Richmond Shakespeare Festival Opens Summer Season with MERRy WIVES OF WINDSOR and CYMBELINE

Richmond Shakespeare Festival to open its 2017 Summer Season with The Merry Wives of Windsor and Cymbeline!

Poisonous queens, mischievous letters, jealous lovers, mysterious identities: Richmond Shakespeare Festival is back and preparing to light up Wayne County's summer season.

Presenting The Merry Wives of Windsor and Cymbeline as a dynamic pairing in rotating repertory, the productions will be created by a brilliant cast and crew of AEA and non-AEA professionals, college-age interns, and volunteers sourced from as far as New York City and as near as Richmond itself.

Opening this summer's season is The Merry Wives of Windsor - a raucous ride of tomfoolery, wit, and plenty of pranks. Two wealthy wives and are wooed by the ridiculous Falstaff - caught out in his try for their husband's money by sending identical love letters to them both. When they decide to teach him an unforgettable lesson, merry madness ensues. Set in a Midwestern hunting lodge and attuned to modern sensibilities, director Kristin Clippard calls it a "flat-out comedy" relatable to any era.

Alternating performances with the same cast is Shakespeare's Cymbeline -a haunting fairy tale of battles, intrigue, and jealousy. The stakes are life and death as lovers test their loyalty to each other and to their king. Starring Actor's Equity Association member Joe Vincent as Cybeline, RSF brings an esteemed artist to one of the few plays of Shakespeare's canon in which he has never appeared.

Leading this company and directing Cymbeline is Producing Artistic Director, Patrick Flick, also Executive Director of the international Shakespeare Theatre Association. On visiting Richmond, he says "Anytime is a good time to come to Richmond, but the summer is really the best. Come see some of the only Shakespeare being produced right here in beautiful Wayne County. We're an hour and change from Cincinnati and Indianapolis, and even closer to Dayton and other surrounding communities."

The Festival performs in the Starr-Gennett Pavilion in the beautiful Whitewater Gorge Park at 201 S. First Street in Richmond Indiana. Tickets are available online at www.richmondshakes.org, or by calling 765.373.9022.