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Show 1984 Utah Shakespearean Festival Fifteen additional performances are scheduled for the Utah Shakespearean Festival this summer. Themed to "Shakespeare's Magic," the 1984 season runs July 12 through September 1 in the internationally acclaimed Adams Memorial Shakespearean Theatre. Near sellout of the regular season created the need for extended performances, which are being added the last part of August for a special "Fall at the Festival" week. Plays for 1984 are THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, THE TEMPEST, and TROILUS AND CRESSIDA as well as matinee performances of THE TAMING OF THE SHREW and THE QUEEN'S FESTE, a musical matinee featuring "tea and crumpets." Shakespearean plays are chosen each year to bring to life various aspects of the Bard's genius, including tragedy, history and comedy performed with the historical integrity and authenticity which are continuing Festival traditions. The Festival is located on the campus of Southern Utah State College, host school since the Festival's beginning in 1962. THE TAMING OF THE SHREW opens the 1984 season. Directed by Sanford Robbins from the theatre and dance department of the University of Wisconsin, THE SCHREW is Shakespeare's contribution to the war between the sexes, and is a con- tinual crowd pleaser as audiences once again watch Katherina and Petruchio battle it out. Robbins is a returning director for the Festival, remembered for his productions of LOVE'S LABOROURS LOST In 1976 and TWENLFTH NIGHT in 1978. Douglas Marmee is costuming the 1984 production, and Ron Ranson is scenic designer. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, a rarely performed play incorporating history, comedy and tragedy, is being presented for the first time at the Utah Festival. The play makes a powerful anti-war statement, and gives audiences an unusual opportunity to expand their experience with the Shakespeare canon. Directed by Libby Appel, who chairs the theatre department at the California Institute of the Arts, the play will be costumed by Beth Novak. Rounding out the summer's Shakespearean productions is THE TEMPEST, chosen by the Festival this summer to commemorate the 400-year anniversary of colonization in the new world. Directed by David Knight from the University of Illinois, Urbana, and costumed by Rosemary Ingham, THE TEMPEST was written near the end of Shakespeare's life, and has been regarded as his final comment on life. The play has all the trappings of a fairy tale; the leading character, a magician on an enchanted isle, has been seen as Shakespeare himself, and the work interpreted as his affirmation of the human spirit. Scenic designer for the 1984 summer production is Tim Bryson. THE QUEEN'S FESTE, a musical matinee presented each Monday and Friday afternoon during the Festival season, features the Festival Chamber Concert musicians playing Renaissance music on authentic instruments. Sonnet reading and other poetry will complement the music, and light refreshments will be served in the Elizabethan manner. David Gatts is returning musical director for the Festival. Again this summer the repertory performances are designed to allow patrons at attend all three Shakespearean performances in two days by including a Wednesday or Saturday matinee. Matinees are performed on the Indoor Stage beginning July 21 at 2 p.m., and all matinees replicate evening performances as nearly as possible. Rounding out the traditional Festival experience are seminars, backstage tours, orientations and a nightly greenshow preceding each performance, this summer's Exhibit Hall display from the World of William Shakespeare features a recognition of the 400-year anniversary of exploration in the New World, a theme touched upon in THE TEMPEST, and the Exhibit Hall will bring almost to life the Indians, colonizers and artifacts of the Jamestown colony. For ticket information concerning the 1984 Utah Shakespearean Festival please write Utah Shakespearean Festival, Cedar City, Utah 84720, or telephone (801) 586-7880. |