreddy, co-author & director, put it great – he said it’s a story about the balance between the head and the heart. Elinor comes at things with a much more realistic point of view where I go with my gut impulses.

I personally fall in love quickly and I’m caught up in the romance. I believe in a union of souls, and I believe there is one person for you. That’s the way Marianne goes through life. The important thing about this story is that it’s not that sense is more important than sensibility – it’s really a balance between those two things.

Cassie: During the course of the story, we see how the sisters evolve. There are pros and cons to each approach, and in this play you get to see them both find their way to a middle ground.

Describe working on a world premiere and the process of translating the book to the stage.

C: It’s a learning process for us. There’s a difference between reading something in solitude and what you need to do to make something translate to a performance.

E: In the book, they move from location to location. In the play you have to get to all those locations and find a way to do it. The way that Joe and Jim have adapted it, the scenes dissolve into each other. It ends up being very fluid and you’re still moving from place to place and meeting all the people you need to meet.

C: It’s very much an ensemble piece. We need the whole cast – they move the furniture and make the transitions. It’s highly choreographed. It’s quite a process.

Why does this story resonate with today’s audiences?

C: It’s not unlike Shakespeare in that the fundamentals of what Jane Austen is writing of in terms of human emotions – love, loss and trust and forgiveness – these are all things that are human.

Sense and Sensibility opens in preview on June 24 and plays through August 29. You can purchase tickets online at www.bard.org or by calling 800-PLAYTIX.

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Cassandra Bissell

Costume Designs by Holly Payne

Mattfeld as Edward Ferrars, Bissell as Elinor Dashwood. Photo by Karl Hugh

American Theatre Loses an Iconic Figure

June 3, 2014 · 3 min read

American Theatre Loses an Iconic Figure

Doug Cook and Fred Adams

Cedar City, UT – It is with deep sadness that the Utah Shakespeare Festival shares the news that producing artistic director emeritus Douglas N. Cook passed away on May 31 in San Diego, California due to an aggressive stomach cancer. He was a driving force for excellence at the Festival, dedicating over 37 years nurturing and caring for the individual artists and technicians as well as the Festival as a whole.

Cook was a longtime leader, visionary and friend. “He will be sorely missed; we have lost a giant,” said Fred C. Adams, Festival founder.

Cook joined the Festival in 1964. He was teaching drama at the University of California at Riverside when he learned about a new Shakespearean theatre in Cedar City, Utah and he became intrigued. Cook was especially adept at designing scenery for Shakespeare productions and under his guidance, the props department blossomed and the sets better reflected the periods that designers were trying to represent.

As a talented and enthusiastic scenic designer, he instantly began to shape the artistic dream and creative integrity of the young company. His influence since can be charted using the titles he has capably worn: scenic designer, design director, associate producer, and producing artistic director.

With the continued growth of the Festival, Cook quickly became more and more integral to its day-to-day operations and its larger vision for the future. In 1970, he supplied the initial research and sketches for a long dreamed-about permanent theatre. These sketches would ultimately evolve into the world renowned Adams Memorial Shakespearean Theatre. The dedication of this remarkable building in 1977 was a highlight in the long list of Cook’s contributions, only to be equaled by his sensitive oversight of the design and construction of the Randall L. Jones Theatre in 1989.

Cook’s achievements in, and contributions to, the world of theatre have been many and varied. He has been president of or served on the board of every major theatrical association in the United States. He was the co-founder (with Sidney Berger) of the Shakespeare Theatre Association. An abundance of awards and accolades have accompanied these affiliations, but Cook, ever humble, was always quick to equally note the accomplishments of others.

“When Doug joined the Festival family it was the beginning of a remarkable team,” said Adams. “His design and technical theatre skills added that necessary element that brought the Festival into a Tony Award-winning organization. It is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye.”

Executive Director R. Scott Phillips commented, “Doug was a friend to all. He was always available with a listening ear or for a quiet conversation. He was a mentor to me personally and always stressed the importance of dignity and civility in our profession. I will miss him deeply.”

Doug Cook is survived by his wife Joan and their son Stephen. Stephen is married to Kristen and they have two children, Tully and Jasper.

Details regarding the funeral are pending.

Sense and Sensibility Preview

June 2, 2014 · 2 min read

Eva Ballistrieri

Grant Goodman

Sense and Sensibility

By Jane Austen

Adapted for the Stage by Joseph Hanreddy and J. R. Sullivan

Directed by Joseph Hanreddy

This week, we’re opening the Stage Door for Sense and Sensibility, a world premiere adaptation based on the Jane Austen novel that asks “Is passion ever rational?” Today’s preview is the first look behind Sense and Sensibility’s stage door; check back each day this week on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest as we bring you director and actor interviews as well as podcasts, design renderings and more.

