Press

We’re getting a lot of good notice about the Festival and the 2010 season.  Here are some links to sites where you can read all about GRSF.

La Crosse Tribune: ‘The Daly News’ is a triumph at GRSF.  July 12, 2010.  “You will kick yourself if you miss this gem of a musical.”  Read it here.

Winona Post: Riverway students enjoy Chill with Will at GRSF.  July 11, 2010.  “The point of the program, Harper said, was to discover some meaning behind why a town the size of Winona would take on a Shakespeare festival, and why was the world, including Winona, so enamored with plays 400 years old?  What the students find each year, Harper said, is a timelessness to Shakespeare that feels familiar even to a 21st century teenager. ‘They read it and they find things in there that they relate to. They get it.’”  Read it here.

Winona Daily News: Students see comedy of Shakespeare’s ways.  July 10, 2010.  “‘It’s so much fun. It’s so funny,’ giggled Chelsee Boettcher, 17. Boettcher, along with eight other teens, has forgone sunny summertime afternoons to study Shakespeare. And, somewhat to her surprise, she enjoys it.”  Read it here.

MinnPost: Winona to hold ‘Legacy Weekend’ of arts, outdoor events July 23-24.  July 8, 2010.  “It’s called the ‘Legacy Weekend,’ because it showcases organizations that received money from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment. That’s the 3/8ths of a percent added sales tax that generates funding for land conservation, water conservation, parks and arts.  The Winona events are sponsored by the Great River Shakespeare Festival (GRSF), in partnership with the Winona County Historical Society, conservation partners and Visit Winona.”  Read it here.

DU Today: Festival is love’s labor found for theater professor.  July 7, 2010.  “‘He wrote great stories. You talk about universal themes in any play you work on — what’s going on in the human soul. Issues of power, of revenge, of love, of lust, of family relationships — it all comes down to what it means to be human,’ [Rick Barbour] says. ‘And Shakespeare wrote about what it means to be human better than anybody I know.’”  Read it here.

Winona Post: GRSF’s first musical, a review.  July 7, 2010.  “The music is absolutely brilliant, from the most tender a capella ballads to boisterous, stomp-your-feet and dance in your chair salutes.”  Read it here.

Winona Post: ‘Othello’ tells kids how he became a professional actor.  July 4, 2010.  “Serious now, the boy said he had one more question. ‘Do you like what you do?’ he asked Allen, who for a moment was struck by the weight of the question.  It’s something no one really asks him, Allen said, but he was glad to tell this boy the answer: ‘I told him that I really do, and his face lit up. He said that he might want to be an actor someday. Or a football player.’”  Read it here.

Post-Bulletin: Fourth features ‘Daly News.’  July 1, 2010.  “The Great River Shakespeare Festival will celebrate the Fourth of July in grand fashion Sunday — but oddly enough, without Shakespeare.”  Read it here.

Winona Post: Winona honored for achievement in the arts.  June 20, 2010.  “This year, Winona was awarded the League of Minnesota Cities (LMC) Presidential Award, selected as a city that provided leadership in support of the arts. This year’s LMC President Ardell Brede, also Mayor of Rochester, selected Winona out of more than 850 cities across the state, and said that it stands out among many as a place where art is valued, supported, and thrives.”  Read it here.

Houston County News: Libraries offering free tickets.  June 30, 2010.  “‘This is huge,’ said La Crescent Public Library Director LaVonne Beach. ‘We really want everyone to take advantage of this.’…’This is an exciting opportunity to showcase what we have available in our part of the state,’ Beach said.”  Read it here.

Northfield News: Library brings Shakespeare within reach.  June 25, 2010.  “‘Part of what we’re hoping the festival is about is a conversation in the community — an opportunity for people to come together and talk about things that really matter.’ said Doug Scholz-Carlson, actor and associate director of the festival.”  Read it here.

MinnPost: ‘Othello,’ ‘Comedy of Errors’ open Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona.  June 25, 2010.  “Theatergoers looking for an excursion outside of the Twin Cities can head down the Mississippi River valley for the annual Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona.”  Read it here.

Winona Daily News: Puzzled by Shakespeare: Mother, son make book of games and trivia.  June 24, 2010.  “Alec, a co-founder of the Great River Shakespeare Festival, and his mother [Skip Wild Harrington] wrote “The Prodigious Book of Shakespeare Puzzles,” a book of word puzzles, trivia and other games focused exclusively on Shakespeare’s work.”  Read it here.

shirt.woot!: Derby #153: Shakespeare.  June 24, 2010.  Great River Shakespeare Festival inspires a Shakespeare themed t-shirt design contest on shirt.woot.com.  View submissions here.

