Center Valley, PA – Following a record-breaking 25th anniversary season, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival will feature Shakespeare’s As You Like It and Troilus and Cressida along with three world classics in its 26th season, June 2 through August 6, 2017.
The season will open with the seven-time Tony Award winner Evita by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, directed by Associate Artistic Director Dennis Razze, on the Main Stage June 14 through July 2.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s celebrated Sherlock Holmes thriller The Hound of the Baskervilles becomes a madcap quick-change comedy in an adaptation by “Brit wits” Steven Canny and John Nicholson which ran in London’s West End, and features three actors playing 16 roles, on stage June 21 through July 16.
The Three Musketeers, the swashbuckling romp of danger, comedy, and romance by Alexander Dumas and adapted by award-winning playwright Ken Ludwig, will run July 12 though August 6 in repertory on the Main Stage with the rollicking festive comedy As You Like It, July 20 through August 6.
Heroes, kings, lovers, and clowns expose the follies of war in the satirical Troilus and Cressida, PSF’ssixth “Extreme Shakespeare” production where actors arrive with their lines learned and rehearse the way Shakespeare’s company likely would have. The actors take charge and make the artistic decisions typically made today by directors and designers, positions which did not exist in Shakespeare’s time. Some of PSF’s finest actors will open this dynamic play after just a few days of rehearsal, fueled by adrenaline, spontaneity, and creativity.
The season will continue its tradition of two productions for children, a new play: The Ice Princess by Brandon E. McLauren, and Shakespeare for Kids by Erin Sheffield.
“The thirst for adventure is a powerful one,”says Producing Artistic Director Patrick Mulcahy. “Like Rosalind’s journey into the forest in As You Like It, it can lead to self-discovery, to recapturing dormant or undiscovered aspects of ourselves through refreshingly new and expansive experiences.
“This season charts a course through five locales and five different centuries— creating one grand adventure for our artists and our patrons.”
In 25 years, the Festival has expanded the number of annual summer productions to 7 and nearly tripled the number of performances to 140+ in a 10-week performance season. The company has set multiple attendance records in recent seasons, including last summer, and now draws patrons from 30 counties in Pennsylvania and 30 states in the U.S. each season.
The professional theatre company at DeSales University, PSF features acclaimed actors from Broadway, television, and film, winners and nominees of the Tony, Obie, Drama Desk, and other major theatre awards, from New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and around the country.
Main Stage Theatre
Evita June 14 – July 2
The Three Musketeers July 12 – August 6
As You Like It July 20 – August 6
Shakespeare for Kids July 26 – August 5
Schubert Theatre
The Hound of the Baskervilles June 21 – July 16
Troilus and Cressida July 26 – August 6
The Ice Princess June 2 – August 5
Subscription renewals will be available by early November; new subscriptions and single tickets will go on sale February 15, 2017
The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, a professional company in residence at DeSales University, is the Official Shakespeare Festival of the Commonwealth and a professional, not-for-profit theatre company. An independent 501 c 3 organization, PSF receives support from DeSales University and relies on contributions from individuals, government agencies, corporations and foundations. PSF is a constituent of the Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre, and a member of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, the Shakespeare Theatre Association, the Lehigh Valley Arts Council, and Discover Lehigh Valley.