UTAH SHAKESPEAREAN FESTIVAL, CEDAR CITY, UTAH

This Festival is a well known and much anticipated professional theater event in the United States.  In the year 2000, it was awarded the very desirable Tony Award for “Outstanding Regional Theater”.  The activities offered at the Festival include  Shakespeare and contemporary productions, the Greenshow, the Royal Feaste, seminars, classes, tours and the world famous southern Utah scenery as an added bonus. 

The theater is located at 351 W. Center Street in Cedar City on the campus of Southern Utah University.  To purchase tickets and for information about other activities, call 1-800-752-9849 or 435-586-7878.  Individuals needing special theater accommodations need to notify the Box Office at least three working days before the performance.

Each Summer Season, six plays are presented in repertory in two theaters.  The outdoor Adams Shakespearean Theatre is a replica of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and presents only Shakespeare plays.  The indoor Randall L. Jones Theatre is a spectacular modern building that offers contemporary plays.   The Festival presents three more world class plays in the Fall which include one comedy, a musical and one Shakespeare play. 

Theatre patrons can indulge in the fun of a four course meal at The Royal Feaste which is eaten in the style of Renaissance noblemen.  The Feaste is available during the Summer Festival Season and reservations are required, which can be made at the Box Office. 

Visitors may also take a Backstage Tour which provides them with an opportunity to step behind the scenes.  They can learn inside information about the workings of the Festival and visit some of the production areas which include costume, makeup and scene shops.  Literary Seminars are also held which allow patrons to participate in discussions which occur between the directors of the play and members of the audience – and sometimes include actors.  Staff members encourage group participants to provide honest feedback to various aspects of the plays and these Seminars can be quite stimulating. 

A fun way of becoming involved in the Festival productions involves participation in the Greenshow.  Guests are allowed to immerse themselves in the music and dance of the Elizabethan Period and become familiar and comfortable beforehand with the plays they have come to see.  This free activity is held in the courtyard surrounding the Adams Theatre.  Orientations about the play are also provided to patrons before each show begins to give them an overview of what they will see. 

For those visitors who wish to spend a few days in the area and take advantage of all that the Utah Shakespearean Festival has to offer, there are a number of hotels, motels and charming bed and breakfast inns close by including:

 

·                     Knights Inn Cedar City

·                     Stratford Bed and Breakfast

·                     Cherished Memories Bed and Breakfast

·                     Super 8 Motel – Cedar City

·                     Hampton Inn – Cedar City

·                     Amid Summer’s Inn and Spa

·                     Abbey Inn of Cedar City

·                     Motel 6 – Cedar City

·                     Best Western El Rey Inn Cedar City

·                     The Garden Cottage Inn Bed and Breakfast

·                     Crystal Inn – Cedar City

 … among many others in the Cedar City area. Additionally, there are numerous restaurants of all types conveniently located near the Festival