Shakespeare fest
CSF to return in summer 2021 after postponing this year due to the coronavirus
The Colorado Shakespeare Festival — postponed in the spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic — announced Monday that it will return to the stage for the summer of 2021 with an alloutdoor lineup.
“It’s just great to be working towards next summer right now,” said Timothy Orr, Colorado Shakespeare Festival’s producing artistic director. “We’re all thrilled to be ramping up. I’m most looking for ward to being together, safely, audience and artists, listening to great language thundering up to the stars — same as ever y year, but this summer will have special meaning.”
The festival, established in 1958, will run from June 18-Aug. 15, opening with “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in the University of Colorado Boulder’s Mar y Rippon Outdoor Theatre, followed by Mary Zimmerman’s adaptation of “The Odyssey” and two performances of “Pericles.”
The upcoming event will look a bit different than in previous years, as staf f and cast members will follow new safety guidelines in response to the pandemic. As of now, attendees will be required to wear masks.
In order to maintain distanced seating, a limited number of tickets will be available for purchase.
“Seating capacity will be dependent upon public health orders and campus policy at the time of the performances,” Orr said. “We plan to sell up to 165 tickets per performance, but capacity will not be known until closer to the scheduled event date.”
Season tickets sales began Monday. Single tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Nov. 30. While CU
Presents box office remains closed for in-person sales, tickets are available for purchase at coloradoshakes.org and by phone at 303-492-8008.
Season tickets to see the two main plays, not including “Pericles,” star t at $33.
Although previous installments of CSF included productions at the indoor University Theatre on campus, the decision to hold an exclusively outdoor festival was an easy one to make, based on the new parameters regarding events.
“The performing arts are vital to Boulder as a community and it’s no secret that everyone — artists and audiences alike — is craving cultural experiences after so many months apar t,” said Becca Vaclavik, public relations manager for CU Presents. “Our entire company is on cloud nine dreaming about being together in Boulder again. Reopening our venues feels like coming home.”
Each season the festival attracts approximately 30,000 people with its per formances and educational programs, including Camp Shakespeare and Shakespeare’s Sprites.
Plans for additional CU student dance and theater programs are still evolving based on recommendations from the university. For now, organizers of CSF are looking for ward to welcoming returning festivalgoers and new attendees to the open-air, on-campus venue for summer 2021.
“I hope audiences leave the Mary Rippon Outdoor
Theatre having been dipped in joy,” Orr said. “Rehearsals begin June 1, 2021. The directors, designers and casts are set and ready to rock and roll — in a ver y Shakespearean sense.”