Two by Shakespeare, one by Daly.
A comedy, a tragedy, a musical.

The green-eye’d monster
Boys lost at sea. Brothers found at home
A whore. A wife. An abbess. A handkerchief.

Visitors to a new land.
News from the front. News from home.
Sons and Fathers
Sins and Forgiveness
Swindles
Schemes
Slyness
Guile.

Venice.
Cyprus.
Elvis.

The Tragedy of Othello, The Comedy of Errors, The Daly News
June 23 through August 1, 2010.

It’s been an adventure getting here: hit on a deer at 10:30 on a Sunday night in the Middle-of-Nowhere, Nevada (actually, the wilderness, 45 miles west of Elko - my destination on the first leg of my journey east- and Midwest-ward from Oregon for an upcoming series of directing assignments). I’m fine, the car is perfectly driveable, but will be getting considerable nip-and-tuck work as soon as we get to Milwaukee.

I didn’t drive to Florida - only as far as Knoxville, Tennessee, where I spent three days auditioning and casting a production of “Man of La Mancha” I’ll direct at the Clarence Brown Theatre (home of GRSF text coach Terry Weber, former home of GRSF acting company member (’07 and ‘08), Zack Fine, and home of GRSF Front Porch Speaker (’06), Carol Mayo Jenkins). Flew to Florida from Tennessee, and will retrieve my somewhat worse-for-wear vehicle in Knoxville on my way to Milwaukee. (The deer, by the way, managed to dart — or limp - off into the darkness of the Nevada wilderness. I wish it well.)

But being here for a few days in southern Florida makes me feel like a Snowbird understudy. . . certainly wouldn’t mind a little more time to relish this sense of sort of being on vacation; love getting to see the ocean and getting to dine al fresco - in January, no less - while girding my loins for colder times ahead.

In between “Duet for One” at MCT and “Man of La Mancha” at CBT, I’ll direct a production of “Noises Off” at the beautifully restored Fulton Opera House - home of the Fulton Theatre in Lancaster, PA - with GRSF’er’s Christopher Gerson, Tarah Flanagan, David Graham Jones, the aforementioned Zack Fine, and 2008 season Acting Apprentice, Nick Abeel, playing key roles. It’s a short rehearsal schedule, so having people who know me and with whom I’ve got a lot of trust and shorthand will only help whip us into proper, farce-appropriate shape in time for our early March opening.

As usual, I’ve touched base with many GRSF’ers on this most recent sojourn. . . Apprentice/Intern Project director Rick Barbour and former Apprentice/Intern Bryan Hunt (on a one-day stop-over in Denver, where I auditioned the MFA acting students at the Denver Center Theatre Company’s National Theatre Conservatory); GRSF Associate Director Alec Wild and GRSF actor Shanara Gabrielle (in St. Louis, where two days after my stop-over I learned that the production of Peter Shaffer’s “Amadeus” I directed last fall at Repertory Theatre of St. Louis had been nominated for seven Kevin Kline Awards - St. Louis’s equivalent of Chicago’s Joseph Jefferson Awards); Season Two and Three Lighting Designer Kenton Yeager, in Knoxville - freshly arrived home from an artist-in-residence program in Mexico City — and now, here in lovely Boca Raton, Brad Sadler, former GRSF Acting Apprentice, also from Season Two.

What’s striking about these mini-reunions and check-ins is how quickly Winona comes up in conversation, and how rapturously GRSF company members and alums speak of the community, of their time there, and of their experiences in Winona. Whenever I talk to someone who has yet to visit or be a part of the Festival company, if I’m with anyone who has been to Winona or worked at the Festival, it’s hard to keep them from enthusiastically interrupting with tales about the bluffs, the hiking, biking, camping, and kayaking, the open-armed welcome they’ve received from townspeople, and the quality of their experience working on Shakespeare at GRSF. It’s inspiring and heartening, to say the very least. So even in the long, dark days of winter, Winona is spoken of warmly in all parts of the country - and perhaps those flames of memory, longing, and appreciation help ignite and keep burning the home-fires that glow so hopefully till summer arrives on the Mississippi.

I noted recently in a job posting for a position at Saint Mary’s University that among the more well-known attributes of life in Winona, the city’s burgeoning cultural opportunities have been cited as worthy enticement to consider applying for work here. Winona is now a mid-size community that plays host to Shakespeare, Beethoven, a winter film festival, a museum of marine and maritime art, two universities and a technical college, concerts and local theatre - along with a renowned collection of stained glass, restored Victorian architecture, a beautifully designed and expanded County Historical Museum, the Watkins Museum and more. . . to cite an increasingly lengthy and incomplete list of reasons to take a long, hard look at this city.