Star Tribune: In tune with Winona: During the summer, the river city highlights the arts, from theater to music.  June 19, 2010.  “For a city of fewer than 30,000 people, Winona offers a surprising number of cultural and artistic draws, from the upcoming Great River Shakespeare Festival to the Minnesota Beethoven Festival.”  Read it here.

Winona Post: It’s here — WOW at Shakespeare.  June 23, 2010.  “But make no mistake, this is Shakespeare at its finest with a cast and crew from around the world skilled at the highest level. But it is perhaps that expertise that helps this festival bring Shakespeare to the community in a way that lets people, any people, leave feeling like they understood what the 400-year-old play was about.”  Read it here.

Winona Post: GRSF Fathers Day: Families keeping in touch.  June 20, 2010.  “We love coming here because of the people,” said Schellinger. “It’s an extraordinary theater, an extraordinary place, and the people make all the difference. A lot of people in this company could work wherever they want to, but this place is magical, it gets under your skin and you think, ‘I just want to go back to Winona, I just want to go back to Winona.’”  Read it here.

La Crosse Tribune: Great River Shakespeare Festival continues to grow.  June 19, 2010.  “A few seasons in, we discovered that the more beer and brat Shakespeare festival we are, the better it all works,” Barnes said. “We don’t need to be high fallutin.’”  Read it here.

Winona Post: WOW Shakespeare Festival button worth $1000.  June 16, 2010.  “Buttons are $5 each and can be purchased at Merchants Bank, Winona National Bank, the GRSF office and about 15 Will’s Opening Weekend (WOW) committee members.”  Read it here.

Post-Bulletin: Brighter side — the bright side of the daily news.  June 17, 2010.  “Will’s Opening Weekend, will be held June 25-27, as the seventh annual festival, now spread over five weeks and four productions, launches its 2010 run. It is by far the biggest edition yet of the festival, which includes prelude concerts, the Front Porch Conversations series, AfterWill parties, Festival Mornings coffee sessions, and, oh yeah, a couple of Shakespeare plays.”  Read it here.

Winona Post: Musical explores strength of family.  June 13, 2010.  Interview with GRSF founding company member and writer of The Daly News, Jonathan Gillard Daly.  Read it here.

La Crosse Tribune: Monday profile: Jeff Stevenson keeps Shakespeare Fest organized.  June 14, 2010.  “It’s a special and unique community,” Stevenson said. “I get to be part of something that is held dear to many, many people.”  Read it here.

Winona Daily News: Peter Flick: ‘Daly News’ is great gift for Dad.  June 11, 2010.  “Besides being a great story, the play is filled with terrific musical numbers. The music is original and performed by a talented three-member cast.”  Read it here.

Bardfilm: A Shakespeare and Film Microblog: Great River Shakespeare Festival — Opening in One Month!  June 7, 2010.  “We’ve been to the Festival for many years running, and every show has topped the last one. This year promises to be no exception!”  Read it here.

Des Moines Register: The Bard proves he’s still got it.  June 6, 2010.  Great River Shakespeare Festival featured as a Festival to visit.  Read it here.

Highways Magazine: Northern Renaissance: Shadowed by limestone bluffs on the banks of the Mississippi awaits one of the most scenic, historic and culturally vibrant river cities you’ve never heard of.  June 2010.  “Nowhere in Minnesota do art and culture flourish with any more gusto than along the banks of this river town. In its seventh season this year, the Great River Shakespeare Festival continues to offer two plays alternating every other day throughout the summer. The professional performances are all top-notch.”  Read it here.

Examiner.com: Great River Shakespeare Festival Has The ‘Will’ To Help Teach Writing.  May 26, 2010.  “The Great River Shakespeare Festival (GRSF) in Winona, MN, in collaboration with the Graduate Professional Development for Educators (GPDE) program at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, will offer a revised version of its annual “Writing and Rhetoric: Using Shakespeare to Build Better Writers” teachers workshop, July 20 – 25, as part of its 2010 season.”  Read it here.

Winona Daily News: Nice weather helps kick off area tourism season.  May 28, 2010.  Great River Shakespeare Festival featured as a favorite destination for “trips on a tankful.”  Read it here.

Winona Daily News: Pat Mutter: Tourism is Changing Winona for the Better.  May 26, 2010 “We are beginning to tap our potential as a desirable regional destination. People are discovering the Great River Shakespeare Festival, the Minnesota Beethoven Festival, the Frozen River Film Festival and the Minnesota Marine Art Museum.”  Read it here.

Winona Post: Welcome visitors!  May 5, 2010.  “Winona’s success as a tourist destination has as much to do with the quality, diversity, and authenticity of visitor experience as it does with what the community shares and communicates with our visitors.”  Read it here.
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