Colorado Shakespeare Festival begins its summer 2000 season June 30 with Twelfth Night, presented in the outdoor 1,000-seat Mary Rippon Theatre on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder.
Mark Harrison directs the comedy, through Aug. 19. It moves to the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheatre in Vail, CO, Aug. 24-26.
July 1 marks the opening of Shakespeare's political tragedy, Julius Caesar, directed by Patrick Kelly, continuing to Aug. 20 at the Rippon.
Henry V opens July 8 under the direction of James Symons, at the Rippon. Michael Huftile, who was Prince Hal in Henry IV last season at CSF, plays Henry. Performances continue to Aug. 18.
The Tempest opens July 9 and continues to Aug. 18 at festival's 400-seat indoor venue, the University Theatre. Gavin Cameron-Webb directs. The festival is sponsored by Blue Mountain Arts.
Tickets are $14-$40. For information, call the box office at (303) 492 0554 or visit the web site at www.coloradoshakes.com.
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According to the CSF web site:
• Now in its 43rd Season, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival (CSF) is a professional, Equity Guest Artist and non-Equity summer theatre festival.
• Begun in 1958 with productions of Julius Caesar, Hamlet and The Taming of a Shrew, the CSF now presents four full-scale productions each summer; three plays on the picturesque, 1,000-seat Greek-style Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre and one in the 400-seat indoor, proscenium University Theatre, both located on the grounds of the University of Colorado (which locally is known as "CU Boulder").
• With Cymbeline in 1975, the CSF became the seventh theatre in the world to complete the entire Shakespearean canon of 37 plays.
• The CSF draws over 40,000 audience members each season, 10 percent from outside the state of Colorado.
• The annual budget for the CSF is over $1 million, 78 percent of which is earned through box office receipts and other sales revenues. The remainder of the budget is subsidized by corporate partnerships, foundations, university and government grants, and individual contributions.
• Each summer CSF hires four directors, approximately 40 actors, nine designers, and over 150 production personnel. Including the administrative staff, apprentices, interns, and volunteers, the entire CSF company numbers well over 200.
-- By Kenneth Jones
