STAGE TUBE: First Look at Kingsmen Shakespeare Company's ANTONY & CLEOPATRA

Shakespeare's classic historical tragedy will be performed at 8 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from today, July 18 through August 3 in scenic Kingsmen Park at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. The festival grounds open at 5:30 p.m. for picnicking and pre-show entertainment begins at 6:25 p.m. Watch a trailer for this Shakespearean classic here!

The play focuses on the great love story of the Egyptian queen Cleopatra and the Roman general Marc Antony. The Kingsmen production, under the direction of award-winning director and actor John Slade of Ojai, is set in the fascist world of the 1930s amid the clash of cultures and a treacherous world of shifting alliances.

A Kingsmen festival regular, Slade directed his own adaptation of "King Henry IV" in 2008 and "King Henry V" in 2004. He played the drunken butler in "The Tempest," Friar Laurence in "Romeo and Juliet" and the title role in "King Lear." This summer, he is concurrently performing his full-length concert play, "I Sing Walt Whitman," throughout the country. His theater career began more than 40 years ago as a student at the University of Michigan, where he and classmate Gilda Radner founded a repertory company that juxtaposed drama, comedy and music.

The Kingsmen Shakespeare Company is the professional theater company of CLU. In addition to producing one of the area's most popular outdoor theatrical events, it provides apprentice programs, an educational tour program and summer youth theater camps.

Guests should bring low-back lawn chairs or blankets to sit on and dress warmly. Admission is $20 for adults and free for those under 18. For information or advance lawn box reservations, call 805-493-3014 or visit http://www.kingsmenshakespeare.org.

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