Colorado Shakespeare Festival announces 2020 cast

This week, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival (CSF) announced its complete cast for the 2020 season.

In the outdoor cast, Andrew Morrill, who actively advocates for accurate representations of the Deaf people on screen and on stage as part of the #DeafTalent movement, will perform the role of Puck in American Sign Language in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

Also on the Mary Rippon stage, Scott Coopwood returns as Odysseus in “The Odyssey.” Rodney Lizcano will play the fairy king Oberon in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” He is joined by Jessica Robblee as Titania, who will also play Athena in “The Odyssey.”

Indoors, Madison Pettis, who made her CSF debut as Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet” in 2019, will lead the “All’s Well That Ends Well” cast as Helen, alongside Andy Walker as Bertram. Gareth Saxe returns in “Coriolanus” as the title role. Tony-nominated actress Jeanne Paulsen comes to the festival for the first time, playing both the Countess in “All’s Well That Ends Well” and Volumnia in “Coriolanus.”

Cast in both “Coriolanus” and “Pericles,” festival veteran Sam Sandoe will complete the entire Shakespeare canon in 2020. Other CSF favorites familiar to local audiences returning in major roles include Sam Gregory, Anne Penner, Leslie O’Carroll and more. The 2020 Colorado Shakespeare Festival was cast by Sylvia Gregory, CSA.

The casting announcement is part of Producing Artistic Director Timothy Orr’s continued mission to diversify the CSF artistic company at every level.

“I believe our stages should represent our community and country. They should reflect us,” said Orr. “It’s something we continually strive for at CSF.”

The 2020 season begins Friday, June 5, and runs through Sunday, Aug. 9. Tickets and complete casting information are available online at coloradoshakes.org, over the phone at 303-492-8008 and weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the CU Presents Box Office.