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Show Shakespeare under the stars this summer at Park West to have fun with it and I hope people will try to discard the notion that Shakespeare is stuffy. He wrote his plays for the masses and his day, audiences were largely uneducated. un-educated. Yet, they understood under-stood and loved his work and that's what I want-people to come to our festival and have a good time."D The Intermountain Actors Ensemble is presenting two Shakespeare plays at the Park West Ski Resort this summer as the critically acclaimed non-profit theatre company tackles Park City's first Shakespeare festival. "Henry IV, Part I" and "The Taming of the Shrew" will be presented in repertoire reper-toire on alternating Thursday and Friday nights beginning July 8 with "Shrew" and July 9 with "Henry". Seating will be outside on the lawn along the Park West hillside. Picnicking is invited and in keeping with their policy of presenting, quality theatre at a price everyone can afford, tickets will be $4.00 for adults and $3.50 for senior citizens and students. Parking is free at the resort, doors open at 7:30 p.m., curtain is at 8:30 p.m. The casts for the productions produc-tions are a mixture of Salt Lake Valley and Park City area residents. Because of that the group has been rehearsing in Park City's Park and Rotary Park and Salt Lake's Sugarhouse Park. The result has been a pleasant but not unexpected surprise according to festival and "Henry" director Ron Burnett of Park City. "People often have the misconception that Shakespeare Shake-speare is a 'high-brow' kind of thing. But rehearsing out in the open has attracted the attention of young and old park visitors no matter where we've been. They've been caught off-guard by a cast dressed in shorts sword-fighting sword-fighting on the grass and visitors have been amused by the dialogue between Kate, the Shrew and her stubborn husband Petruchio. It's an indication of the kind of appeal Shakespeare offers audiences." Burnett is hoping that same appeal will encourage local and valley residents to take a break from the heat and bring their dinner up to the cool natural setting of Park West and enjoy "top knotch" entertainment in the form of two Shakespeare classics. Both plays deal with ongoing problems which many consider to be the key to their timelessness. Despite Desp-ite its royal setting, "Henry IV, Part I" for instance, is about the relationship between be-tween a father and son. It's also about that son, Prince Hal, and his substitute father, Sir John Falstaff. Shakepeare has given the theatre its most enduring comic character in Falstaff and the scenes in which he appears are among the most human ones ever written by the Bard according to critics. "The Taming of the Shrew" concerns itself with the traditional battle of the sexes. In it Shakespeare makes his own comments about the strengths and weaknesses of men and women. It's one of Shakespeare's Shake-speare's most engaging plays says IAE "Shrew" director Anthony Leger. "I've encouraged the actors i caiaawiairtiww 1 I Julie Dortsch as Kate matches wits with Van Beere as Petruchio j in "The Taming of the Shrew," opening July 8 at Park West. |