David Ivers News

Utah Shakespeare Festival Artistic Directors David Ivers and Brian Vaughn recently announced a slate of ten highly-creative, talented and experienced directors for the Festival's 2017 season.

R. Scott Phillips, executive director of the Utah Shakespeare Festival, has announced his plan to retire at the end of the Festival's 2016 season.  He will continue with the Festival through March 1, 2017 to ensure a smooth and successful transition for his successor.

The Utah Shakespeare Festival has announced a new name, an increased commitment, and an enhanced mission, for its new plays program. Formerly known as the New American Playwrights Project (NAPP), the Festival primary vehicle for exploring new works will now be a new program, Words3.

Today, Berkeley Repertory Theatre revealed that Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' Obie Award- winning play, An Octoroon, will be the seventh and final production in its upcoming 2016-17 subscription season. The West Coast premiere of the reworking of the mid-19th-century play will be performed in the Peet's Theatre in June 2017.

The Utah Shakespeare Festival has been selected as one of three theatres to present the United States premiere of the play Shakespeare in Love, adapted from the Academy Award-winning film of the same name by Lee Hall, it was announced today.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre today announced that award-winning film director Mira Nair will bring her exuberant and sumptuous MONSOON WEDDING to the stage in this highly anticipated world premiere musical based on the 2001 Bollywood hit.

Berkeley Rep, always a leader in generating timely theatrical work, announced today that a new adaptation of the classic novel IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE by Sinclair Lewis will open its 2016-17 season. The new adaptation will be created by Tony Taccone and screenwriter Bennett Cohen, and the production will be helmed by award-winning director Lisa Peterson.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre announced today a dynamic collection of shows for its 49th season. Berkeley Rep's Michael Leibert Artistic Director, Tony Taccone, revealed four of the seven shows selected for the 2016-17 subscription programming.

Whether she's in the lead role or in the chorus of the latest musical, Ann Michels is a Twin Cities actor/singer who stands out and who finds a connection with her audiences.

The most recent season at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, the last in the iconic Adams Shakespearean Theatre, was a wholehearted artistic success, according to Artistic Directors David Ivers and Brian Vaughn. The last spotlight was dimmed on October 31, after a Halloween production of DRACULA -- and now 2015 is one for the books.

This week, we go around our Broadway World to feature stories in Washington DC, Los Angeles, Spain and more. Check out our top 10 stories around our Broadway World below, which include Arena Stage's DESTINY OF DESIRE, THE SOUND OF MUSIC National Tour in LA, and BLOOD BROTHERS in Chicago, just to name a few.

To put it succinctly, be ready to laugh your ass off. A brilliant, witty melange of slapstick, sight gags, silly absurdity, hyperbolic acting, and even bits of good ol' reliable audience participation, ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS, Richard Bean's exceedingly hilarious comedy of errors, misdirections, and misunderstandings is now receiving a superb West Coast premiere production at Orange County's Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory theater through October 11.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival announced today the launch of a 39-play, three-year commissioning project, Play on! 36 playwrights translate Shakespeare.

South Coast Repertory will present ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS, VIETGONE, ABUNDANCE, and more for the four-month period of September through December 2015.

The world's most famous vampire, a cigar-smoking man in a dress, and one of theatre's most loveable mutts can all be found this fall at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Five of the Festival's six summer shows will be closing the first week of September; but Charley's Aunt will continue its summer run, along with two additional offerings, Dracula and The Two Gentlemen of Verona, through October 31.

Bardway, Baby! is back at the Utah Shakespeare Festival for its sixth annual night of musical entertainment. Bardway, Baby! is a late-night concert event which, this year, will feature the music of Walt Disney productions. Performed by Festival actors, the concert will be tonight, August 7 at 11:30 p.m. in the Auditorium Theatre.

Bardway, Baby! is back at the Utah Shakespeare Festival for its sixth annual night of musical entertainment. Bardway, Baby! is a late-night concert event which, this year, will feature the music of Walt Disney productions. Performed by Festival actors, the concert will be August 7 at 11:30 p.m. in the Auditorium Theatre. Tickets are $25 for reserved seating and are available now at the Festival ticket office, online at www.bard.org, and by calling 1-800-PLAYTIX.

With so much to look forward to in 2016, the Utah Shakespeare Festival has secured the rights to Disney's beloved musical, Mary Poppins. Before a public announcement could be made a signed contract and confirmation had to be received which just happened late last week.

The future is rising at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Taking shape on the campus of Southern Utah University is the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts, which will house the Festival's new outdoor theatre, the Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre; the Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre; and much needed production, rehearsal and education space.