Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival Announces Powerful 2017 Season

Artistic Director Davis McCallum and Managing Director Kate Liberman of Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival (HVSF) have announced an innovative slate of productions - including two new plays - for the Festival's 2017 summer season, running in repertory June 8 through September 4.

"With Shakespeare as our inspiration as well as our resident playwright, HVSF will explore the intersection of the past and the present: telling timeless stories that speak powerfully to our world today," says McCallum. "We're presenting world premieres of a pair of brand new plays, alongside a pair of Shakespearean masterpieces, as well as the first major revival of Richard Nelson's 1996 play about an unforgettable chapter of Hudson Valley history. At the heart of each of these plays is a story about love - of comrades and friends, of family, of country, of romantic enchantments and unspeakable longing. We hope that our 2017 season will make actors and audience fall in love all over again with the magic of outdoor theater."

McCallum will direct Lauren Gunderson's THE BOOK OF WILL, one of two world premieres by female playwrights under the HVSF Theater Tent this season. Gunderson's gleefully irreverent play, originally commissioned by The Denver Theater Company at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, tells the mostly-true story of how Shakespeare's comrades rescued and preserved his work by publishing the First Folio in 1623, seven years after his death. More than a play about the Folio, it is a story about camaraderie among friends and courage in the face of loss; a universal narrative for all to appreciate and a gripping origin story for Shakespeare aficionados. McCallum will direct a production of the play at the Denver Center in January before bringing a rolling world premiere to HVSF for the summer. Named among American Theater Magazine's Top 20 Most-Produced Playwrights in America (2016-17), second only to August Wilson, Gunderson was the recipient of the 2016 Lanford Wilson and 2014 Steinberg/ATCA New Play awards.

The second world premiere of the season is a new adaptation of Jane Austen's PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, by HVSF fan favorite Kate Hamill. Hamill, whose runaway hit SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (NYC's Bedlam Theater Company) received one of its earliest readings as part of the Festival's HVSF2 series in 2015, puts a thoroughly modern spin on Austen's classic tale. Exploring the societal expectations for women of England's landed gentry, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE sparkles with Austen's signature wit, sensuality, and humor. Elizabeth Bennet and the charming Mr. Darcy will settle effortlessly into their new summer home adjacent to the Regency-era Boscobel Mansion, constructed as Austen's classic novel was being written. A director will be announced at a later date.

Shakespeare's enchanting comedy TWELFTH NIGHT will receive a full-season run, directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel (recent TONY nominee for Broadway's HAND TO GOD). Bursting at the seams with longing, revelry, and music, TWELFTH NIGHT is the perfect summertime entertainment - a large-cast comic masterpiece featuring new and returning HVSF fan favorites. Von Stuelpnagel is slated to direct a Broadway revival of PRESENT LAUGHTER starring Kevin Kline in the Spring of 2017. He previously directed ALL IS CALM for HVSF in 2014.

HVSF will launch HVStories -- a new series focusing on the history, people, and culture of the Hudson Valley -- with Richard Nelson's THE GENERAL FROM AMERICA, directed by Penny Metropulos. With a cast of characters including this year's hottest founding father, Alexander Hamilton, as well as President George Washington, Nelson's riveting retelling of Benedict Arnold's infamous defection and flight from West Point will be right at home under the HVSF Theater Tent at Boscobel, which overlooks the military academy's campus. HVSF will partner with the Putnam History Museum and other regional organizations during the run of THE GENERAL FROM AMERICA to offer related experiential programming. The Festival has identified a heavy-hitting team in Nelson - Tony, OBIE, and Drama Desk Award winner - and Metropulos, former Associate Artistic Director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. Nelson, a Rhinebeck resident, also wrote the screenplay for "Hyde Park on Hudson" starring Bill Murray and Laura Linney. His trio of plays about the Gabriel's is currently running at The Public Theater in New York.

Also new for HVSF's 2017 season is a partnership with New York's The Acting Company. The Acting Company's Artistic Director, Ian Belknap, will direct LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST featuring HVSF's Conservatory Company, an intensive training program for early-career actors. Following its run at HVSF, Belknap will take LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST on tour to New York City schools with The Acting Company, expanding HVSF's reach to an even broader audience and providing additional professional development experience for its actors.

THE BOOK OF WILL, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, and THE GENERAL FROM AMERICA were each read in past seasons of the Festival's HVSF2 series, which will continue in 2017. Details will be announced at a later date. Casting for all shows will be announced in the New Year and season tickets will go on sale in March.

About Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival

Celebrating its 31st season in 2017, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival (HVSF) is a critically acclaimed (The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal), professional, non-profit theater company based in Garrison, NY, one hour north of Manhattan. HVSF was named among The New York Times' 50 Essential Summer Festivals in 2016, was Hudson Valley Magazine's 2016 Editors' Pick for Best Summer Theater, and was nominated for a Drama League Award for its 2015 production of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. The Festival has established a reputation for lucid, engaging, and highly inventive productions featuring exceptional industry talent and a backdrop of stunning vistas overlooking the Hudson River at historic Boscobel House and Gardens.

Each year, its productions attract a total audience of more than 35,000 from the Hudson Valley, New York City, and beyond, including New Jersey, Connecticut, and 40 other states, and regularly achieve over 80% capacity under its open-air Theater Tent. HVSF also takes the magic of Shakespeare and live theater throughout the tri-state region by touring limited runs of fan favorites through its HVSF On The Road series and by bringing student-oriented productions and education programs to nearly 50,000 elementary, middle, and high school students and educators each year. HVSF's acclaimed arts education programs also include training for early-career theater artists by way of its Conservatory Company, professional development for educators, and free audience engagement offerings before and after performances throughout the summer. HVSF's mission is to engage the widest possible audience in a fresh conversation about what is essential in Shakespeare's plays. The company's theater lives in the here and now, at the intersection of the virtuosity of the actor, the imagination of the audience, and the inspiration of the text. For more information about Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, visit hvshakespeare.org.

Photo credit: T. Charles Erickson

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