What strikes me as more than passingly significant about this aspect of the job posting is that it’s a direct reflection of what we heard from city leaders when we were first invited to establish the Festival in Winona, and what I heard in many informal conversations as I first spent time here: the need to be able to attract and retain employees who appreciate not just the recreational, manufacturing, and educational opportunities for which Winona is well known, but who also hunger for the kind of diverse cultural experience that can deeply enrich their lives.

I don’t know how long Saint Mary’s has been including these features of life in Winona as part of its job descriptions, but it seems clear manifestation of what city leaders hoped to do when they took the bold step of establishing a Shakespeare festival where none had been before. Well done! - and certainly on our part, very grateful to have been of help.

These are treacherous times in which we’re all faced with agonizing, nearly impossible choices about our lives, our finances, and the well being of our communities. This temporary Snowbird, pausing to reflect on a sunny Florida morning before leaping back into the wintry northern fray, is glad to be reminded of what we’ve been working for, where e’er I seem to roam — and appreciative of the opportunities we’ve been provided and which we’ve helped open up as Winona steps into the new century.

We’re looking forward to Season Seven. Stand by for updates!

Cheers from Southern Florida - at least for one more day.
Paul Barnes
Producing Director
Great River Shakespeare Festival

This fall, major donors noticed that vote of confidence from the community. We have new grants from the Kelly Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board to name just two. Both were impressed by the community’s support for GRSF - and they should be impressed. In tough times, people were choosing to support what truly matters to them.

Our community does matter. Now is the time to dream big, and we can do it with your help. Will you support the Festival with a year-end contribution of $10, 25, $50, $100, $500 or more? There is no such thing as a small gift.

Click here to make a donation to GRSF’s end-of-year campaign.


With your help, now is the perfect opportunity to expand our audience and reach even more of the community. In 2010, we’ll add a third play and, yes, a brand new playwright with The Daly News. We’ll run a week longer. We’ll continue our free public Prelude Concerts, education events, Front Porch Speakers, and, of course our critically acclaimed productions of Shakespeare, and we’ll do it all while keeping tickets affordable.

It’s a challenging time to dream big. But the remarkable success of the Great River Shakespeare Festival is due in large part to the generosity and support of our donors: those people who have dared to dream big with us. We are genuinely grateful for all you have done and will continue to do.

Beggars that we are, we are even poor in thanks, but we thank you.

p.s. Will your employer match your gift? Don’t forget to let us know!

…and a surprise - GRSF’s first ever play by someone not named William, first musical, first original work by members of our company:

It’s been our tradition to pair something comedic with something more serious, and in so doing to stretch our resident company in two entirely different directions while also offering audiences a broad and varied playgoing experience. Othello and Comedy continue the tradition we established in our 2004 inaugural season and have endeavored to maintain ever since.”

The Daly News returns as the third production in the GRSF seventh season, after playing a sold-out, one-night only benefit performance in 2009. Written by GRSF founding company member and veteran actor, Jonathan Gillard Daly with music by Larry Delinger and Gregg Coffin, composer of GRSF’s 2009 production of Love’s Labour’s Lost and 2005’s Much Ado About Nothing. A musical adaptation of newsletters compiled by Gillard Daly’s grandfather, Martin Daly, The Daly News chronicles the true story of a family separated by the events of World War II.

As Paul is telling the audience at the Acoustic right now: “Jon, Larry, Gregg and I worked on The Daly News at PCPA Theaterfest in California during the mid-’90’s, and Jon has continued to develop the piece since its successful premiere there. After an acclaimed run at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre last winter, I knew GRSF audiences would respond to this newly evolved work. Winona playgoers were enraptured by The Daly News and have been clamoring to know when they might be able to see it again. We’re happy to include it as part of our 2010 season and expect that it will bring an entirely new audience to the Festival.”

After last year’s moving production of Hamlet, we certainly can’t forget the Apprentice/Intern Production:

Shakespeare’s early revenge play - perhaps the bloodiest of all of Shakespeare’s plays.

One more surprise: we’re going to run a week longer in 2010. The season will open the weekend of June 25th with Comedy of Errors and Othello (and Yo-Yo Ma playing at the Beethoven Festival on Sunday). To celebrate the sacrifices of the greatest generation, we’ll open The Daly News on the 4th of July and run all three in repertory until August 1st. Titus Andronicus joins the line-up July 25th, so you’ll have your choice of 4 plays in the final week, not to mention Prelude Concerts, Front Porch speakers, and all our educational programs.

When you add new exhibits at the Marine Art Museum, concerts at the Beethoven Festival, the Trinona triathalon, kayaking on the Mississippi, biking the bluffs and trails - you may as well sell your cabin now and plan on Winona for the summer.

At least that’s what we think.

