The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival recently announced its 37th season, and its first in its new permanent home in Philipstown. The 2002 festival schedule includes a reimagined staging of the Shakespearean classic “Romeo & Juliet”; the timely contemporary American play “Mr. Burns”; the intimate and provocative solo piece “Where We Belong”; an all-new digital production of HVSF’s spring school-tour adaptation of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”; and more.
The festival’s staging of “Romeo & Juliet” sees director Gaye Taylor Upchurch bringing a bold, new take on the iconic, boisterous, poetic, and romantic tale of the famously star-crossed lovers. Kurt Rhoads and Nance Williamson appear in the title roles. The “post-electric” “Mr. Burns” takes place in “a not-so-distant future where…a group of survivors come together to recreate their vanished world through the life-affirming act of telling stories under the stars.” Madeline Sayet’s solo “Where We Belong” follows her personal journey of self-discovery and traces the relationship between Shakespeare and colonialism and its deep roots along the banks of the Muhheakantuck, the tidal estuary now known as the Hudson River. Geared toward audiences of all ages, HVSF’s video production of the Bard’s classic comedy “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” will stream to regional middle and high schools beginning in April. Also on the roster are two “Ten Pole” commissions, “Untitled Agatha Project” and “Memnon.”
From 1987 through 2020, the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival took place on the grounds of the Boscobel estate in Garrison. It reemerges this year at the Philipstown property gifted to the festival by philanthropist Christopher Davis. For a season schedule, tickets, and more information visit the festival’s website.
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This article appears in March 2022.
