News From the Festival
The Festival's Annual Birthday Bash
Birthday Cake with Queen Elizabeth
The Bard turned 450 years old this April and the Utah Shakespeare Festival celebrated in style with the annual Bard’s Birthday Bash. Over 1,200 elementary school students from Iron and Washington County were invited to the event on April 24 and 25.
This two-day event is an exciting and enthusiastic way of exposing kids to the life and works of William Shakespeare through their own performances, as well as by observing the efforts of other students. Students also participated in period activities such as jousting and maypole games, as well as enjoying cake with Queen Elizabeth I.
Even after 450 years, Shakespeare still has a strong impact and influential role in society and on people’s educational upbringing. Why is Shakespeare so prevalent and incorporated in school curriculum? Associate Education Director Josh Stavros expressed his views on the literary merit of the Bard by saying, “William Shakespeare’s work is considered and treated as the greatest literature in the English language. As soon as kids know it and experience it, the better learners they’ll become because Shakespeare encompassed every emotional experience human beings have.”
Dance around the Maypole
Shakespeare has permeated the Western culture and around every corner is a reference to his incredible works. His intellectually rich stories and characters have influenced several books, movies and TV shows. Even our everyday language has been shaped by the common phrases he originally coined*;* dead as a doornail, a laughing stock, fair play, a wild goose chase, neither here nor there, in stitches*,* just to name a few*.* For decades, Shakespeare has been the most frequently studied and performed playwright around the world.
“I think people are more engaged in the world around them when they can comprehend and appreciate Shakespeare,” said Stavros. “It’s our mission at the Festival to make sure everyone we encounter understands Shakespeare. We believe that when people grasp the power of his language that they’ll love it and become life long supporters.
Additionaly, members of the Utah Shakespeare Festival Playmakers and their families wished a happy 450th birthday to William Shakespeare as part of the Folger Shakespeare Library “Shakespeare Flashmob.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P7HrC_JxsQ&feature=youtu.be
Happy birthday Will.
Happy Birthday Will!
Happy Birthday William Shakespeare!
Even after 450 years, Shakespeare still has a strong impact and influential role in society and on people’s educational upbringing.
Shakespeare has permeated the Western culture and around every corner is a reference to his incredible works. His intellectually rich stories and characters have influenced several books, movies and TV shows. Even our everyday language has been shaped by the common phrases he originally coined*: dead as a doornail, a laughing stock, fair play, a wild goose chase, neither here nor there, in stitches*, just to name a few. For a more complete list, check outhttp://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/phrases-sayings-shakespeare.html
For decades, Shakespeare has been the most frequently studied and performed playwright around the world.
Shakespeare’s contemporary, Ben Jonson noted that, “He was not of an age, but for all time!” Four centuries later, Jonson’s words still ring true.
Here at the Festival, we are celebrating his birthday with our annual “Birthday Bash” for the school children of Iron County. Check back early next week for photos.
Happy birthday Will!
For information about our 2014 season, please visitwww.bard.org to learn about the plays and order tickets.
Utah Shakespeare Festival Receives NEA Grant
Utah Shakespeare Festival Receives National Endowment for the Arts Grant
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Acting Chairman Joan Shigekawa announced today that the Utah Shakespeare Festival is one of 886 nonprofit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. The Festival is recommended for a $10,000grant to support the world premiere adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility.
The grant will support the artistic team and artists of Sense and Sensibility. J.R. Sullivan and Joseph Hanreddy were commissioned to adapt Jane Austen’s beloved novel in 2011 after they successfully adapted Austin’s Pride and Prejudice, which was produced at the Festival in 2010 and has been produced in many other regional theatres. This adaptation will encompass a company of 18 actors and will be a fully realized show.
NEA Acting Chairman Shigekawa said, “The NEA is pleased to announce that the Utah Shakespeare Festival is recommended for an NEA Art Works grant. These NEA-supported projects will not only have a positive impact on local economies, but will also provide opportunities for people of all ages to participate in the arts, help our communities to become more vibrant, and support our nation’s artists as they contribute to our cultural landscape.”
“We were thrilled to receive the news that our new adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel Sense and Sensibility has been awarded an NEA grant for 2014,” said Development Director Jyl Shuler. “This NEA award is important to the Festival not only for its monetary value, but what it adds to the Festival’s reputation and visibility on the national theatre scene.”