With just two weeks left in the 2009 season, Producing Director Paul Barnes challenged us to raise an additional $25,000 in individual donations. It seemed an impossible goal, but Laurie Flanigan-Hegge, GRSF’s new Advancement and Community Development Manager, reports that we not only met the goal, we exceeded it: $27,886.31. In the midst of the worst economy in years, we increased individual donations over 2008 to a total of more than $77,000 in 2009. Once again we find ourselves amazed and grateful. Thank you.

And we are succeeding while strengthening the entire community. Our offer of a free pair of tickets to new members of the Minnesota Marine Art Museum helped them sharply increase their memberships. Offers on our website directly sold more than 400 hotel rooms in Winona this summer. We have stood with our neighbors after a play and talked about love, the nature of forgiveness and “how does Chris Gerson do that with his shoulder blades anyway?”

This economic crisis has caused us all to ask ourselves whether doing Shakespeare in Winona, Minnesota matters and whether it is possible to sustain. Together we are answering both questions with a resounding “yes.”

It is true that grants from corporations and foundations were down. We still have money to raise, but when we go to those larger donors we can tell them that our community believes in us. We can tell them that in spite of the economy, our patrons have donated more this year than ever before. This speaks loudly and clearly to those big arts patrons, and we are seeing the results.

While we may end the 2009 fiscal year with a small deficit, early signs look hopeful for 2010. In these lean years, we are building a company that will flourish in better times. To continue the momentum, click here to donate.

Events

So what are the shows for 2010 going to be? October 10th, 10AM at the Acoustic Cafe in downtown Winona, Paul Barnes is coming to Winona to hold the first ever off-season Festival Morning. He will annouce the 2010 shows and take your questions about the 2009 season. (In case you can’t make it, we’ll announce the shows in this newsletter as well.) If you are in Minneapolis or La Crosse, reply to this email and we’ll let you know about some private events there as well.

Celebrations

Those of you who are dedicated scholars are no doubt wondering about the subject line of this post. Celebration? Doesn’t that word always refer to a nuptial in Shakespeare? Well, since the end of the season we’ve had those as well.

Acting Company members Chris Gerson (Caliban, Don Armado) and Tarah Flanagan (Ariel, Princess of France) married each other in Santa Cruz, California (right). GRSF Technical Director Erik Paulson married his fiancé Shelley Bawiec in Minneapolis (below). Even our lighting designer Lonnie Alcaraz got married to his sweetie Alejandra Gonzalez. This is not exactly what we meant by our “Bridge the Gap - Secure the Future” campaign, but we are happy for all of them.

Education Director Nick Minas is celebrating as well (though in a more modern sense of the word). His production of The Taming of the Shrew at Theo Ubique in Chicago starring GRSF acting company member Jeremy van Meter is getting great reviews (like this one in the Chicago Tribune). It runs until October 4th (tickets and more info).

And the busiest man in show business, our own Paul Barnes, just opened his production of Amadeus at St. Louis Repertory Theater. Early reviews are calling it: “Powerful, sumptuous and compelling.” See a video of him talking about the show and get tickets at www.repstl.org. Just in: Amadeus review St. Louis Today. “Barnes — who directed two of the best shows the Rep ever staged, “Saint Joan” and “Stones in His Pockets” — has an uncanny knack for making the Rep stage seem bigger than it is….”

Just two weeks ago, Paul Barnes stood before The Daly News audience and asked for $25,000 from individual donors to meet GRSF’s 2009 goal. By the time we sent our online appeal, that number was $17,926. Today, that number is down to $1,573. More than $23,000 in two weeks: an astounding achievement.

To all of you who already answered the call to bridge the gap and secure the future, heartfelt thanks.

To those of you who are still considering a donation, your gift will have immediate impact. As we all know, this year has been tough on businesses and foundations across the board. Even new grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and others didn’t fill the gap. Your gift sends a message that GRSF is vital to the well being of our community and our region, and encourages future support from individuals, corporations and foundations.

To keep the momentum alive and make a donation, click here.

Our 2009 season is over, but preparations for 2010 are in full swing. Lear, Hamlet, Comedy of Errors, Henry IV Part 1 and Henry V are all high on the list. Let us know what you think. And, we have a bit of a surprise up our sleeves. You’ll hear about it first right here.

In the meantime, thank you for a wonderful 2009 season.

And for all you do, in the words of our chosen playwright:

“…thanks, and thanks; and ever thanks”

See the full schedule: This Week at GRSF.

Dr. Peter Saccio wrote in The Shakespeare Bulletin:

“what I saw at Winona was so rich that I wished I could see another performance of each [production]…. I wanted instant replay of these nuanced narratives with their precise language, their sudden lightning-stroke revelations of personality, and their sinuous drive.”

See what he has to say about this year’s plays at 1pm Sunday on the Front Porch (buy tickets).

And yes, we need to finish our fund raising goal. Only $12,708 to go.
Close the Gap; Secure the Future: donate now.