The Utah Shakespeare Festival recently announced eight directors for the festival’s 2018 season. Some have directed at the festival before while some will be new to festival audiences.
Melissa Rain Anderson returns to the festival after directing “The Cocoanuts” there in 2016. She will direct the musical “Big River,” based on Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” Since her time at the festival in 2016, she has directed at Geva Theater Center where she is an affiliate artist, the Denver Center Theater Company, the Repertory Theater of St. Louis, and others.
Paul Barnes returns to the festival after an absence of several years to direct Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor.” He last directed at the festival in 2005 when he helmed “The Foreigner.” For the festival, he has also directed “Blithe Spirit” (2004), “Little Shop of Horrors” (2003), “Hay Fever” (2002), “The Two Gentlemen of Verona” (2001), “Troilus and Cressida” (1999), “Henry V” (1997), and others. He has also directed at Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Clarence Brown Theatre, Great River Shakespeare Festival, and others.
Kate Buckley will direct Shakespeare’s “Othello.” She has directed four other plays in past seasons at the festival: “Julius Caesar” in 2008, “The Merry Wives of Windsor” in 2006, “Romeo and Juliet” in 2005, and “Much Ado about Nothing” in 2003. In addition, she was a founding member of Chicago Shakespeare Theatre and served as artistic director of The Next Theatre in Evanston, Illinois. She has directed across the country as well as internationally at the National Theatre of Slovakia and the Colla Marionette Company in Milan, Italy.
Vincent J. Cardinal, who is directing “The Foreigner,” is new at the festival. He has been the artistic director of Connecticut Repertory Theatre where CBS-WFSB TV honored him as one of the top five directors in Connecticut. He has served in numerous educational positions, including associate dean of performing arts at Adelphi University and chair of theater at the University of Miami.
Brad Carroll returns to the festival this year to direct “The Liar.” He has directed numerous productions at the festival over the past fifteen years, “including Murder for Two” (2016), “South Pacific” (2015), “The Comedy of Errors” (2014), “Anything Goes” (2013), and “Les Misérables” (2012). He also co-wrote with Peter Sham “Lend Me a Tenor: The Musical,” which premiered at the festival in 2007. Recently, he has directed at PCPA Theaterfest and the Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre as well as composing “‘A’ Train” for the United Solo Festival in New York City.
Art Manke will direct “Pearl’s in the House,” which he wrote and workshopped as part of the festival’s Words Cubed new play program this year. This workshop and this world premiere production in 2018 mark his first time at the festival. He has, however, directed all across the country, most recently at Santa Cruz Shakespeare and South Coast Repertory. He has also directed at Denver Center Theatre Company, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, and others.
Melinda Pfundstein will return to direct “The Merchant of Venice.” She helmed the Shakespeare-in-the-Schools tour of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in 2012. At Southern Utah University, she has directed “Dancing at Lughnasa,” “The Spitfire Grill,” and “Rent.” She is also an assistant professor of theater at Southern Utah University and co-founder and executive director of Statera Foundation, a national advocacy nonprofit serving women in theater.
Henry Woronicz, who will direct “Henry VI Part One,” has been a director and actor at the festival for over 30 years starting in 1983 when he played the title role in “Henry V.” For the festival, he has directed “Titus Andronicus” (2012), “Coriolanus” (2007), “The Taming of the Shrew” (2004), and “As You Like It” (2002). He has worked at many theater companies, including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival as well as working on Broadway, in film, and in numerous television series.
Tickets for both the 2017 and 2018 seasons are now on sale at bard.org or are available by calling (800) PLAYTIX or visiting the ticket office at the Beverley Center for the Arts.
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