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Show Attendance figures continue to grow for Shakespearean festival Last year',s Utah Shakespearean Festival season marked a turning point in popularity and attendance for the annual event as total audience participation passed the 17,000 mark, according to Gary Mclntyre, managing director and production coordinator for the festival. Mr. Mclntyre explained that the increase was partly due to the extended four-week season, which gave each plav two more performances than the previous three-week seasons had provided. However, he pointed out that the 1973 attendance reached more than 105 percent of house capacity, which was a new high for the 12 year production span. Advance ticket sales for the coming season, which begins July 11 and plays through August 10, indicate that 1974 figures will top all previous attendance, Mr. Mclntyre said. Two plays, that in former years have proven to be top box office draws, have been selected for production. These include "As You Like It" and "Hamlet" and to be produced for the first time in the intermountain west, "Henry VIII, is proving to be very popular, as advanced ticket sales soar. On the closing night of the 1974 j run, construction will once again resume on the balcony complex 1 of the seating for the Adams . Memorial Shakespearean Theatre area dedicated in 1972 as j the permanent home of the festival. The, seating plan will provide more than 1000 seats as compared with the present i capacity of 650, Mr. Mclntyre I said. |