From Marlo Ihler, Utah Shakespeare Festival
CEDAR CITY––The Utah Shakespeare Festival is excited to announce its directors for their upcoming 2025 season. “We are thrilled to share with you these amazing artists who will head our productions in our Engelstad and Randall Theatres, as well as our popular Greenshows for our sixty-fourth season,” says Executive Managing Director Michael Bahr.
ENGELSTAD SHAKESPEARE THEATRE
With Shakespeare as the cornerstone, the Festival is excited to produce three of his amazing stories in the outdoor Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre. All are very different but very engaging, and one of which hasn’t been done here for nearly twenty years, get ready to immerse yourself in the Bard’s amazing works!
Macbeth
By William Shakespeare
Directed by John DiAntonio
Previews on June 16, 2025
Opens on June 19, 2025
Last produced in 2019 at the Festival, Macbeth––one of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies––tells the story of a Scottish general who receives a prophecy from three witches that he will become king. Fueled by ambition and encouraged by his power-hungry wife, Macbeth embarks on a ruthless path of destruction and betrayal to seize the throne.
The Festival’s Artistic Director John DiAntonio will make his directorial debut here. He was previously seen at the Festival in last year’s The Taming of the Shrew as Petruchio. Prior to coming to Cedar City, he was the producing artistic director at Creede Repertory Theatre. Additional acting and directing credits include the Denver Center Theatre Company, The Arvada Center, and Cleveland Shakespeare Festival. He received his MFA in acting from the National Theatre Conservatory and also attended the British American Drama Academy. He is a member of Actors’ Equity Association.
“I hope your thumbs are pricking because something wicked this way comes,” DiAntonio says. “The performances, set, costumes, lighting, sound, and overall feel of Macbeth will be immersive and haunting. Prepare yourselves for the gripping, horrifying, and seductive story you know, but expect to see it with new eyes. This play will touch a nerve for every audience member whether they are 12 or 89 as they journey through the personal cost of treachery. I couldn’t be more honored to be directing this play!”
Antony and Cleopatra
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Carolyn Howarth
Previews on June 17, 2025
Opens on June 20, 2025
The Festival is committed to continuing their Complete the Canon initiative (which is almost finished!) with this tragedy by Shakespeare, which was last produced in 2006, almost 20 years ago. It portrays the passionate and tumultuous love affair between Mark Antony, a Roman general, and Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt. Set against a backdrop of political intrigue and warfare, their relationship faces challenges that ultimately lead to misfortune.
Carolyn Howarth, who previously directed The Winter’s Tale in 2024, spent 14 seasons at Colorado Shakespeare Festival. Her work has also been seen at Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, and Foothill Theatre Company where she served as artistic director. She earned her BA and MFA from UC-Davis and is a member of Actors’ Equity Association.
She says: “I’m so excited to tell this epic story about the first celebrity power couple––two titanic personalities, superstars in their empires, modern day equivalents of rock and roll idols––swept up in a thriller with political intrigue, military strategy, and ever-changing alliances. The characters swerve from jubilation to jealousy, paranoia to fury. It dances around the conflict between passion and duty, expectations and failure, and ultimately comes down on the side of love, perhaps showing us the essence of what makes us human. I think USF audiences are going to fall in love with the play as much as I have and really respond to the abundant humor and pathos.”
As You Like It
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Beth Lopes
Previews on June 18, 2025
Opens on June 21, 2025
In this beloved comedy last seen at the Festival in 2017, Rosalind flees persecution in her uncle’s court and seeks refuge in the Forest of Arden, disguised as a young man. Through a series of mistaken identities and humorous encounters, love blossoms amidst the captivating forest setting.
Beth Lopes was last at the Festival as an assistant director in 2010. She also spent ten seasons with New Swan Shakespeare Festival where she was associate artistic director. Her work has also been featured at South Coast Reperatory, San Antonio Shakespeare in the Park, and Theatre Horizon. She received her MFA from UC Irvine and is a member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC).
“I’m delighted to return to Utah Shakes to direct the magnificent adventure that is As You Like It,” she says. “Brimming with humor and heart, As You Like It is an ode to love, freedom, and the resiliency of the human spirit. I’m thrilled to be spending this time with USF’s audiences in the magical and transformative Forest of Arden.”
RANDALL L. JONES THEATRE
In the beautiful indoor Randall L. Jones Theatre for the upcoming 2025 season “we are proud to produce a brilliant musical, a satiric Victorian comedy, and a comedy-drama about the resilience of true friendship in the Randall,” says Artistic Director John DiAntonio.
That’s right! A musical is back in the lineup, along with two other thoroughly enjoyable and touching plays.
A Gentleman’s Guide To Love and Murder
Book and Lyrics by Robert L Freedman
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Lutvak
Based on the novel Israel Rank by Roy Horniman
Directed by Amanda Berg Wilson
Music Directed by Brad Carroll
Previews on June 19 and 23, 2025
Opens on June 26, 2025
This Tony Award-winning musical comedy follows the story of Monty Navarro, a lowly born Englishman who discovers he is ninth in line to inherit a fortune. To move up the line of succession, Monty decides to eliminate the zany relatives (who are all played by the same actor) who are standing in his way, meanwhile navigating a love triangle.