Art Works grants support the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and enhancement of the livability of communities through the arts. The NEA received 1,515 eligible applications under the Art Workscategory, requesting more than $76 million in funding. Of those applications, 886 are recommended for grants for a total of $25.8 million. For a complete listing of projects recommended for Art Works grant support, please visit the NEA website at arts.gov.
Tickets are on sale for the Festival’s 53rd season, which will run from June 23 to October 18, 2014. Visit www.bard.org for more information.
J.R. Sullivan
Joseph Hanreddy
Join us for Playmakers' Pirates of Penzance
The students of the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s Playmakers program have been hard at work on their upcoming production of The Pirates of Penzance. Now they are ready to set sail and show it off with performances April 10 through April 14 in the Randall L. Jones Theatre.
Tickets are general admission and are $5 for children and students, and $8 for adults. They can be purchased by calling 435-586-7878 or online at www.bard.org.
This group of over eighty Iron County students, together with their fearless leaders from the Festival’s education department, have put together what promises to be an exciting, adventurous voyage enjoyable for the whole family.
“Once a student has performed in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, they can do anything,” said Festival Education Director Michael Bahr.
The Pirates of Penzance is a hilarious musical farce that centers on a host of colorful characters including sentimental pirates, bumbling policemen, dim-witted young lovers, dewy-eyed daughters and an eccentric Major General.
“This show is a wonderful tool for teaching diction, musicality and character, plus it’s laughter and excitement for the whole family,” said Bahr. “In addition to public performances the student cast will be performing four matinees for local elementary schools.”
Groundbreaking Marks a Historical Moment!
Today the cultural landscape of southern Utah was forever changed as the first shovel broke ground on the long awaited Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts on the campus of Southern Utah University. The Center is predicted to further establish Cedar City as a regional arts mecca.
It will serve as the home to the new Shakespeare theatre and a new studio theatre for the Utah Shakespeare Festival, an artistic/production building for the Festival, and the Southern Utah Museum of Art (SUMA). The Center also features a tree lined walkway and sculpture gardens and will offer many large public gathering spaces ideal for receptions and special events.
Dignitaries from across the state helped celebrate this momentous occasion including Julie Fisher, executive director of heritage and arts and member of the Governor’s cabinet; Senator Evan Vickers; Representatives John Westwood, Brad Last, Kay McIff, Don Ipson and Mike Noel, and Gage Froerer;Commissioner of Higher Education David Buhler and members of the Utah State Board of Regents; Ann Crocker President of the Sorenson Legacy Foundation; Utah State Building Board members Dave Tanner and Ned Carnahan; the project’s architects Kevin Blalock and his team from Blalock and Partners; city and county officials; Southern Utah University Trustees; and SUU presidents past and present.
At the groundbreaking ceremony, the Utah Shakespeare Festival revealed that the new outdoor Shakespeare theatre would be named after the Engelstad family. After receiving a $5 million gift in 2012, at that time the largest in the theatre company’s history, the Festival is proud to honor the Englestad Family Foundation of Las Vegas.
The Englestad Theatre will still have the same intimate actor/audience relationship and will feel very similar to the current open air Adams Theatre. The space has updated amenities and modern accessibilities, including an elevator and increased ADA seating. The theatre will also have a flexible roof covering for inclement weather.
The Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre was also announced during the ceremony. This new 200-seat studio will provide a third, flexible option for Festival programming, allowing the production of small, intimate plays to complement the offerings in the new Englestad Theatre and the existing Randall L. Jones Theatre.
“For a quarter of a century the dream of a Shakespeare Center has been in the planning and fundraising stage,” said Festival Founder Fred C. Adams. “The new Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts will be a lasting gift to the Festival, Cedar City and Southern Utah University. Beverley was a lifelong advocate and supporter of the arts. She firmly believed that reaching children through the arts will make them lifelong appreciators of what is good and noble in this world. Today is the fulfillment of that dream as we actually turn earth to signify that this will become a long awaited reality."
Festival Executive Director R. Scott Phillips remarked, “The Center will enable the Utah Shakespeare Festival and the SUMA to expand programming and continue to contribute to the economic vitality of Cedar City. SUU students, faculty, staff, and professional artists will have the opportunity to work and perform in these facilities perfecting their craft and creating lasting work. Upon completion, the Center will be a grand gathering place. I envision a future where every child in southern Utah will be able to experience professional live performances and participate in visual art regardless of geography, education, or economics."
Also included in the ceremonial program was detailed information about the Southern Utah Museum of Art (SUMA). This state-of-the-art museum will feature approximately 5,300 square feet of exhibition space composed of four galleries: the Braithwaite, the Rocki Alice, the Austin and Magda Jones and the Jim Jones which showcases work by the renowned Utah artist. SUMA will exhibit international and regional art, as well as that by art and design students and faculty.
