HVSF's 2015 Season to Include THE WINTER'S TALE, AN ILLIAD & More

As the 2014 season draws to an end, Davis McCallum, Artistic Director of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival (HVSF) gave friends and fans something to look forward to when he announced the 2015 season at a special Sneak Peak event on Saturday evening. Noting that the pieces that he has chosen share in the deep belief in the magic of storytelling, McCallum announced that the 2015 productions will be The Winter's Tale, A Midsummer Night's Dream, An Iliad by Lisa Peterson and Dennis O'Hare, and a fourth, soon to be revealed production. "Each of these pieces aims to transport the audience with the simplest and most powerful of theatrical means - language, wit, movement, commitment, and passion," he told the assembled crowd.

This will be first season curated by McCallum who joined HVSF in May. Making his directorial debut at HVSF, McCallum will direct The Winter's Tale. Eric Tucker, who directed Two Gentlemen of Verona this season, will return in 2015 to direct A Midsummer Night's Dream. Lisa Peterson and Dennis O'Hare's one-man play An Iliad will be directed by newcomer to HVSF Gaye Taylor Upchurch and will feature HVSF veteran actor Kurt Rhoads. In addition to the four "mainstage" productions, McCallum announced that HVSF's training program for early-career actors will be re-titled the HVSF Conservatory Company. The Conservatory Company, under the leadership of new Associate Artistic Director Sean McNall, will present a production of The Tempest, directed by Jim Calder, Master Teacher and head of Movement at NYU's Graduate Acting program. With a focus on outreach, the production will be designed to tour other venues throughout the Hudson Valley. Casting of the productions will be announced at a later date.

At the event, McCallum also lauded Executive Director Maggie Whitlum who announced that she will leave HVSF at the end of the current season. Whitlum, who has been the Executive Director since 2011, will return to England to rejoin her husband, who recently accepted a post at Oxford University.

Davis McCallum (Artistic Director) Davis McCallum's recent productions in New York include The Whale (Playwrights Horizons; Lucille Lortel Award for Best Play; Calloway Nomination for Best Director), Water by the Spoonful (Second Stage; Pulitzer Prize for Drama); February House (Public Theater; Outer Critics Circle Nomination for Best Musical); and London Wall (Mint Theater; Drama Desk and Lortel Nominations for Best Revival). His extensive background with Shakespeare and the classics includes productions at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Guthrie Theater, the Old Globe, The Pearl Theater Company, and the American Shakespeare Center, as well as four productions for The Acting Company, the country's preeminent classical touring theater. A graduate of Princeton, he studied Shakespeare at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and trained as a director at LAMDA. He has taught Acting and Directing at Princeton and The New School for Drama.

Eric Tucker - Most recent director credits include: Saint Joan (NY Times, Backstage Magazine Critics' Pick; Best Revival 2012, Wall Street Journal), Hamlet (Time Out NY and Backstage Critics' Pick), Tina Packer's Women of Will: The Overview and Women of Will: The Complete Journey (Judson), The Libertine (The Kirk), The Belle of Belfast (Cherry Lane), The Libertine (Boston Center for the Arts, Bridge Rep; IRNE nomination, Best Director). Eric received his MFA from the Trinity Rep Conservatory. He is Artistic Director of Bedlam.

Gaye Taylor Upchurch - At the Atlantic Theater (NYC): Simon Stephens's Harper Regan with Mary McCann; Simon Stephens's Bluebird with Simon Russell Beale. Other Off-Broadway: Laura Marks's Bethany with America Ferrera (Women's Project, Lortel nomination for Best New Play and Best Actress); Lucy Thurber's Stay (Rattlestick Theater). Regional: Bethany (Old Globe, San Diego); She Loves Me (UNCSA). Her work has been seen at the Culture Project, La Mama, and Lincoln Center Institute among others, and she has developed new work at New Dramatists, Playwrights Realm, New York Stage & Film, The Kennedy Center, Playwright's Center, LCT Director's Lab, and SPACE on Ryder Farm. She worked with Sam Mendes as his Associate Director for two years on The Bridge Project's productions of The Cherry Orchard, The Winter's Tale, The Tempest, and As You Like It (BAM/Old Vic/International tour). She is an alumna of the Women's Project Directors Lab and The Drama League.

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