Utah Shakespeare Festival Ready For 2013 Season

2012 was the 51st season for the Utah Shakespeare Festival and it was a record-breaker. Now the Tony-Award winning Festival is about ready to launch the 2013 season, with plans to make it better than ever.

According to Marketing Director Kami Terry Paul: Last season's “attendance was up 17% from 2011 and exceeds all Festival attendance records for its 51-year history.” 256 performances were presented in the Festival’s three theatres over 19 weeks of performance.

The Festival provided this information about the 2013 season:

The Festival’s 2013 season, its 52nd, will run from June 24 to October 19. Even though the 2012 season of the Festival is just getting underway, tickets for next year are already on sale at the Ticket Office windows at the Festival, by calling 800-PLAYTIX, or by visiting us online at www.bard.org.

“Shakespeare is our cornerstone playwright, and we are excited for the next phase in our Complete the Canon campaign,” said Artistic Director David Ivers. Starting in 2012, the Festival is committed to produce Shakespeare’s entire canon of work over a period of twelve years, including completing his entire cycle of history plays in sequential order.

With that in mind, the Festival will present in the world-famous outdoor Adams Shakespearean Theatre the first in that history cycle, King John. Also in the Adams Theatre will be Shakespeare’s epic masterpiece The Tempest and the frothy romance Love’s Labour’s Lost. These three plays will run from June 24 to August 31.

“In addition to featuring works by the Bard, we will return to producing two musicals in the season,” Ivers commented. Featured in the Randall L. Jones Theatre from June 24 to August 31 will be Cole Porter’s high energy musical Anything Goes. During the late season, September 18 to October 19, guests can enjoy favorite songs from the 50s and 60s in Roger Bean’s The Marvelous Wonderettes.

Also in the Randall L. Jones Theatre will be the American theatre classic Twelve Angry Men from June 24 to August 31 and the second in Shakespeare’s history cycle, Richard II, from September 18 to October 19.

The final, and perhaps most exciting, 2013 production will be a regional premiere of the winner of five 2012 Tony Awards, Peter and the Starcatcher by Rick Elice based on the novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. Peter and the Starcatcher promises to be a thrilling, imaginative, theatrical experience about Peter Pan, the boy who never grew, and all the memorable characters he encounters on his journey to Neverland. Fun and inviting for the whole family; this show is not to be missed. Peter and the Starcatcher will run all season from June 24 to October 19, in the Randall L. Jones Theatre.

See the Festival’s MidSummer Magazine for more information.