The museum will have dedicated space for collection storage, care and research. The building design will allow visitors to witness the behind the scenes operations in the Maud Trismen Mason Collection and Conservation Studio. The Beverley Taylor Sorenson Education Suite includes 1,000 square feet and will provide classroom space for hands-on educational activities for K-12 school groups, and workspace for the SUU graduate and undergraduate students who will operate the museum.
“SUMA has been a labor of love by numerous individuals who have given generously,” said Dean of Performing and Visual Arts Shauna Mendini. “Topping the list is Cedar City’s treasure, Jim Jones. At the beginning of this project, Jimmy wrote a letter of introduction stating: ‘I propose to give all I have to the building of a Southern Utah Museum of Art. I have a home, paintings, and work by artists I have known and loved over the years. These, I propose, will be the seed from which, with your help, this project will grow.’ I can speak with confidence that Jimmy would be delighted with how his seed has grown. His life-long dream was to see a significant art museum built in Cedar City and today marks the realization of that dream.”
The Sorenson Legacy Foundation provided the lead gift of $6 million for the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts. Other major gifts were given fromthe George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, Rocki Alice, the Ashton Family Foundation, Garth and Jerri Frehner, the Simmons Family Foundation, O.C. Tanner Company, Austin and Magda Jones, the estate of Jim Jones, the State of Utah, Iron County, and Cedar City Corporation.
The Center is expected to begin rising on the Southern Utah University campus this summer, with completion in 2016. The Festival will continue without interruption its current programming of eight shows and a free nightlyGreenshow, as well as seminars, orientations, and backstage tours throughout the construction period.
For more information or to donate visit sorensonarts.org or bard.org
Annual Board of Governors Fundraising Gala
Save the Date for the Twenty-Second Annual Board of Governors Fundraising Gala
Join the Festival for its single largest and most important fundraiser of the year on Friday, July 11 in Cedar City—this year themed around Regency Romance and the world premiere of Sense and Sensibility.
The twenty-second edition of the annual Board of Governors Fundraising Gala will feature an evening of cocktails, dinner, contribution opportunities, and a new adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, commissioned by the Festival.
Last year’s event raised over $110,000, and Development Director Jyl Shuler wants to raise even more this year, all in support of the Festival mission to present life-affirming classic and contemporary plays.
Presenting Sponsor tables are $5,000 and include first priority seating for ten guests at the dinner and Sense and Sensibility, and acknowledgement in the dinner program and Playbill insert. Table Sponsorships are $2,000 and include priority seating for ten guests at the dinner and Sense and Sensibility and acknowledgement in the dinner program. Individual tickets are $200 each.
“We suggest you wear the event colors black, white and pastels,” said Shuler, “or dress in your Regency Romantic finest.”
For information call 435-586-7880.
Ray Seams, Zany #3 in The Taming of the Shrew
Ray Seams, who plays Hortensio and Zany #3, hails from San Antonio, Texas. He has a BA from the University of Northern Colorado.
What are you looking forward to the most about this tour; why did you want to become involved? What do you hope to learn?
I love tours! Growing up I got to see a lot of shows that came through San Antonio and it really made an impact on my life. I took this tour so I could make that same impact on someone else’s life. If I never experienced live theatre as a child I probably wouldn’t be doing what I do today.
What do you hope to contribute or give to young audiences during this tour?
I want young audiences to listen and not just watch. So often now we just let our eyes take control, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but we forget that our ears play a vital part in storytelling. I’m hoping they understand our show as much as they enjoy watching all of our crazy antics. So far so good.
Why do you think live theatre is important?
Live theatre is important because of the magic it creates. There’s something so beautiful about someone on stage telling a story right in front of you. It’s important to share things with people but more specifically to them, not to a camera. Live performance creates an energy that can’t be explained. A live audience is a powerful force and combined with some amazing storytelling, you have something beautiful that can’t be replicated. Sure you can repeat the show a million times but it will never be exactly the same, that’s what’s so perfect about theatre. Every show is an opportunity to find new depth or meaning, to create more layers of a character you thought you already knew. It’s never perfect and you’re never done rehearsing, you’re just experiencing and living in the moment, the audience is there to watch, listen and help you on your journey.
