Fest taking 'Shrew' to schools

The Utah Shakespearean Festival's annual "Shakespeare in the Schools" touring production is "The Taming of the Shrew," featuring a scaled-down cast of eight, plus a three-member support crew (compared to a cast of 17 for this past summer's main-stage production of the same comedy).

Each 75-minute performance features a post-show question-and-answer period and workshop sessions on stage combat, improvisation and Shakespeare's text.

According to USF education director Michael Don Bahr, the festival is one of 22 theater companies in the United States to receive a $25,000 grant as part of the National Endowment for the Arts' "Shakespeare in American Communities: Shakespeare for a New Generation" program, which has allowed the tour to increase the number of performances.

"This is better than the Good Housekeeping seal of approval," Bahr said in a news release from the Cedar City-based festival. "We are now one of the NEA flagship programs in the country. The money will allow

us to get into rural schools we couldn't afford to go to before and make us more affordable for several other small school districts."

Prior to heading out on tour (with 60 performances in Utah, Nevada and Arizona), there are three preview performances this week for students and adults living in Iron County.

Student-only performances are Thursday and Friday in selected Iron County schools, with one public performance on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the Randall Jones Theatre in Cedar City. Tickets for the latter are $5 each (435-586-7878).

From Jan. 31-April 22, the troupe will be traveling throughout the Mountain West. A complete list of tour stops and dates can be found on the festival's Web site at www.bard.org. The touring troupe includes Michael Reed, of Berkeley, Calif., as Petruchio; Shelly Gaza, Kalamazoo, Mich., as Katherina; Dawn Moncorella, Milford, Conn., as Bianca and John Basiulis, Los Angeles, Calif., as Baptista, with Jonathan Marcandy, Manchester, England; J.R. Mangles, Orange, Calif; Kevin Kaddi, Apache Junction, Ariz., and Christopher McElwain, Los Angeles, in other roles. Also on tour are Katherine Prichard, Chesapeake, Va., company manager; Michael Jones, Maryville, Tenn., stage manager, and Christopher Husted, Littleton, Colo., audio-lighting technician.