Written by Bruce Bennett
The 54th season of the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City will say farewell to a beloved theater and hello to a new play. These two exciting events will act as bookends to what should be a diverse and entertaining season which begins June 25 and runs through October 31.
As a tribute to the venerable and much-loved Adams Memorial Shakespearean Theatre, Festival Founder Fred C. Adams will be directing “The Taming of the Shrew” as part of the Theatre’s farewell year, a play which was first produced as part of the Festival’s very first season in 1962 (along with “Hamlet” and “The Merchant of Venice”). After this year, the Festival will be moving its outdoor productions to the Engelstad Theatre, which is currently under construction as part of the new Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts and expected to be ready for the 2016 season. The eight-play 2015 season includes Shakespeare’s “King Lear,” “The Taming of the Shrew,” “Henry IV Part Two,” and “The Two Gentlemen of Verona.” The season will also include Peter Shaffer’s “Amadeus,” which is similar in plot to the Oscar-winning film, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “South Pacific,” and the British farce “Charley’s Aunt” by Brandon Thomas. Steven Dietz’s adaptation of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” debuts at the 54th Utah Shakespeare Festival with first-time festival director and off-Broadway veteran Jesse Berger at the helm.
For more information and tickets, visit www.bard.org or call 1-800-PLAYTIX.