The Tour is on the road through mid-April, stopping in forty+ venues in three states. You can learn more at
Misha Fristensky, Zany #1, in the Tour Production of The Taming of the Shrew
Fristensky as Zany #1
Michael (Misha) Fristensky plays multiple roles in The Taming of the Shrew: Tranio, Grumio and Zany #1. He was born in Switzerland, spent a majority of his childhood in Colorado and now calls New York City home. He studied Musical Theatre and Sociology at the University of Northern Colorado.
What are you looking forward to the most about this tour; why did you want to become involved? What do you hope to learn?
I am looking forward to the challenging aspect of having to perform a show multiple times and keeping the material fresh and making it seem as if we’re doing it for the first time in every town. Going on a tour has always been a goal of mine because of the chance to travel and really become immersed in a show. I am thrilled to be surrounded by such a talented cast and creative team because each day I learn something new about my craft that makes me that much more excited to be a part of this great art-form.
What do you hope to contribute or give to young audiences during this tour?
During the tour, I hope to spark a flame that will continue to grow and burn bright in the young audiences. Each of us has a special moment as to why we decided to pursue this career path, and I hope that we have the pleasure of making that moment happen for some of the audience members.
Why do you think live theatre is important?
With the technology and devices of today, I think people are losing sight of what makes being a human being so great. Our everyday interaction with one another and the memories and experiences we gain from those are second to none. I think it is great that we have the ability to share that with one another with the click of a button, but in doing so, we can forget how important it is to look at someone in their eyes, listen, and genuinely respond.
Live theatre gives us that hour and half where we ask people to forget about all the distractions of the day, and get lost in a story that has the ability to reconnect us to that sensation of being able to feel something as a result from live human interaction. I believe it’s magical and has the possibility to change lives.
The tour departs in late January, visiting three states and forty+ venues. You can learn more about the tour at
Meet the 2014 Directors
Brian Vaughn
Joseph Hanreddy
David Ivers
JR Sullivan
A can’t-miss 2014 season, which runs from June 23 to October 18, is coming together at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Paving the way to artistic success is a talented lineup of highly experienced directors who are hard at work on this year’s plays.
Laura Gordon is returning to the Festival to direct this summer’s production of William Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure. Gordon directed last season’s Love’s Labour’s Lost and The Winter’s Tale in 2011.Measure for Measure is a seldom-produced but daring dark comedy, where Shakespeare tests integrity and decency to the limit. Gordon commented about the show saying, “what I find interesting about the play are the psychological journeys of the characters and the high stake dilemmas that many of the characters are facing. I want to find a way to bring the 17th century to the Utah audience in 2014, rather than having the audience travel back in time to meet the play.”
Artistic Director Brian Vaughn will direct the third play in the Festival’s continuing History Cycle, Henry IV Part One. Last year Vaughn had the honor of directing the regional premiere of Peter and the Starcatcher at the Festival, which received rave reviews. He was also a guest director for the Orlando Shakespeare Festival in 2013. This will be Vaughn’s first time directing in the Adams Shakespearean Theatre, but after acting on the Adams’ stage for over twenty years, Vaughn is very familiar with the nuances of that space. Henry IV Part One is one of Vaughn’s favorite works by Shakespeare, and he’s very excited to explore this historical family drama.
After directing last summer’s musical comedy,Anything Goes, Brad Carroll is back at the Festival with this year’s The Comedy of Errors. Carroll has been involved with numerous productions at the Festival including*, Les Misérables, Johnny Guitar, HMS Pinafore*,Spitfire Grill. Also, in collaboration with Peter Sham, Carroll created and composed Lend me a Tenor: The Musical and *Christmas Carol: On the Air.*It’s double the laughter and twice the fun in Shakespeare’s hysterical Comedy of Errors. There’s not one, but two sets of twins and there will certainly be shenanigans swirling around them.
The world premiere of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility will be directed by co-adaptor, Joseph Hanreddy. Hanreddy along with J.R. Sullivan were commissioned over two years ago to write this script for the Festival and after many staged readings and rewrites, it’s ready to make its debut on the Randall L. Jones stage. Hanreddy and Sullivan also successfully adapted Austen’s *Pride and Prejudice,*which was seen at the Festival in 2010. Sense and Sensibility is full of repressed passion and soaring emotions. It tells the touching and comic story of the Dashwood sisters who are both looking for true love, but in very different ways.
Jeremy Mann returns to the Randall L. Jones to direct Stephen Sondheim’s fractured fairytale, *Into the Woods.*Mann has directed and conducted several classic musicals at the Festival, including The Music Man, Man of La Mancha, and The Secret Garden. Mann thinks “Into the Woods has the potential to resonate powerfully for audiences, both young and old, because ultimately it’s about the challenge of being a human, and how to face individual and communal problems on this planet.”
