'Shrew' coming to Wasatch Front

The Utah Shakespearean Festival — as part of the National Endowment for the Arts' "Shakespeare for a New Generation" program — is bringing its touring production of "The Taming of the Shrew" to the Wasatch Front on Monday.

In addition to stops at 14 schools in the region, there will be seven public performances between Monday and April 1.

Large-scale touring productions are known as "bus-and-truck" companies, but this scaled-down version of "Shrew" might fit more into the "van-and-pickup-truck" category.

The four-state tour began Jan. 31 and wraps up on April 22. During the four months on the road, the traveling troupe will perform before nearly 40,000 students in Utah, Idaho, Nevada and Arizona.

Most of the stops on the tour are geared solely to student audiences. These in-school dates include the 74-minute performance plus three workshops (on stage combat, improvisation and Shakespeare's text) and a post-show question-and-answer session.

Michael Don Bahr, director of the festival's education programs, said that USF is one of only 22 companies across the country to receive a $25,000 NEA grant.

"We are now one of the NEA flagship programs in the country," Bahr said, explaining that the additional funding will allow the Cedar City-based festival to take the touring troupe into more far-flung rural areas — schools that might otherwise never have the opportunity to see a live performance of a Shakespearean play.

Performances open to the general public are:

• Monday, 6 p.m., sponsored by Cottonwood Elementary School, performed at Olympus High School, 4055 S. 2300 East. Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for students (273-2035).

• Saturday, 7 p.m., Utah Valley State College's Ragan Theatre, Orem. Admission is $10 for adults and $6 for students (863-8797).

• March 23, 7:30 p.m., Ogden High School auditorium (free), kicking off Weber State University's sixth annual two-week "Celebrate Shakespeare!" festival. Related events — all free — include a lecture by Bahr on April 5 at 10 a.m. titled "Taming Shakespeare: Taking the 'Hard' Out of 'Bard' " in the Stewart Library. The 1967 screen version of "Taming of the Shrew," starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, will be shown on March 28 at 1 p.m. in the library.

• March 28, 7 p.m., Wasatch High School, Heber City, $5 each or $15 per family. Free admission for any student with a valid school activity card.

• March 30-31, 11 a.m., Grand Theatre, Salt Lake Community College, 1575 S. State, free, but groups of five or more people must have a reservation ticket (call Tess Boone at 957-4908 for a group confirmation ticket or send her an e-mail at tess.boone@slcc.edu). Groups without a reservation ticket will not be admitted.

• April 1, 8 p.m., Provo Tabernacle, $5 adults, $3 for students or senior citizens or $12 per family, at the door. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.

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