TWELFTH NIGHT and THE TAMING OF THE SHREW to Play Griffith Park Shakespeare Festival 2014

Independent Shakespeare Co. (ISC) returns to the Old Zoo at Griffith Park for the 2014 season for itsGRIFFITH PARK FREE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL with two plays by William Shakespeare: TWELFTH NIGHT and THE TAMING OF THE SHREW.

Comments Artistic Director Melissa Chalsma, "We're delighted to have reached our 10th Anniversary season bringing free Shakespeareperformances to Los Angeles city parks! We're celebrating with a joyful season. TWELFTH NIGHT is one of the great works of the theater: an extraordinary treatise on the power of love. THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, wildly popular with audiences, is an opportunity to highlight our performers' skill with physical theater and our anarchic sensibilities. Both productions will feature plenty of live music. We'll be making a lots of happy noise this summer in Griffith Park."

Managing Director David Melville adds, "It's an amazing milestone to have reached our 10th year of free performances. Over that time, we've built a wonderful audience base. When we opened our first production in Barnsdall Park, we fell in love with doing the summer season. But we never dreamed it would grow beyond a couple hundred people a night. Last summer, we performed for over 43,000 people and next year we'll be performing on a permanent structure that will house not only our festival but Symphony In The Glen performances. We're looking forward to the next ten years, and beyond!"

In addition to the performances, ISC will again offer family education workshops on select evenings. Players in the Park/Teatristas en el parque (PIP) workshops are an interactive, energetic way for families to learn about the evening's performance. Led by ISC teaching artists, families will learn about the play, explore Shakespeare's language, take a backstage tour, and try out how it feels on the ISC stage. All workshops are offered in both English and Spanish.

Also returning this season is the Salon Series, discussions led by experts on topics related to Shakespeare as well as Festival Arts Partners, curtain-raising performances by local musicians and dancers.

Specific dates for performances, education workshops and special events will be released this spring.

GRIFFITH PARK FREE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL runs June 26 through August 31. All Performances are FREE! The festival is located in The Old Zoo at Griffith Park (near 4730 Crystal Spring Dr.) GPS Coordinates of the parking area: 34*8.034'N, 118* 17.100'W Visit www.iscla.org or call (818) 710-6306 for directions and information.

INDEPENDENT SHAKESPEARE CO. (ISC) was founded in 1998. We have been producing accessible, imaginative performances of classical plays since that time. Our first performances were located on the Lower East Side of New York City. The stripped down production style of our early productions enabled us to travel easily and we quickly found ourselves touring Europe, ending with an invitation to perform our production of Macbeth for four weeks at The King's Head Theatre in London. In 2001 we relocated to Los Angeles and -- with the support of the Department of Recreation and Parks and the Department of Cultural Affairs -- founded Free Shakespeare in Barnsdall Park, in 2004. Because of audience demand, in 2010 we moved to the significantly larger venue at the Old Zoo and re-christened the summer season the Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival. 2014 is our 10th anniversary of performing free Shakespeare in Los Angeles City parks. The growth in attendance is extraordinary: our first season played to fewer than 1,000 people; by 2013 over 43,000 people came to Griffith Park for 40 nights of free classical theater productions. In 2012, we expanded our offerings with our indoor performance space, Independent Co. Studio where we present original work, re-imagined stagings of classics, readings and classes.

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