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Minnesota’s Shakespeare Festival
Image: The company of As You Like It, 2023. Photo by Dan Norman.
The 2024 season: Hamlet & Much Ado about nothing
Festival favorite Tarah Flanagan takes on one of the most complex characters of the Shakespeare canon with the nuance and wit that Great River Shakespeare Festival audiences have appreciated from her for close to two decades. For centuries, women have played the role of Hamlet, sometimes portraying him as a man and sometimes (as supported by Danish legend) as a woman. In consultation with director Doug Scholz-Carlson, Tarah has decided to play Hamlet as a man. She explains that the women in Hamlet are highly criticized for the decisions that they make, but both culture and the text do not afford them the ability to choose their circumstance. Approaching the role of one of the men who is most critical of the women’s choices presents an opportunity for Tarah to more fully understand the mental and emotional struggles that Hamlet faces. Learn more about the production of Hamlet here.
Director Gaby Rodriguez shares her thoughts on the upcoming production of Much Ado about Nothing. “I’m always drawn to connect stories to our specific communities and Much Ado is the perfect play to do this with. It is a play about a neighborhood celebrating the return of their loved ones but also grasping with consent, building of trust, and the unsung heroes saving the day. Winona today is not unlike Messina, as a society we are constantly celebrating together and renegotiating relationships. This production of Much Ado will place young people at the center of the story. As the ones that save the day and the ones that represent the future of the community. As a director and educator, I’ve always admired the way young people question and challenge the world we live in and the situations they observe. Oftentimes they objectively observe from the outside and are able to pinpoint truths that adults often get lost in. The neighborhood Watch in Much Ado are the young people who see it all from the outside but are dismissed by the adults. Shakespeare writes: ‘What your wisdoms could not discover, these shallow fools have brought to light.’ The young people that the adults consider ‘shallow fools’ are the ones that intervene and save the day.” Learn more about GRSF’s Much Ado about Nothing here.
Romeo and Juliet: The Podcast is here!
Recorded in the summer of 2022, this six-episode radio-style drama features 17 actors from the Great River Shakespeare Festival company along with sound design and editing by Nathanael Brown. A complete script (including stikethroughs to help not only the length but the understandability of the show) is provided.
A valuable resource to high school students everywhere, this podcast brings this timeless story to life and is an excellent compantion to Macbeth: The Podcast. Both projects are made available through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
A 20 Year Retrospective
In 2023, Great River Shakespeare Festival celebrated its 20th Anniversary. A lobby display was created with financial support from Mary Alice Anderson to celebrate the impact of the Festival on the community and the artists who engage together each summer. You can view that display here.