TCU to debut Shakespeare Festival in June of 2009

by PegNews wire

The Department of Theatre at Texas Christian University will debut their Trinity Shakespeare Festival next June (2009).

Says artistic director (and Dept. of Theatre assoc. prof.) T. J. Walsh: “We are very excited about starting this new tradition and our hope is that the Trinity Shakespeare Festival will become an integral part of the community during the summer and that eventually it becomes as much a part of the summer in North Texas as the Rangers and the guarantee of sultry days.” (In other words, a sure thing.)

The cast will be composed of professional equity actors in collaboration with TCU student intern thespians, and the performances will be done in true repertory theatre fashion, with the same actors portraying characters in different plays during the festival.

The two plays selected to kick off the event are Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night. Ticket prices are expected to run about $20 per.

And none of this outdoor-sweltering-in-the-park stuff for Tarrant County's performances: the Trinity Shakespeare folks will be using both of TCU's 200-seat indoor theaters for the performances: the traditional Elizabethan thrust stage in the Marlene and Spence Hays Theatre in the Walsh Center, and the proscenium-styled Jerita Foley Buschman Theatre in Ed Landreth Hall. Both air-conditioned, mind you.

"In the heat of the Texas summer, we feel it will make enjoying Shakespeare that much more pleasant," says Harry Parker, theatre dept. chair.

Good idea, Harry. SAAAA-LUTE!

posted by JM