Principal Characters:

Elinor Dashwood, played by Cassandra Bissell: Nineteen-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dashwood and John’s half-sister, Elinor Dashwood is practical and composed. She falls in love with Edward Ferrars but does not open up about her feelings for him except to Marianne; thus, she quietly suffers because of misunderstandings between them.

Marianne Dashwood, played by Eva Balistrieri: Seventeen-year-old sister of Elinor and half-sister of John Dashwood, Marianne Dashwood is spontaneous, romantic, and emotional.

Edward Ferrars, played by Quinn Mattfeld: Edward Ferrars is private, sensible, and kind. He is drawn to a quiet life, though he is caught under his mother’s rule. He and Elinor are immediately attracted to each other, but other obligations initially prevent them from being together.

Colonel Brandon, played by Grant Goodman: Retired officer and bachelor, Colonel Brandon becomes enamored of Marianne Dashwood. He is honorable and kind towards the Dashwoods.

John Willoughby, played by Samuel Ashdown: Charming but untrustworthy neighbor of Sir John’s, John Willoughby seems to be as impassioned with Marianne as she is with him, but he leaves her suddenly and offers no explanation to his departure.

Summary:

Full of repressed passion and soaring emotions, this world-premiere adaptation of Jane Austen’s romantic novel was commissioned especially for Festival audiences. It tells the touching and comic story of the Dashwood sisters who are both looking for true love, but in very different ways. Elinor is all about using her rational head, while Marianne invariably follows her compassionate heart—and both their stories have just the right mix of Austen’s humor, romance, and happy endings.

For more details (synopsis, podcasts, etc.) about this play, please visit http://www.bard.org/plays/sense2014.html Sense and Sensibility opens June 24 in preview and runs through August 29. You can buy tickets at www.bard.org or by calling 800-PLAYTIX.

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Cassandra Bissell

Quinn Mattfeld

Samuel Ashdown

Measure for Measure Erika Haaland (Isabella) and Steve Wojtas (Angelo)

May 29, 2014 · 3 min read

Costume sketch AngeloCostume designs by Bill Black

Costume sketch Angelo

Costume designs by Bill Black

Erika Haaland is new to the Festival. She’s recently been acting at many theatres in Chicago after completing her MFA at UC Irvine. Steve Wojtas is in his third season at the Festival. Last year he was Juror #5 in Twelve Angry Men and The Bastard in King John.

We recently discussed Measure for Measure and their characters.

What do you think is at the core of the play?

Erika: I think it’s about people who are incredibly conflicted. They’re thrown into these situations where they lose control or they expect things to be a certain way and they turn out completely differently. This is why I think they act so passionately and rashly. For Isabella, I think this play is about challenging every single one of her beliefs. There are no decisions that are easy for her. Isabella has a lot of doubts and makes rash decisions because she feels challenged.

What are your thoughts about Angelo? Do you think he’s inherently evil?

Steve:

No, not at all. I didn’t know this play before I was cast, but the manner in which people spoke of Angelo always made him sound evil. On my first reading of the script, however, I found him incredibly flawed, yes, but also very conflicted. The soliloquies he has that allow us inside his thought process aren’t gloating like Iago from Othello. Instead, he says “Oh my God, what am I doing? I don’t know what I’m doing. I keep going back and forth between my prayers and my desires.” He’s the opposite of everyone else in this society. He’s repressed and compressed his feelings whereas everyone else drinks and openly has sex with whomever they like.

So when Angelo meets Isabella, they really connect because she is a kindred spirit. She too is looking for a more austere and severe way of life. But Angelo’s repression causes the opposite effect. Instead of keeping those feelings at bay, his strong feelings for Isabella push against those strict restraints until they burst.

Talk about the ambiguity in the play.

S:

These characters are searching for something. If you don’t make them people then it becomes a “problem play.” It’s built on this gossamer structure. If you don’t build it piece by piece then the characters calcify and it becomes less interesting.

E:

It’s great to work with such a wonderful ensemble. All the roles are difficult. I don’t think there’s a role in this play that’s black and white. It’s about real human beings going through this intense emotional time over the course of two days.

In other productions, people are focused on the Angelo/Isabella story. But for us it’s really a triangle that includes the Duke. It’s about the three of them and how they’re changing. That to me is what’s so fascinating. They are all going on a journey.

Why do you think the play is relevant for today’s audiences?

