Photo Flash: Westbrook Shakespeare Festival

Acorn Productions, presenters of the popular "Naked Shakespeare" series, announces plans for the first annuAl Westbrook Shakespeare Festival, to take place May 14 to 23 at Riverbank Park in Westbrook. The Westbrook Shakespeare Festival will feature 2 different outdoor productions by Naked Shakespeare actors in repertory over 2 weekends. The featured presentation is As You Like It, directed by Michael Howard, which will be presented as a full-length production Friday through Sunday evening at 5:30 p.m. As You Like It is a classic comedy of disguise, in which Rosalind, one of Shakespeare's strongest female characters, dresses as a man when she is exiled to the forest of Arden along with her cousin Celia. Theater-goers are invited to bring a picnic or purchase a fresh taste of the old Southwest from the event's sponsor, the Blue Burrito, who will be doing concessions for the performances. Acorn's production of Shakespeare's classic tragedy Romeo and Juliet, directed by Karen Ball, will be shown weekend afternoons at 2 p.m. This heart-breaking tale of teenage love has been substantially abridged to run about 90-minutes and is the final project of the Young Actors Shakespeare Conservatory, a training program for local teen actors that began meeting in the fall of 2009. Admission to all performances at the Westbrook Shakespeare Festival is free, with a $5 suggested donation for Romeo and Juliet and $10 for As You Like It. More information about this event is available at Acorn's website www.acorn-productions.org.

Benedetto Robinson and Grania Power in Romeo and Juliet

Benedetto Robinson and Grania Power in Romeo and Juliet

Keith Anctil and Laura Graham in As You Like I

Keith Anctil and Laura Graham in As You Like I