The Utah Shakespeare Festival's fall season made casting easy with its two productions, Forever Plaid and The Compleat Works of Wllm. Shkspre (Abridged), running Sept. 16-Oct. 16. USF will keep three Compleat Workers, Brian Vaughn, Michael Fitzpatrick and Gregory Ivan Smith and add a fourth, Jered Tanner, to complete the two casts.

Serving as ensemble members of Compleat Works, a whirlwind comedy that boasts a performance of all 37 of Shakespeare's plays and the sonnets in 97 minutes, Vaughn, Fitzpatrick and Smith will also play the fictional '60's singing quartet, Forever Plaid, who are killed in a freak bus accident but given the chance to return to earth to sing one last time. Fitzpatrick plays the Plaid's lead singer, Francis; Vaughn, the worrier, Smudge; Smith, the clown, Sparky with Tanner as his shy stepbrother, Sparky.

The USF is especially proud of the two productions because they inaugurate the company's first-ever fall season. USF's two outdoor theatres generally play only June-August. Next summer's crop includes The Merchant of Venice, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The War of the Roses (Shakespeare's three Henry VI plays), Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, Michael Frayn's farce Noises Off and a non musical Peter Pan.

Tickets are $30-$16 and are available by calling (800) PLAYTIX. All performances are at the Randall L. Jones Theatre. The Utah Shakespeare Festival is located on the web at http://www.bard.org.

-- By Christine Ehren & David Lefkowitz