DENVER POST: Colorado Shakespeare Festival marks 60th season

(Above: Matthew Kornegay, right, moves a sheet of wood, while Sasha Schwartz sweeps the stage as crew and actors begin to rehearse and build at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival in the Mary Rippon Theater at the University of Colorado. Photo by Cliff Grassmick, Daily Camera Staff Photographer) 

If you’ve never enjoyed Shakespeare under the stars at the Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre in Boulder, this is a historic anniversary season in which to do so. The Colorado Shakespeare Festival will celebrate its 60th season this summer with a lineup that gives a nod to the original.

CSF is remounting the plays that audiences saw in the original 1958 season: a comedy, a political thriller and Shakespeare’s tragic masterwork: “The Taming of the Shrew,” running June 11-Aug.13; “Julius Caesar” slated July 7-Aug. 12; and “Hamlet,” June 23-Aug 13. Tickets start at $20.

Additionally, the summer 2017 lineup includes “Henry VI, Part 3,” running Aug. 6-8, which will be the “Original Practices” production of the season. The touted “OP” performances are done as Shakespeare would have seen them in his time, with no artificial sound or lighting, no amplification, and with whatever costumes are on hand. Actors are given only their lines and cues, rather than complete scripts, and a mere 20 hours of rehearsal.

The play, the last in Shakespeare’s War of the Roses chronicle, was last produced at CSF in 1969. (Heads up, “Game of Thrones” fans: The War of the Roses was one of George R.R. Martin’s inspirations.)

After this summer’s productions, CSF will have completed the 37-play canon of Shakespeare’s work for a second time — a milestone only one other Shakespeare festival in the country has achieved. (That’s the Oregon Shakespeare Company. Clearly, the CSF is in good company.) (Read the Full Article)