Utah Shakespeare Festival and Larry H. Miller Utah Summer Games Come Together to Celebrate
The Utah Shakespeare Festival and the Larry H. Miller Utah Summer Games are excited to announce a new collaboration for 2025. Both organizations are hosted on the campus of Southern Utah University in Cedar City, and are popular destinations for theatre and sports enthusiasts from throughout the state and region.
Both organizations have existed independently for decades as departments of Southern Utah University. However, this year is the first time in both of their storied histories where the two departments are strategically working together to enhance the experience of both groups’ participants and guests.
“Both institutions––the Festival and the Games––were created by visionaries, Fred C. Adams and Gerald R. Sherratt,” says Festival Executive Managing Director Michael Bahr. “Their vision was always about bringing people together in a communal celebration of art and sport. How wonderfully poetic that their vision is being strengthened through this collaboration.”
USG is excited to invite Festival patrons to visit Cedar City for their Opening Ceremony on Friday, June 6, 2025, at 8:00 pm in the SUU Eccles Coliseum. It will feature music from Neon Circus––a Brooks and Dunn tribute band, the largest fireworks display in USG history, and more. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit utahsummergames.org.
Likewise, the Festival is pleased to invite USG participants and their families to experience their award-winning live theatre while in Cedar City. Celebrate “Utah Summer Games Night at the Festival” on Thursday, June 26, with two free tickets and up to four half-price tickets to that night’s performance of Macbeth at 8 p.m. in the outdoor Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre. Athletes can reserve their complimentary tickets by calling 800-PLAYTIX or by visiting the Festival Ticket Office in person (after June 2, when the public windows open), and must either be wearing their USG athlete t-shirt or have proof of USG registration when picking up their tickets.
“It is an honor to collaborate with the Utah Shakespeare Festival on an initiative to involve our participants with the Tony Award-winning programming of the Festival,” said Jon Oglesby, Executive Director of the Larry H. Miller Utah Summer Games. “We are grateful to our campus colleagues Michael Bahr, John DiAntonio, and members of their teams for creating a special experience to merge art and sport in a unique way.”
In addition while in Cedar City, USG participants are invited to also attend The Greenshow––a free, 30-minute family-friendly Festival pre-show––which plays each evening Monday through Saturday at 7:10 p.m. on the outdoor Greenshow stage. On “Utah Summer Games Night at the Festival,” the theme will be Scottish Highland Games, a perfect complement to the USG athletic experience.
To experience even more Festival, USG athletes and their families can return and get additional tickets throughout the season. From June 26 through August 23 enjoy 10% off, or a special 50% off discount from August 25 through October 3 (excluding closing performances).
Please visit bard.org/about/utah-summer-games-2025 for more information.
The Festival’s 64th season runs June 16 through October 4, and includes Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, and As You Like It, along with the Tony Award-winning musical comedy A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Oscar Wilde’s popular satire The Importance of Being Earnest, the touching and hilarious Steel Magnolias, and the WWII love story Dear Jack, Dear Louise.