Artistic Director David Ivers will direct Shakespeare’s romantic comedy, Twelfth Night,which plays in the Randall L. Jones Theatre from June until October. Last season at the Festival, Ivers directed a brilliant production of Twelve Angry Men. For two years in a row, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival has invited Ivers to be a guest director at their prestigious company. Ivers is very excited “that Twelfth Night will have such a long run in the Randall, allowing Shakespeare to be exposed to our loyal guests and new students across many regions.” It’sall hilarious confusion and rollicking laughs in this, one of Shakespeare’s most sparkling gems.
New to the Festival will be Christopher Liam Moore who is directing Boeing Boeing. Moore has worked at many other regional theatres includingOregon Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Rep, South Coast Rep, Guthrie Theatre, and Arena Stage.Boeing Boeing features a playboy bachelor who is living the life, juggling the arrivals and departures of three gorgeous flight attendants. But his supersonic lifestyle goes into a tailspin when flight schedules change and all three women arrive at his apartment on the same evening. It is a bumpy, but hilarious ride in this classic farce, full of flirtatious hijinks, slamming doors, and utter confusion.
Co-adaptor of Sense and Sensibility, J.R. Sullivan will direct playwright Steven Dietz’sSherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure. Sullivan has directed many productions at the Festival some of which include *Stones in His Pockets, Glass Menagerie, Henry V, The Merchant of Venice, King Lear,andThe Importance of Being Earnest.*Murder is elementary in this a mystery adventure about the world’s most popular detective. “The game is afoot, Watson—and it is a dangerous one!”
Last, but certainly not least, this year’sGreenshow will be co-directed with Festival Founder Fred Adams and Associate Education Director Josh Stavros. Adams and Stavros have worked on many Festival projects. Most recently, in 2011, Adams directed and Stavros was the assistant director for A Midsummer’s Night Dream, which was broadcast live on BYUtv and won a Regional Emmy for Best Special Event Coverage Live.
Adams and Stavros are excited to direct The Greenshow because it’s a perfect way to spend forty minutes before that evening’s show. The free pre-show entertainment features spirited song and dance. Add Elizabethan sweets, and you’ll have a fun-filled frolic to prepare you for the main stage performance that follows.
Tickets are on sale for the Festival’s 53rd season, which will run from June 23 to October 18, 2014. The eight-play season includes Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, The Comedy of Errors, Henry IV Part One,andTwelfth Night. The season will also include the world premiere adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility written by Joseph Hanreddy and J. R. Sullivan, Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods, Steven Dietz’sadaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure,andBoeing-Boeing by Marc Camoletti.
For more information and tickets visit www.bard.org or call 1-800-PLAYTIX.
Laura Gordon
Brad Carroll
Jeremy Mann
Christopher Liam Moore
Fred Adams
Josh Stavros
Kaitlin Mills as Bianca in the Tour Production of The Taming of the Shrew
Mills as Bianca
Kaitlin Mills, who we saw last summer in Anything Goes, returns to the Festival as Bianca in the Shakespeare-in-the-School’s production of The Taming of the Shrew. She grew up in Salt Lake City and has her BFA in Classical Acting from Southern Utah University.
What are you looking forward to the most about this tour; why did you want to become involved? What do you hope to learn?
I first saw the tour when I was in high school. It was also a production of The Taming of the Shrew and it was the first time I realized that acting was something you can do professionally. Shrew is also my favorite of Shakespeare’s comedies, and I am really looking forward to working with this great cast on my favorite show. I’m sure I will learn many things as we begin touring, but waking up early in the morning may be the hardest.
What do you hope to contribute or give to young audiences during this tour?
I hope to be able to inspire a love of live theatre and of the arts in young, new audiences. The tour made such an impact on my young life, and I hope to be able to pay that forward in some small way.
What are some of your favorite hobbies?
I love to draw, paint, and crochet in my spare time. I find it relaxing.
Why do you think live theatre is important?
Live theatre is the only place where the audience can have a real connection with the actors and what is happening on stage. In movies and television you can get the story, and even the emotional impact of the story across, but you don’t get to connect person to person. Live theatre allows that connection. The audience is just as vital to the performance as the people on stage and behind the scenes.
The tour will be on the road from late January through mid-April, visiting three states and forty+ venues. You can learn more athttp://www.bard.org/education/tour.html
Hill (Kate) & Mills (Bianca)