Our hearts go out to the members of Kingsmen Shakespeare Company who are mourning the unexpected death of John Slade. John was directing this summer's production of JULIUS CAESAR set to open July 21st. The show will go on with the festival's founder stepping in to bring his colleague's vision to the stage.
This would have been Slade's fourth time directing a Kingsmen production. He began by directing HENRY V in 2004. An integral part of the company, he also acted in many of the festival's plays, including the title role in KING LEAR in 2007.
Slade had a varied career as a director, stage and screen actor, teacher, musician and writer. His started out more than 40 years ago at the University of Michigan, where he and classmate Gilda Radner founded a repertory company that juxtaposed drama, comedy and music. In recent years, the former Nordhoff High School English and theater arts teacher toured the country performing his one-man concert play, WALT WHITMAN, LIVE. He earned many awards for writing, directing and acting from Drama-Logue, Drama Circle, Valley Theatre League and other organizations.
JULIUS CAESAR is the second and final production of the festival's 21st season. The political tragedy will be presented at 8 p.m. July 21 through 23, July 28 through 30, and Aug. 4 through 6 in Kingsmen Park on the Thousand Oaks campus of California Lutheran University. The Kingsmen Shakespeare Company is the professional theater company of Cal Lutheran.Photo credit: Brian Stethem
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