E:

It’s so human. We’re dealing with these huge issues that might not feel relevant but are. It’s the struggle to find what’s right, to be true to yourself, to be true to the confines of the society that you’re forced to be in and that’s always relevant.

S:

The conversation between what’s prohibited and what’s permitted is still relevant. It’s absolutely a conversation we’re still having.

Measure for Measure opens in preview on June 24 and runs through August 29. You can purchase tickets online at www.bard.org or by calling 800-PLAYTIX.

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Costume sketch Isabella

Costume designs by Bill Black

Measure for Measure Preview

May 26, 2014 · 2 min read

Steve Wojtas

Zack Powell

Tracie Thomason

Measure for Measure

Written by William Shakespeare

Directed by Laura Gordon

This week, the Stage Door is opening again and we’re featuring ***Measure for Measure,considered one of Shakespeare’s more complex plays, pitting justice against mercy. Today’s preview is the first look behind Measure For Measure’***s stage door; check back each day this week on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest as we bring you director and actor interviews as well as podcasts, design renderings and more.

Principal Characters:

Vincentio, played by John Preston: The kindly, philosophical duke of Vienna, Vincentio puts the government in Angelo’s hands in the hope he can enforce the laws more strictly.

Angelo, played by Steve Wojtas: The Duke’s deputy, he is in charge of the government while Vincentio is gone. He rules with an iron hand, but ignores his own mistakes and hypocrisy.

Escalus, played by Henry Woronicz: An ancient lord and counselor to Vincentio, he tries to instill reason and virtue in Angelo’s government.

Claudio, played by Zack Powell: Isabella’s brother, Claudio is betrothed to Juliet and is sentenced to death by Angelo for having sex with her.

Isabella, played by Erika Haaland: About to take her vows as a nun, Isabella is a very virtuous and chaste young woman. Angelo proposes that if she has sex with him, he will pardon her brother Claudio. She refuses and pleads for mercy.

Mariana, played by Tracie Thomason: Betrothed to Angelo five years ago, Mariana was jilted when she lost her dowry in a shipwreck.

Juliet, played by Natasha Harris: Claudio’s beloved lover, Juliet is pregnant and planning to marry Claudio.

Summary:

Can goodness survive in a corrupt society? Can evil be meted out, with justice and mercy? Can chaste, innocent Isabella endure the foul machinations of those around her? Shakespeare, in this seldom-produced but daring “dark comedy,” tests integrity and decency to their limits. But, in the end, Isabella remains virtuous, and truth proves stronger than swords and evil men.

For more details (synopsis, podcasts, etc.) about this play, please visit http://www.bard.org/plays/measure2014.html.

Measure for Measure opens June 24 in preview and runs through August 29. You can buy tickets at www.bard.org or by calling 800-PLAYTIX.

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John Preston

Henry Woronicz

Erika Haaland

Natasha Harris

Twelfth Night with Nell Geisslinger as Viola and Melinda Pfundstein as Olivia

May 22, 2014 · 4 min read

Nell Geisslinger

Nell Geisslinger (Viola) is new to the Festival. She’s been a company member at Oregon Shakespeare Festival for ten years. While there, she worked with David Ivers, director of this production, playing Kate in the 2013 production of The Taming of the Shrew and as Associate Director with him in the 2014 production of Cocoanuts**.**

Melinda Pfundstein (Olivia) has performed at the Festival for many seasons. Last year she played Constance in King John and Rosaline in *Love’s Labour’s Lost.*She’s also performed multiple roles at other theatres including Milwaukee Repertory Theatre.

We recently chatted with them to get their thoughts on this play.

Talk about the strong element of grief in the play:

Melinda: At the top of the show, you learn that my father and brother passed away within the past year - long enough ago that when fresh air comes into the compound, the household is ready to breathe some life back into the dynamic again.

Nell: I’m particularly interested in how putting on the mask of Cesario and “acting”, is a way to embrace grief and move through life.

Also, I’ve been looking at how many questions Viola asks. This place is completely new to her and it’s kind of old and tired for everybody else. She does breathe new life in because everything the others take for granted is totally foreign to her. Anytime something new comes into your life that’s the opportunity for change. So Viola’s at a big turning point in her life.

M: Olivia has created this safe box, this safe compound where everybody is probably telling her what she wants to hear and everybody, we know from the top of the play, is on board with this - they are doing what she’s asked of them. I don’t know that there has been much truth spoken.

N: Truth is at the core of the play. David keeps reminding us to look at the subtitle, which is “what you will”. What are people choosing to believe versus what is the truth? When people are confronted with a new situation, do they go down a path of delusion or accept the truth and change?

