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Show IAE presents Shakespeare magic under the stars by Rick Brough The cunning of Richard HL the mix-ups of the 12 th of December and the magic of a midsummer night are all part of the 3rd Park City Shakespeare Festival. With three directors and 37 actors under Intermountain Actors Ensemble Ensem-ble executive director Ron Burnett, the festival begins this week at the ice rink of the Park City Village resort. Undoubtedly the most famous character in the festival is the villainous Richard III, in the play of the same name. But the play's director. Ron Burnett, said his Richard will not be shown as purely evil. "He's the only likable character in the whole play," he said. The audience follows the story through his eyes, as Richard takes them into his confidence. For the role, he said, he picked an actor who has a great deal of personal charm David Jensen. Jensen, a Logan native, is a veteran of TV commercials, films and Salt Lake productions of "Camelot" and "Salmon Run." "Richard" is the longest play and had to be trimmed considerably. "If we played the whole thing, it would be four hours and 20 minutes," said Burnett. The length is an influence of Elizabethan theater, when plays were done in the afternoon and audiences weren't so concerned with time. "Going to the theater was the big social event," he said. "King Richard m" plays Saturday nights during the run of the festival. The fantasy play "Midsummer Night's Dream" is an almost incomprehensible tangle. The fairy king Oberon is feuding with his wife Titania. Two sets of lovers romping in the countryside are involved in the argument, with help from the imp Puck. And Bottom, the weaver, becomes the object of romantic attention after he's turned into an ass. "It's very funny, even if you don't understand everything that's going on," said Burnett. The director is Richard Russell, who played the lead in IAE's production of "Fantasticks" last fall, and in 1982 appeared in the popular production of "Godspell." Russell is a theater and speech graduate from Utah State University. "Midsummer's" starts tonight, July 5, and continues Thursday nights during the run. "Twelfth Night" is a bawdy Elizabethan tale of mix-ups as a young woman disguises herself as a man to search for her twin brother. The comedy also features the famous trio of Sir Toby Belch, Malvolio and Sir Andrew Aguecheck. Director F. Michael Lewis has a BFA in direction and acted in last year's festival, notably as Polonius in "Hamlet." "Twelfth Night" plays on Fridays during the run of the festival. Burnett also recruited 10 actors who are former or present students of American Fork High School, where drama coach Lynn Thompson is an avid and skilled Shakespearean producer. Burnett said he hoped to enlist Thompson as a director at a future festival. A few actors have returned from past Shakespeare festivals. The cast includes Kathy Biesinger (the Queen in last year's "Hamlet") and Steve Nicol (who played Prince Hal in the 1982 Festival). Dennis Sullivan played several roles last year, an since then has starred in IAE's productions of "Fantasticks". and "Two for the Seesaw." Prices for the Festival are $7 for adults, $6 for studentsseniorsKim-ball studentsseniorsKim-ball Art Center members and $15 for an individual ticket to all three plays. Curtain is at 8 p.m. The Festival Greenshow starts at 7:30 p.m. |