Casts Announced for Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival 2023 Summer Season

The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival has announced casting for their 2023 Season.

The season will begin with Henry V written by William Shakespeare and directed by Davis McCallum. Performances will begin on Wednesday May 31, with opening night set for Sunday June 4. Henry V will play in rep with Love's Labor's Lost through August 21.

The cast for Henry V will include the previously announced Emily Ota* in the title role, along with Duane Boutte*, Timothy Bright CC, Carl Howell*, Lennon Hu CC, Phoebe Lloyd CC, Melissa Mahoney*, Sean McNall*, Francis Pace-Nunez CC, Luis Quintero*, Kurt Rhoads*, Mayadevi Ross CC, Omar Shafiuzzaman*, Stephen Michael Spencer* and Nance Williamson*.

Henry V will feature scenic design by Sandra Goldmark, costume design by Anya Klepikov, sound design and compositions by Fitz Patton and properties by Buffy Cardoza. Susannah Millonzi serves as movement director. The stage manager will be Jo Fernandez*.

This Shakespearean epic follows a charismatic warrior King and his cohort through the brutality of warfare, as the ragtag band confronts heavy opposition and their own destinies in an aggressive pursuit of the French crown. The play's central question - What kind of leadership would it take to forge a resilience and unified band of brothers and sisters from a fractious and anxious group of individuals? - resonates with fresh urgency in our contemporary world.

The season will continue with Love's Labor's Lost, written by William Shakespeare and directed by Amanda Dehnert and featuring original music by Amanda Dehnert and Andre Pleuss. Performances are set to begin on Wednesday July 12, with opening night set for Saturday July 15. Love's Labor's Lost will play in rep with Henry V through August 27.

The cast for Love's Labor's Lost will include Duane Boutte*, Timothy Bright CC, Carl Howell*, Lennon Hu CC, Phoebe Lloyd CC, Melissa Mahoney*, Sean McNall*, Emily Ota*, Francis Pace-Nunez CC, Luis Quintero*, Kurt Rhoads*, Mayadevi Ross CC, Omar Shafiuzzaman*, Stephen Michael Spencer* and Nance Williamson*.

Love's Labor's Lost will feature lighting design by Reza Behjat, sound design by Ken Travis, and properties by Buffy Cardoza. The production features original music by Amanda Dehnert and Andre Pleuss.

Four young noblemen absent themselves from society, in order to focus entirely on their studies. They even take a monastic oath: No girls! All books! But when the Princess of France turns up with three young ladies, how long will the men's resolve hold up? Director Amanda Dehnert (Pride and Prejudice) infuses Shakespeare's delightful comedy with an original pop/rock score (by Dehnert and Andre Pleuss) that gives full voice to the heart-pounding experience of being young and in love.

The season will conclude with the World Premiere of Penelope, with music & lyrics by Alex Bechtel, a book by Alex Bechtel, Grace McLean, & Eva Steinmetz, and directed by Eva Steinmetz. Performances will begin on Saturday September 2, with opening night set for Sunday September 3. Penelope will play through September 17.

Penelope will feature Tatiana Wechsler* as Penelope, with Christine Bokhour* serving as the Penelope understudy.

Penelope will feature costume design by Rebecca Kanach and lighting design by Oona Curley. The show will feature orchestrations and arrangements by composer Alex Bechtel. Daniel Kelly will serve as music director.

A re-imagining of the story of The Odyssey from the point of view of a character often relegated to the margins of the story, Penelope is a musical love letter to all those who wait: For someone they love. For something they believe in. And hope that the wait will end well. An intimate and explosive music theater piece, Penelope invites the audience to join in a ritual act of storytelling to release the pent-up grief, anger, love and longing that are so familiar after the last three years. Penelope was developed, in part, through the Founders' Club Residency as part of the Orchard Project (Ari Edelson, Artistic Director.)

*denotes member of Actors' Equity Association

CC denotes member of the HVSF Conservatory Company

Additional cast and creative team members will be announced in the coming weeks.

In addition, on Earth Day 2023, together with Processional Arts Workshop, HVSF will host the second annual Highland Lights, a community celebration of art and nature, at their new home in Garrison. Highland Lights invites neighbors to create collaborative works during free public lantern-making workshops and culminates in a spectacular outdoor procession of lights and lanterns on April 22.

HVSF will also present a series of developmental readings as part of its HVSF2 series. The series will include Medea: Re-Versed by Luis Quintero and directed by Nathan Winkelstein; The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Heidi Armbruster and directed by Ryan Quinn.

HVSF will also produce an HVSF Educational Tour of William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet directed by Emma Went which will be available to regional middle and high schools from March 20 - April 28, 2023.

This will be HVSF's second season on the grounds of its new home in Garrison, NY, using its pre-existing temporary theater tent while plans are still underway for construction of a permanent open-air theater venue. HVSF has engaged a team of experts including Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects, Jeanne Gang + Studio Gang, and Fisher Dachs Associates Theater Consultants to lead the design process of the performance space and surrounding land. Audiences will continue to experience the company's signature open-air productions and pre-show picnicking on the grounds.

ABOUT HUDSON VALLEY SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL

Founded in 1987, 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. The Festival has established a reputation for lucid, engaging, and highly inventive productions staged in rotating repertory under an iconic, open-air theater tent overlooking the Hudson River. In recent years, the Festival has also ventured beyond the tent, touring its work to other venues throughout the Hudson Valley as part of its HVSF On the Road series, transferring productions to other theaters, engaging its community through radically participatory art-making, and reaching over 50,000 students and educators annually through its year-round Education programs. HVSF began performances at its first permanent home in 2022.

Rooted in the landscape of the Hudson Valley, with the plays of William Shakespeare as their touchstone, HVSF engages the widest possible audience in a theatrical celebration of our shared humanity.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

WWW.HVSHAKESPEARE.ORG

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