Amanda Berg Wilson is the co-founder and artistic director of The Catamounts in Boulder, Colorado. Her work has also been seen at Creede Repertory Theatre, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, and Opera Steamboat. She received a BCAA Theatre Fellowship and her work has been profiled in American Theatre magazine. She received a BA in English and drama from Kenyon College.
Brad Carroll, who directed this past season’s production of Much Ado About Nothing, also music directed Jane Austen’s Emma The Musical, Ragtime, and The Pirates of Penzance at the Festival. Additionally he has directed Sweeney Todd, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, South Pacific, and Les Misérables here, among many others. He is the composer of Lend Me a Tenor: The Musical, has worked at PCPA, Utah Festival Opera, and Idaho Shakespeare Festival, and is a member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.
“I am framing our realization of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder as an English music hall production,” says Berg Wilson. “Think: inventive staging, fourth-wall breaking, and a live pianist playing! Our production will be inspired most specifically by the ‘lion comique,’ an English music hall tradition of making fun of the upper classes, a strong thread of A Gentleman’s Guide. This framing will allow our audience a lively point of entry into the piece, in which they will be repeatedly acknowledged in the space, and in which the whole theatre becomes part of the storytelling.”
The Importance of Being Earnest
By Oscar Wilde
Directed by Rodney Lizcano
Previews on June 20 and 24, 2025
Opens on June 27, 2025
Oscar Wilde’s classic comedy satirizes Victorian society through the witty and farcical escapades of two bachelors, Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff. As they navigate double lives and mistaken identities, the play cleverly explores themes of marriage, social expectations, and the triviality of propriety.
Audiences will remember Rodney Lizcano as Gremio in The Taming of the Shrew and Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing this past season. Previously he spent 22 seasons with the Denver Center Theatre Company, as well as time at the Arvada Center for the Arts, The Old Globe, and ten seasons at Colorado Shakespeare Festival, among others. He earned an MFA in acting from the National Theatre Conservatory and is a member of Actors’ Equity Association as well as Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.
“The Importance of Being Earnest is truly Shakespearean in its theatrical devices of mistaken identities, secret engagements, and lover entanglements,” explains Lizcano. “I’m thrilled to pair this piece with such an ecclectic theatrical season at USF and cannot wait for audiences to experiece this rapid-fire comedy of wits and manors.”
Steel Magnolias
By Robert Harling
Directed by Melissa Maxwell
Previews on June 21 and 25, 2025
Opens on June 28, 2025
Set in a Louisiana beauty salon, this poignant play explores the enduring bond between six Southern women as they navigate life’s joys and challenges, from friendships and laughter to heartbreak and loss. Through humor and resilience, the women showcase their strength and solidarity in the face of adversity.
Melissa Maxwell previously directed Trouble in Mind at the Festival in 2022. Her work has also been seen off-Broadway at the Pearl Theatre Company and Soho Playhouse. She has also worked at the Great River Shakespeare Festival where she is co-associate artistic director, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, and Off the WALL Theatre. She is also a motivational speaker, author, and teacher. She is a member of Actors’ Equity Association, SAG-AFTRA, and Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, and earned her BFA from Boston University.
“I am thrilled to be returning,” says Maxwell. “I played M’Lynn in a production a few years ago, but this is my first time directing it. I am excited to be revisiting this timeless classic.”
IN THE EILEEN AND ALLEN ANES STUDIO THEATRE…IN CASE YOU’RE WONDERING
In 2025, the Festival plans to continue to use this space for new play development with the popular Words Cubed program, as well as educational programming, among other things.
“We’ve loved all the past performances in the Anes, as we know our patrons have,” says Executive Managing Director Michael Bahr. “It is a young space but don’t fear: it is anticipated that mainstage productions will return to it in the near future.”
ON THE GREENSHOW STAGE
The Greenshow
Written and Directed by Britannia Howe
Previews begin June 16, 2025
Opens on June 19, 2025
Prepare for delightful summer evenings of stories, music, and dance with three new shows on the green. Written and directed by Festival veteran Britannia Howe, who has helmed The Greenshow five times before, these shows are the perfect way to spend time with family and friends before the mainstage shows.
The themes for the three 2025 Greenshows are inspired by the three Shakespeare shows in the Engelstad. First, drawing on the setting of Macbeth, Scottish night with Highland Games will be an evening of strength, competition, and fun as performers and audience join in exciting challenges like tug-of-war and shot put. Next, the Mariner Greenshow celebrates through sea shanties, adventurous tales, and the comedic retelling of Anthony and Cleopatra. Third, the Mountain Wilderness Greenshow is set in the woods reminiscent of As You Like It, where love letters adorn trees and Americana folk tunes fill the air.
A Cedar City native, Howe grew up attending the Festival. She earned an MFA in directing from Illinois State University and has directed at Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, and with the Utah Symphony. She was awarded a national directing fellowship from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.
The Festival is busy planning for an amazing season next year. Be sure to get your tickets now and join us in 2025 for a season of identity, mischief, friendship, and love. For more information visit our website at bard.org or call the ticket office at 800-PLAYTIX