Utah Shakespeare Festival's Educational Tour Presents A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM at Correctional Facility, 1/23

For 15 years the Utah Shakespeare Festival has produced the Shakespeare-in-the-Schools touring program for schools, community centers and correctional facilities across the Western United States. Every year, before hitting the road, this educational outreach program performs a private preview show for the students of Foothill High School at the Iron County Youth Correctional Facility.

On January 23, the 2012 touring company will perform for these students a seventy-five minute version of Shakespeare’s magical love story A Midsummer Night's Dream, including complete costumes, sets, and theatrical lighting. Also included is a fifteen-minute post-show discussion
with the actors.

The goal of the educational tour is to present an exciting new production of a classic Shakespeare
play in a way that helps students relate to the characters and the story. “The Shakespeare-in-the-
Schools outreach program is a great opportunity to expose students, sometimes for the first time,
to the works of William Shakespeare,” said Director Melinda Pfundstein.

From January to April, the Utah Shakespeare Festival will take its Shakespeare-in-the-Schools
touring production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream to more than 25,000 students in four western
states. The tour will spend 14 weeks on the road visiting schools, community centers and correctional facilities across Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and Idaho with over 60 performances in 120
schools.

Professionals from virtually all over the country are scheduled to perform. This ten-person group
serves as both the acting company and technical crew for each production, with seven actors, a
stage manager, a technical director, and a company manager. They include Ron Thomas, who
was in the Festival’s 2011 production of Noises Off!. Thomas will play Demetrius, Bottom
and Pyramus. Also part of the Festival’s 2011 company, Jennifer Whipple joins the tour as
Hermia, Snug and Cobweb. Kristen Henley, who is touring for the second time, will assume the
role of Puck and Egeus. Will Mobley, a graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design,
will play Lysander, Flute, Thisbe and Mustardseed. An alumni of Utah Valley University,
Jeremy Minagro has joined the tour to play Oberon and Theseus. Christina Flynn, who received
her graduate degree in acting from Wayne State University, will assume the role of Titania,
Hippolyta and Peter Quince. Anatasha Blakely, a graduate of Southern Utah University, will play
Helena, Snout and Peaseblossom.

Working as company manager for the third time will be Joshua Midgett, who received his degree
in economics and theatre from Keene State University. Also returning to the tour as the technical
director is Eliot Garfield, who is currently the master electrician at American Players Theatre in
Spring Green, Wisconsin. Nikki Lalonde, who was part of the 2011 Festival stage management
team, will assume the role of tour stage manager.

In addition to support from the Shakespeare for a New Generation program sponsored by the
National Endowment for the Arts, the tour is sponsored by the Utah State Office of Education,
Mountain West Small Business Finance, and UBS Bank.

A complete tour schedule will be on the education page of the Festival website by the end of
January.

To post a comment, you must register and login.