FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 11, 2011
Contact: Lisa Higgins, 610.282.9455, ext. 4
Landmark 20th Season Ready to Launch at PSF, Featuring:
- Rep of Hamlet and Pride and Prejudice with same cast
- An expanded season including three Shakespeare plays, one rehearsed as Shakespeare’s company would have
- A limited edition book of PSF photography by Lee Butz
Center Valley, PA – Even as it celebrates 20 years of producing Shakespeare and classical theatre, the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival announces a multitude of firsts:
For the first time, the company will offer two plays in rep, Hamlet and Pride and Prejudice, with the same cast alternating performances daily – and sometimes within the same day.
For the first time, PSF will produce six major productions in one season, (up from five) including three Shakespeare plays.
For the first time, PSF will rehearse a play, Shakespeare’s The Two Noble Kinsmen, the way Shakespeare’s company would have: no directors, no designers, the actors will arrive with their lines learned, wear what they can find, and open within a few days on adrenaline and spontaneity.
Also, a limited edition collector’s book, Majestic Vision: The Photography of Lee Butz at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival has been published. Featuring hundreds of photos selected from 40,000+, the book is the culmination of three years work…and 19 seasons of PSF history.
The 20th anniversary season features Shakespeare’s Hamlet, The Comedy of Errors, and The Two Noble Kinsmen (which he wrote with John Fletcher); South Pacific; Pride and Prejudice, Sleeping Beauty and, Shakespeare for Kids, and runs June 3 through August 7 on the Center Valley campus of DeSales University.
Producing Artistic Director Patrick Mulcahy will direct Hamlet; he returns to the director’s chair every other year, and last directed Antony and Cleopatra in PSF’s record-breaking 2009 season. Hamlet runs July 20 through August 7 on the Main Stage.
Pride and Prejudice, in rep with Hamlet on the Main Stage July 19 – August 7, is directed by Erin Hurley, PSF education director who has directed more than a dozen productions at the Festival, including the company’s fall touring productions of Shakespeare plays for the past four seasons.
Russell Treyz, who has directed many productions for PSF since the company’s inaugural season, returns to direct The Comedy of Errors, to be performed in the Schubert Theatre June 22 – July 17.
Opening on the Main Stage is South Pacific, directed by Associate Artistic Director Dennis Razze – who has directed every musical PSF has produced since the company introduced musicals into its programming in 2004 with the acclaimed production of Man of La Mancha.
Erin Hurley will also direct Sleeping Beauty (running June 3 – August 6), and serve as playwright for Shakespeare for Kids (July 27 – August 6).
Providing operating support for the entire Festival are Season Sponsors Kathleen Kund Nolan and Timothy E. Nolan. Associate Season Sponsors are The Morning Call, Harry C. Trexler Trust, and Service Electric Cable TV and Communications. Director Sponsors are Linda Lapos and Paul Wirth.
Season tickets and single tickets are available by calling 610.282.WILL [9455] or online at pashakespeare.org.
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Directors’ Biographies
Patrick Mulcahy (PSF Producing Artistic Director; Hamlet, director) Since assuming leadership in 2003, Mr. Mulcahy has led PSF’s return to artistic excellence and financial stability, rebuilt the professional company of artists, and achieved increasing national recognition for the Festival. Further accomplishments include PSF’s first: ever award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and attracting a company of artists including winners and nominees of the Tony, Obie, Emmy, Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Jefferson, and Barrymore awards to the Festival, growth in all income areas, a 50% increase in annual attendance, and the expansion of the number of Actors’ Equity contracts per season.
As a professional director, actor and fight director, credits include Broadway, Off: Broadway, regional theatre, television, and radio. Mr. Mulcahy has acted with Angela Basset, Peter MacNicol, Hal Holbrook Joan Cusack, Don Cheadle, Anne Meara, Milo O’Shea, Cynthia Nixon, Tony Shaloub, Bradley Whitford, and others at the New York Shakespeare Festival, Hartford Stage, The Roundabout Theatre, Great Lakes Theatre Festival, Syracuse Stage, and the Walnut Street Theatre. He served as a fight director for Tom Hulse and Timothy Busfield in A Few Good Men on Broadway and for Off: Broadway productions starring John Savage, John Mahoney, Marcia Gay Harden, and Patrick Dempsey. He directed Oscar nominee Vera Farmiga in The Real Thing, and, for PSF, directed Antony and Cleopatra (2009), The Winter’s Tale (2007), Henry IV, Part I (2005), The Tempest (1999), and acted in and served as fight director for The Taming of the Shrew (1998) and Julius Caesar (1997). As Head of Acting at DeSales, Patrick directed ten productions for Act 1, including I Hate Hamlet, The Grapes of Wrath, The Foreigner, and The Diary of Anne Frank. He holds an M.F.A. from Syracuse University.
