OCR Text |
Show Utah Governor Scott Matheson and his wife Norma will officially open the Shakespearean Festival activities tonight, as the 17th annual festival gets underway. Governor Matheson will also attend the Bard's Banquet, the opening event of the festival season, which begins at 5:30 p.m. The Banquet, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, is staged on the Student Center Patio and is open to the general public. Tickets and information can be obtained at the Chamber office. The Utah Governor is also expected to attend the following two night's of production, Scott Phillips, promotions director, said. Former Governor Calvin Rampton and his wife are also scheduled to attend thi following weekend's presentation of "OTHELLO," he noted. Plays selected for the July 13 through August 19 repertory performances per-formances of the Shakespearean Festival are, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, OTHELLO AND TWELFTH NIGHT, plus matinee productions of A SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL. Directors for all four productions have been announced, and the Box Office is open daily for ticket sales. The annual Festival is held in an authentic Shakespearean theatre located on the campus of Southern Utah State College, and with selection of the 1978 season's directors. Producing Director Fred C. Adams indicates that the Festival will be prepared to accommodate the expanded ex-panded crowds anticipated for this summer's season. "We have experienced steady growth since the Festival's founding 17 years ago," Mr. Adams stated, and during the past three years the 'growth has been remarkable. We have moved deadlines several months ahead for the 1978 season in preparation for the larger audiences we expect this summer." Selected to direct A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM is Dr. Brian Hansen of the University of . Delaware, who is returning for his fourth directing season with the Festival. Dr. Hansen has many Shakespearean directing credits, including Utah Shakespearean Festival productions of THE MERCHANT MER-CHANT OF VENICE, OTHELLO and THE TAMING OF THE SHREW. Sanford Robbins, chosen to direct the 1978 production of TWELFTH NIGHT, has directed productions for the Los Angeles Shakespeare Festival, and is presently chairman of the Department of Theatre at University of Wisconsin. Mr. Robbins is remembered for his 1976 production of LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST AT THE Cedar City Festival. Christopher Barns, who will direct OTHELLO, has been with the Festival three years as stage manager and as assistant director for JULIUS CAESAR and THE TEMPEST. TEM-PEST. He holds a graduate degree in Theatre Arts from Penn State. Fred Adams will direct matinee performances of THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL by Richard Sheridan. The classic Restoration comedy is being presented in a new musical version titled SCANDALS, and will be presented each Wednesday and Saturday afternoon during the Festival production season. Mr. Adams has directed 21 Shakespearean productions since the Festival began in 1962. He serves as producing director for the Festival, and is also chairman of the Southern Utah State College Drama Department. Depart-ment. As in other years, the Festival will feature a nightly green show of Elizabethan dancing on the green, Renaissance music and puppetry. Displays in the exhibit hall and a Shakespearean Seminar which may be taken for credit or may be audited are included in the summer's activities. ac-tivities. Scheduling for the repertory Shakespearean performances and the matinee permits guests to see all four plays in three consecutive days. The Festival Box Office is now open for mail order ticket purchases, and information is available by calling 1-801-586-3636, or writing the Utah Shakespearean Festival, Cedar City, UT 84720. Good seats are available for the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday performances, and limited seating remains available for the weekends. |