The Sun Valley Shakespeare Festival is carrying on despite the cancellation of both the Renaissance Faire last weekend and the Wagon Days celebration this weekend due to the Castle Rock Fire and its affects.
William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" is a dialogue-driven comedy that delights with one-liners, witticisms and comic characters.
The Sun Valley Shakespeare Festival will present "Much Ado About Nothing" Thursday through Sunday, Aug. 30, through Sept. 2, at the Festival Field on Sun Valley Road.
"We can be an oasis in the midst of this (fire)," said producer Kathy Wygle. "We don't have to cancel. We have our actors. The set is up. So we'll continue treating it as a weather issue on a daily basis." Call the nexStage Theatre at 726-4tks for daily updates.
Primarily written in prose rather than verse, it's one of Shakespeare's most accessible plays. This version is set in the 1860s during Southern California's Rancho period.
"It's a play about people who fall in love because they have some life experience, who aren't children like Romeo and Juliet, said director Bruce Hostetler."
One of the lead characters, "Beatrice knows herself well enough to know to look at the man himself. You make different choices when you're more mature. I find that fascinating in this play."
The cast also includes equity actors Jana Arnold, Scott Creighton, Keith Moore, Jamey Reynolds, Patsy Wygle and Ramon Ramos, who is making his first appearance with Sun Valley Shakespeare. As well, the play features valley-based actors Sharon Barto, Kristy Kuntz, Michelle Nelson, Karl Nordstrom, Dean Cerutti, Scott Slonim, Michael Freilich, Bruce Hostetler, MacKenzie Harbaugh and students Brooke Hand, Faith Coben, Scott Noel and Jamie Wygle.
Audience members may picnic at the meadow before the play. Shade and bleacher seating will be provided; audiences often bring their own low-backed chairs and rugs for seating on the grass in front of the stage.
Tickets—$20, with discounts for seniors and students—are available at the nexStage Theatre on Main Street in Ketchum during business hours, or by calling 726-4tks.
Photo by K.O. Ogilvie-
Sharon Barto and Mackenzie Harbaugh are atwitter about their romance in ?Much Ado About Nothing.?