Erin Clare Hurley (Director, Pride and Prejudice and Sleeping Beauty; playwright, Shakespeare for Kids) is the Festival’s Education Director whose directing credits for the annual Linny Fowler WillPower Tour include: Hamlet (2010 and 2006), Julius Caesar, Much Ado, and Macbeth. She has directed the children’s productions for the past four years: Robin Hood, Cinderella, The Jungle Book, and Winnie the Pooh, along with The Green Show. Acting credits at PSF include Charmian in Antony and Cleopatra and Viola in Twelfth Night. She created the title role in Anne of Green Gables at People’s Light and Theatre Company in 2007 and received a Barrymore nomination for Outstanding Leading Actress. M.F.A.: Case Western Reserve University, B.A.: DeSales University.
Dennis Razze (Director, South Pacific) is the Festival’s associate artistic director who has directed all of the company’s musicals, including last season’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, 1776, My Fair Lady, and Man of LaMancha. Additional PSF directing credits include: Cyrano de Bergerac, Amadeus, and As You Like It, among others. He was the guest director of Lehigh University’s production of The Music Man at Zoellner Arts Center in 2003. He has also composed scores for PSF’s Cyrano de Bergerac, The Tempest, The Merry Wives of Windsor (1999), Twelfth Night, and others. He is Director of Theatre at DeSales University and recently directed Camelot. Mr. Razze was a founding member of PSF and has taught at DeSales University for 25 years.
Russell Treyz (Director, The Comedy of Errors) has directed numerous productions at PSF, including the 1992 inaugural season production of Romeo and Juliet. Additional PSF credits include The Taming of the Shrew (2007), Twelfth Night (1993), The Merchant of Venice (1994), School for Wives (1996), The Comedy of Errors (1997), Richard III (2000), Around the World in 80 Days (2005) and As You Like It (2006). Recent work: Buddy Holly Story (Riverside Theatre, Vero Beach, FL), Sleuth (Cape Playhouse, Dennis, MA), Trapezium, (Theater on Park, Hartford, Ct), The 39 Steps (Arts Center of Coastal Carolina), Measure for Pleasure (Florida Studio Theatre), and a short film: North of Providence (Winner Best of the Festival Award: Great Lakes Film Festival).
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Calendar Information
HAMLET
by William Shakespeare
Previews: July 20
Opens: July 22
Closes: August 7
Prices: $25 – $50
Director: Patrick Mulcahy
Scenic &Lighting Designer: Steve TenEyck
Costume Designer : Sam Fleming
Sound Designer: Matthew Given
Stage Manager: Hannah Woodward*
PRIDE & PREJUDICE
adapted by Jon Jory • from the novel
by Jane Austen • July 19 : August 7
Previews: July 19
Opens: July 21
Closes: August 7
Prices: $25 – $50
Director: Erin Hurley
Scenic & Lighting Designer: Steve TenEyck
Costume Designer : Sam Fleming
Sound Designer: Matthew Given
Stage Manager: Hannah Woodward*
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS
by William Shakespeare
Previews: June 22 & 23
Opens: June 24
Closes: July 17
Prices: $25 – $50
Director: Russell Treyz
Scenic Designer: Bob Phillips
Costume Designer: Marla Jurglanis
Lighting Designer: Thom Weaver
Sound Designer: Matthew Given
Stage Manager: Stacy Norwood*
SOUTH PACIFIC
book by Oscar Hammerstein II & Joshua Logan
music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Previews: June 15 & 16
Opens: June 17
Closes: July 3
Prices: $25 – $53
Director: Dennis Razze
Choreographer: Stephen Casey
Musical Director/Conductor: Nathan Diehl
Scenic Designer: Will Neuert
Costume Designer: Sam Fleming
Lighting Designer: Eric Haugen
Sound Designer: Matthew Given
Stage Manager: Robin Grady*
THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN
by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher
July 27 – August 7
Prices: $30 and $32
SLEEPING BEAUTY
by Michele L. Vacca
June 3 – August 6
Prices: Adults: $15, Children 12 and under: $11
Director: Erin Hurley
Scenic Designer: Bob Phillips
Costume Designer: Amy Best
Lighting Designer: Elizabeth Elliott
Sound Designer: Matthew Given
Stage Manager: Dane Urban
SHAKESPEARE FOR KIDS
by Erin Hurley
Director: Andrew Kane
July 27 – August 6
Prices: $9
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Media Contact:
Lisa Higgins
Director of Marketing & Public Relations
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival
Center Valley, PA 18034
p: 610-282-WILL, ext. 4 f: 610-282-2084
www.pashakespeare.org
Lisa.Higgins@desales.edu