Tell us about the transition from the grief and tragedy to comedy.

N: People who are in a state of change and a state of grief, that lends itself to extreme emotional shifts. In Commedia, that’s the definition of comedy.

M: The comedy is based in truth. It’s based in these people trying to will these things to happen. And not getting what they expect.

How do you prepare for a role?

M: I tend to shut down if I memorize too much. I prefer coming in knowing what everything means and having a point of view. It has to be incomplete in the memorization for me to be as open as I want to be.

N: One of the ways I familiarize myself with the text is this exercise I call charting. I take big sheets of butcher paper and I chart different themes/elements of the plays. There’s a section I do on diction, so I look at where it’s prose, poetry, rhyming couplets - repetition of words and phrases. Themes - for example, in Twelfth Night, I look at the first line “If music be the food of love, play on.” So I charted music, food, love and play.

Any last thoughts?

N: Come see the play! It’s about love and death. We still deal with those things every day.

M: David keeps reminding us “How willing are you to find a life in the face of death?”

For more details (synopsis, podcasts, etc.) about this play, please visit http://www.bard.org/plays/twelfth2014.html.

Twelfth Night opens June 23 in preview and runs through October 17. You can buy tickets atwww.bard.org or by calling 800-PLAYTIX.

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Melinda Pfundstein

Child Care Wish List

May 20, 2014 · 1 min read

The Festival Child Care Wish List

The Utah Shakespeare Festival has long been known for its customer service—including offering child care, a service instituted by Founder Fred C. Adams in the early years of the Festival. Our fully-licensed, professional child care is still very popular, but we could use your help.

Festival Child Care is looking for a few items to make the experience even better for the little ones who are too young to attend the plays. Please consider donating any of the following items, if you can:

• Reclining umbrella-type strollers.

• Craft supplies, including jewels, glue, glue sticks, etc.

• Outdoor play equipment, including balls, wagons, tricylces, basketballs, child basketball hoops or other toys.

• Bedding, including pillows, baby blankets, television pillows, etc.

• Sandbox toys of any kind.

• DVDs of children’s movies, cartoons, etc. for ages three to twelve.

If you have any of these items that are in good condition, you can donate them to the Festival by dropping them off at our administrative offices or at child care.

“We greatly appreciate the assistance of our many guests,” said Child Care Manager Kristine Cooley. “We love taking care of your children, and thank you for any donations you can make that will improve their experience.”

Twelfth Night Preview

May 19, 2014 · 3 min read

Zach Powell

Melinda Pfundstein

David Pichette

Twelfth Night

Written by William Shakespeare

Directed by David Ivers

Over the next seven weeks, we will be giving guests a “Behind the Stage Door” look at the shows this season; each week we will be featuring one production leading up to opening. With the help of social media we will be sharing insider information from directors, actors and designers.

“Finding Love When You Least Expect It” is why

Twelfth Night

is one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays. Today’s preview is the first look behind Twelfth Night’s stage door; the door will open again each day this week on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest as we bring you director and actor interviews as well as podcasts, design renderings and more.

Principal Characters:

Orsino, played by Grant Goodman: The duke of Ilyria, Orsino is usually melancholy and in love with being in love.

Sebastian, played by Zack Powell: The twin brother of Viola, he is a noble young man who is shipwrecked along with his sister and ends up in Ilyria.

Viola, played by Nell Geisslinger: Twin sister of Sebastian, she is a strong and capable young woman who dresses as a boy, Cesario, to survive in this strange country.

Olivia, played by Melinda Pfundstein: A countess, she is in mourning (for seven years!) for her deceased brother.

Sir Toby Belch, played by Roderick Peeples: The uncle of Olivia, he lives in her household and uses her generosity to him as a way to support his life of drink and song.

Malvolio, played by David Pichette: A steward and foolish suitor of Olivia, Malvolio is the opposite of Sir Toby and Maria. His arrogance with them eventually leads to their tricking him and cruelly locking him in a dark room.

Summary:

Shipwrecks, twins and disguises! Orsino loves Olivia (who won’t give him the time of day). Olivia loves Viola (whom she thinks is a boy). Viola loves Orsino (who doesn’t know she’s a girl). Malvolio loves being in love, and Andrew, Toby Belch, and Maria love life to its fullest. It’s all rollicking confusion, but this hilarious cast of characters, in the end, does find love when they least expect it.

For more details (synopsis, podcasts, etc.) about this play, please visit http://www.bard.org/plays/twelfth2014.html.

Twelfth Night opens June 23 in preview and runs through October 17. You can buy tickets at www.bard.org or by calling 800-PLAYTIX.

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