Opening the 2021 season at the Utah Shakespeare Festival was a year in the making after the 2020 season was canceled because of COVID-19. After a joyous official opening night on June 24 of “The Greenshow” and Shakespeare’s “Pericles” in the outdoor Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre, other shows opened over the week that followed.
They were Shakespeare’s “Richard III” and “The Comedy of Errors,” also in the Engelstad, and the musicals “The Pirates of Penzance and Ragtime” in the indoor Randall L. Jones Theatre. “Cymbeline” and “Intimate Apparel in the Anes Studio Theatre, and “The Comedy of Errors” in the Randall are set to open July 19, 20, and 30, respectively.
Executive producer Frank Mack and artistic director Brian Vaughn express heartfelt thanks to patrons, donors, company members, and others for making this season happen. This season is dedicated to Festival Founder Fred C. Adams, who passed away in 2020, and to his vision, friendship, and memory. A celebration of his life is being planned for later this summer.
“The confluence of many circumstances and overcoming great odds have combined to make 2021 a special season—celebrating sixty years of great professional theatre in beautiful Cedar City, honoring our visionary founder who made all this possible, and producing shows for our wonderful audiences, by our amazing artists, after a year-long hiatus,” says Mack.
“This will be a season not to be missed, seeing Shakespeare under the stars and being back together after a year apart,” Vaughn says. “It will be filled with celebration and reconciliation, humanity and healing, reunion and reflection.”
The season will run through October 9 in three theatres. Tickets are $23 to $85 and are on sale now: go to the Festival website at bard.org, call 800-PLAYTIX, or visit the Ticket Office onsite at the Beverley Center for the Arts, home to the Utah Shakespeare Festival.