Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival Announces 2022 Summer Season

The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival shared plans for their 2022 Summer Season, the first to take place at their new, permanent home in Garrison, NY. The season, which will be held under the Festival's current iconic open-air tent, will include Romeo & Juliet, William Shakespeare's timeless story of star-crossed lovers, directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch and starring longtime HVSF actors Kurt Rhoads and Nance Williamson in the title roles, in repertory with Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play by Anne Washburn, featuring music by Michael Friedman, and directed by Davis McCallum. The season will also include Where We Belong by Madeline Sayet, directed by Mei Ann Teo and produced with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, in association with the Folger Shakespeare Library.

This will be HVSF's first season on the grounds of its new home in Garrison, NY, using its pre-existing temporary theater tent while plans are still underway for construction of a permanent open-air theater venue. Audiences will continue to experience the company's signature open-air productions and pre-show picnicking on the grounds.

Davis McCallum, the Festival's Artistic Director said, "We are thrilled to welcome artists and audiences to a new location and a new chapter for the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. In this moment of resilience and emergence, each of the pieces in our 2022 season celebrate the life-affirming power of storytelling to help us see ourselves and our current moment in new and often unexpected ways."

HVSF will also present two developmental workshops from its Tent Pole Commissions, HVSF's new program that commissions artists to animate the extraordinary site of their new home and provides an artistic home and creative time for artists. The workshops include Untitled Agatha Project by Heidi Armbruster and directed by Ryan Quinn, and Memnon by Will Power and directed by Carl Cofield.

HVSF will also produce a video presentation of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream directed by Matthew Saldivar which will be available to regional middle and high schools beginning in April. Both in-person and remote teaching artist residencies will be offered to school partners.

Full details about HVSF's 2022 season, including casting, dates, and ticket information, will be announced at a later date.

In addition, HVSF will hold a community event entitled Highland Lights: A Reawakened Landscape on Sunday, April 17 featuring a procession of community-built illuminated lanterns, to bring people together in a shared act of artistic expression, and inaugurate the ecological restoration of the landscape. The event will be led by Alex Kahn and Sophia Michahelles of Processional Arts Workshop. More details about the event will be announced at a later date.

MORE ON THE 2022 SUMMER SEASON

Romeo & Juliet

By William Shakespeare

Directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch

Starring Kurt Rhoads & Nance Williamson

"Here's much to do with hate, but more with love."

This most-familiar story is seen through a new lens as director Gaye Taylor Upchurch brings us a bold take on the iconic, boisterous, poetic and above all, romantic tale of star-crossed lovers. With HVSF's favorite longtime couple, Kurt Rhoads and Nance Williamson cast in the title roles, this revelatory age-blind production reminds us that, while youth may be only skin-deep, true beauty is a quality of the soul, and - in the end - love conquers all.

Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play

By Anne Washburn

Music by Michael Friedman

Directed by Davis McCallum

"Every story ends on a dark and raging river."

In a not-so-distant future where the grid has failed, society has crumbled, and memories can no longer be stored on hard drives, a group of survivors come together to recreate their vanished world through the life-affirming act of telling stories under the stars. A hymn of survival and resilience (sung by America's unlikeliest hero, Bart Simpson!), Mr. Burns is an exhilarating exploration of how the pop culture of one era might evolve into the mythology of another.

Where We Belong

By Madeline Sayet

Directed by Mei Ann Teo

Produced with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, in association with the Folger Shakespeare Library

"I realize the power that comes with showing people a different way of seeing the world."

In this intimate and exhilarating solo piece, Mohegan theater-maker Madeline Sayet travels to England to study Shakespeare, and in doing so, she traverses geographic borders, personal history, and cultural legacies, in search of a place to belong. Named as one of the "great artistic achievements during the pandemic" (Broadway World), Where We Belong follows Madeline's personal journey of self-discovery, and traces the intertwined relationship between Shakespeare and colonialism, a relationship with deep roots along the banks of the Muhheakantuck, the tidal estuary colonially known as the Hudson River.

HVSF Educational Tour

A Midsummer Night's Dream

By William Shakespeare

Directed by Matthew Saldivar

Shakespeare's magical comedy takes place one mad-cap summer evening where three stories collide.

When four young lovers, a jealous fairy king and queen, and a group of amateur actors all find themselves in the woods, is it real? Is it all just a dream? You'll have to wait and find out! This 60-minute video production is built to stream on demand, and is geared towards audiences of all ages. Beginning in April, A Midsummer Night's Dream will travel virtually to regional middle and high schools. Learn more about education programming here.

HVSF produces outdoors, which is commonly thought to be a lower-risk environment for virus transmission, but the safety of artists and audiences is always paramount. The company will follow all local, federal, and union guidelines and will take all appropriate precautions to determine safe protocols for the season. The productions will only proceed in person if it is safe and responsible to do so.

HVSF is committed to becoming a more anti-racist and inclusive organization in support of Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color. HVSF shared their initial commitments for accountability in June 2020 and continues to regularly share more details of its actionable steps to support those commitments. To read more about the steps they're taking, visit https://hvshakespeare.org/2022-anti-racism-update/.

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