FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Tina Slak, 610.282.WILL [9455]
July 20, 2017 [email protected]
Center Valley, PA— Complete with sock puppets, sing-a-longs, and the Shakespeare Hokey-Pokey, Shakespeare For Kids written by Erin Sheffield opens at Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival July 26 and runs through August 5 on the Main Stage of the Labuda Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of DeSales University.
Ideal for children ages 4 to 10, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s production plays at 10AM Tuesday through Saturday through August 5.
“Shakespeare for Kids is a perfect piece of silliness peppered with poetry. I have been writing the series for nine years and I am continually amazed how beautifully Shakespeare’s text comes out of the mouths of sock puppets,” says Sheffield. “The play is 60 minutes of fun with Team Shakespeare and more than half of the time the words are all Shakespeare’s.”
With exciting new content every year, S4K is a high-energy one-hour production designed for children to actively experience Shakespeare’s vibrant language and characters. Using a combination of songs, puppets, and scenes from Shakespeare’s As You Like It, S4K provides families with the opportunity to introduce their children to Shakespeare in a welcoming, kid-friendly environment.
“As You Like It is a pastoral comedy about finding freedom and dressing in disguise: perfect fuel for a kids play,” says Sheffield. “Our aim is to spark imaginations, broaden vocabularies, and introduce kids to our fine friend William Shakespeare.”
The audience will be guided through Shakespeare’s popular and rollicking comedy by S4K’s Team Shakespeare: Andrew Goebel, Lara Notarianni, and Dan Tracy.
The show is directed by Matt Pfeiffer, who opens his production of Shakespeare’s As You Like It on the Main Stage Friday, July 20. The production runs in repertory with Ken Ludwig’s rollicking romp, The Three Musketeers.
Shakespeare for Kids is sponsored by Brenda & John McGlade. Co-sponsors are Crayola, The Junior League of the Lehigh Valley, and with partial support from Art Works, an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Performances on the Main Stage:
Wednesday, July 26 10AM
Thursday, July 27 10AM
Friday, July 28 10AM
Saturday, July 29 10AM
Tuesday, August 1 10AM
Wednesday, August 2 10AM
Thursday, August 3 10AM
Friday, August 4 10AM
Saturday, August 5 10AM
Single tickets are $9.50 for children and $10.50 for adults; group discounts are available.
The Festival’s 26th season also includes: The Ice Princess (Now – August 5); The Three Musketeers in repertory with As You Like It (Now – August 6);and Troilus and Cressida (July 26-August 6).
There will also be a one-night only concert with Broadway star Dee Roscioli who recently played the role of Eva Peron in PSF’s highly lauded and sold-out production of Evita. Join Dee for an eclectic evening of Broadway, pop hits, and new original work; on the Main Stage, Monday, July 31 at 7:30pm. Tickets are $38.
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.
For tickets, contact PSF at 610-282-WILL[9445], ext. 1, or www.pashakespeare.org.
PATRICK MULCAHY (Producing Artistic Director) Since assuming leadership in 2003, Mulcahy has led PSF’s return to artistic excellence and financial stability, built the professional company of artists, oversaw the quadrupling of the endowment, and achieved increasing national recognition for the Festival. Further accomplishments include PSF’s first-ever awards 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 75% 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. Mulcahy has acted with Angela Bassett, 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, Roundabout Theatre Company, Great Lakes Theatre Festival, Syracuse Stage, and the Walnut St. 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 Julius Caesar (2016), Macbeth (2014), Hamlet (2011), 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). Also head of acting at DeSales, Patrick holds an MFA from Syracuse University.
MATT PFEIFFER (Director) is a Philly born actor and director who is thrilled to be back at PSF for his 19th season. Some previous PSF directing credits include; The Taming of the Shrew, Henry V, Two Gentlemen of Verona, and The 39 Steps. Recent credits include; A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Arden), Hand to God (Philadelphia Theatre Company), and Constellations (Gulfshore Playhouse). Other Credits; InterAct, Walnut St, 1812 Productions, Lantern, Delaware Theatre Co., Orlando Shakespeare, UArts, and UPenn’s Mask and Wig. Matt is a twelve-time Barrymore nominee and winner, for his direction of The Whale and The Invisible Hand (Theatre Exile). He’s also a recipient of the F. Otto Haas Award. Matt is a proud grad DeSales University.
ERIN SHEFFIELD (Playwright) S4K is also produced annually at the Atlanta Shakespeare Festival. Directing at PSF: Pride and Prejudice, Rapunzel, and 20 assorted Children’s shows, WillPower Tours and Green Shows. Erin was the Education Director at PSF 2006-2011, has taught at DeSales and directed for Act 1. Member of Actors’ Equity Association. Favorite roles: Viola in Twelfth Night at PSF, Anne of Green Gables (Barrymore nomination) People’s Light where she is the Executive Associate. MFA: Case Western Reserve University/Cleveland Play House, BA: DeSales University.
Artist bios (alphabetical order):
ANDREW GOEBEL (Self) PSF: Sweeney Todd, Beauty and the Beast, Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth, Oklahoma!, Measure for Measure, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. NYC: Beardo, Summertime, Shelter, We Will Always Talk This Way, The High Cost of Loving, Platonov. He is also a resident company member of the Flea Theater.
LARA NOTARIANNI (Self) recently graduated from DeSales with a BA in Theatre. Select DSU credits: Charley’s Aunt, Young Frankenstein and Peter Pan. She has served as PSF’s Assistant House Manager and Casting Intern.
DAN TRACY (Self): National Tour: Once; Off-Broadway: Clown Bar (NY Times Critics’ Pick, NYIT Award nominee), Ivy + Bean, Byuioo; Regional: Hudson Valley Shakespeare, Nebraska Shakespeare; Film: Lifetime’s Little Women. Pipeline Theatre Company ensemble member. B.F.A. Creighton University.