Patrick Mulcahy News

Casting 100+ roles, designing hundreds of costumes and myriad lighting and sound cues, and hiring 134 seasonal staff, the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival prepares to open its 19th season.

That two Lehigh Valley theatres were awarded separate grants from the National Endowment for the Arts signature program, 'Shakespeare in American Communities/ Shakespeare for a New Generation' is unprecedented. Outside major metropolitan areas around the country, no other community the size of the Lehigh Valley has received two grants in one year. Forty non-profit theatre companies across the U.S. won the $25,000 awards.

Artistic excellence and audience enthusiasm created a record-breaking season for The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival this past summer and position the company for continued growth in 2010.

Record numbers of patrons attended the 18th season of The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, which closed Sunday. 'For years, our patrons have shared with us personal stories of what the Festival means to them. I'm not sure we knew just how important until this season,' says Patrick Mulcahy, producing artistic director.

Shakespeare comes in a variety of flavors at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival this summer, including a new production: Shakespeare for Kids. Children ages 4 to 12 can experience Shakespeare at their level and help Team Shakespeare tell the story of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Fueled by legend, passion for the transcendent, and the quest for power, Antony and Cleopatra makes its debut at PSF this summer. Based on the electrifying relationship between celebrated Roman warrior Mark Antony and sultry Egyptian queen Cleopatra, Antony and Cleopatra is set amidst the impending rise of the Roman Empire and its quest to control its exotic eastern frontiers.

Shakespeare comes in a variety of flavors at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival this summer, including a new production: Shakespeare for Kids. Children ages 4 to 12 can experience Shakespeare at their level and help Team Shakespeare tell the story of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

The course of true love never did run smooth, Lysander tells his distraught lover Hermia at the beginning of A Midsummer Night?s Dream. Mischief, mayhem, moonbeams, and magic potions abound as four young Athenian lovers encounter more than they imagined possible in one of Shakespeare?s best known romantic comedies.

Fueled by legend, passion for the transcendent, and the quest for power, Antony and Cleopatra makes its debut at PSF this summer. Based on the electrifying relationship between celebrated Roman warrior Mark Antony and sultry Egyptian queen Cleopatra, Antony and Cleopatra is set amidst the impending rise of the Roman Empire and its quest to control its exotic eastern frontiers.

The course of true love never did run smooth, Lysander tells his distraught lover Hermia at the beginning of A Midsummer Night?s Dream. Mischief, mayhem, moonbeams, and magic potions abound as four young Athenian lovers encounter more than they imagined possible in one of Shakespeare?s best known romantic comedies.

An imaginative parable transforms into theatrical magic in The Great Divorce at The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival for one night only, Monday, June 22 at 7:30pm on the Main Stage.

With the nation's history written in the hills and valleys surrounding The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, the company offers a variety of programming in association with its production of the Tony Award winning musical 1776, which runs June 17 through July 5.

An imaginative parable transforms into theatrical magic in The Great Divorce at The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival for one night only, Monday, June 22 at 7:30pm on the Main Stage.

With the nation's history written in the hills and valleys surrounding The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, the company offers a variety of programming in association with its production of the Tony Award winning musical 1776, which runs June 17 through July 5.

A bold, irreverent romp through 37 of Shakespeare's plays in just 99 minutes, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) is a wildly comic valentine to the Bard. Three brave actors reenact some of Shakespeare's best-known plays with blazing hilarity that promises to be a sidesplitting roller coaster ride.