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Center Valley, PA: May 29, 2024—Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival (PSF) launches its 2nd annual “Play On!” Community Tour with William Shakespeare’s beloved The Comedy of Errors performing in libraries, parks, and community centers throughout the region May 31 to June 16. These performances are made possible and free for all to enjoy with the generous support of the Sponsor, Air Products, and Co-Sponsors Crayola and Joanne Hartshorne.
The tour kicks-off at the Allentown Arts Park on Friday, May 31, at 12:30pm. Below is the full schedule of the upcoming touring locations, including dates, and times:
Friday, May 31, 12:30pm- Allentown Arts Park
Saturday, June 1, 12pm- National Museum of Industrial History
Sunday, June 2, 2pm- Union Terrace Amphitheatre
Tuesday, June 4, 6pm- Historic Bethlehem Museum & Sites at Burnside Plantation
Wednesday, June 5-Moravian Village (residents only)
Thursday, June 6, 6pm- Allentown Public Library
Friday, June 7, 6pm- Lower Macungie-Hills at Lockridge Park
Saturday, June 8, 11am-Easton Farmer’s Market
Sunday, June 9, 5pm- DeSales University
Wednesday, June 12, 6pm- Bethlehem Area Public Library
Thursday, June 13, 6:30pm- Kutztown Park Bandshell
Friday, June 14, 6pm- Victory Park Amphitheater—Slatington
Saturday, June 15, 3pm- Peddler’s Village
Sunday, June 16, 3pm- Peddler’s Village
The cast of The Comedy of Errors features emerging artists from the Festival’s 2024 Young Company including Lee Baud (Antipholus of Ephesus), Maya Marino Cappello (Abbess/Ensemble), Iyanu Joshuasville (Antipholus of Syracuse), Ciara Kelley (Dromio of Syracuse), Relena Kiser (Dromio of Ephesus), Giovanni Marini (Egeon), Gabrielle Moseley (Adriana), Tommy Stacherski (Angelo), Jabari C. Williams (Duke), and Fiona Wilson (Luciana).
The production is directed by Jessica Bedford, who directed Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility for the PSF Main Stage last season. A Philadelphia-based actor, director, dramaturg, playwright and teacher, Bedford has been seen onstage at McCarter Theatre, Walnut Street Theatre, Lantern Theater, Montgomery Theater, Tiny Dynamite, and Theatre Horizon, among other stages in the Philadelphia region. Recent directing credits include Delaware Shakespeare, Philadelphia Artists’ Collective, Act II Playhouse, DeSales University, and McCarter. Currently, she is an assistant professor of theatre at DeSales University.
The creative team also includes Bridget Brennan (Costume Designer), Eli Lynn (Fight Director), and Karly Amato (Production Stage Manager).
The Comedy of Errors follows the entertaining escapades of two sets of identical twins separated at birth and residing in the same town. Mistaken identities make for hilarious complications until chaos gives way to clarity, and mayhem to mirth, when brother is reunited with brother and a town turned upside-down is turned right-side up again.
The 2024 “Play On!” Community Tour Sponsor is Air Products; and the Co-Sponsors are Crayola and Joanne Hartshorne. The 2024 Season Sponsors are Lee & Dolly Butz. The Associate Season Sponsors are Linda Lapos & Paul Wirth, Kathleen Kund Nolan & Timothy E. Nolan, The Szarko Family, and Harry C. Trexler Trust.
The Festival’s 33rd season runs now thru August 4 featuring three Shakespeare plays The Comedy of Errors, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Cymbeline; along with two musicals, The Color Purple and The Last Five Years; and, in a new collaboration, PSF presents 1812’s production of The Play That Goes Wrong. Additionally, there are two children’s theatre productions, Winnie-the-Pooh & Friends and Shakespeare for Kids.
Single tickets, subscriptions, and packages are on sale now and can be purchased online at pashakespeare.org, by calling the Box Office at 610.282.WILL [9455], or in person at the Labuda Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of DeSales University.
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, the official Shakespeare Festival of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, boasts acclaimed actors from Broadway, television, and film. It serves as the summer home to over 200 artists from around the country, including winners and nominees of the Tony, Obie, Emmy, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Jefferson, and Barrymore Awards.
The 2024 Summer Season—
“Play On!” Community Tour: The Comedy of Errors – May 31 to June 16
Main Stage: PSF presents 1812 Productions: The Play That Goes Wrong
(May 29 to June 16); The Merry Wives of Windsor (June 26 to July 7); The Color Purple
(July 17 to August 4).
Schubert Theatre: The Last Five Years (June 12 to June 30); Cymbeline (July 24 to August 4).
Children’s Theatre: Winnie-the-Pooh & Friends | Schubert Theatre – July 5 to August 3; Shakespeare for Kids (S4K) presents Twelfth Night | Main Stage – July 24 to August 3; S4K Mini Tour: Friday, July 26th at Allentown Public Library; Saturday, July 27th at Lower Macungie Library; Wednesday, July 31st at Bucks County Free Library (Quakertown Branch); Thursday, August 1st at Hellertown Area Library.
The Festival will host its 2nd annual Community Day event on Saturday, July 6, 2024. The event will take place on the mall and in front of the Labuda Center for the Performing Arts.
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival Artistic Leadership
JASON KING JONES (Artistic Director) Prior to moving to the Lehigh Valley with his family, Jason spent ten years at Maryland’s Olney Theatre Center, where he served as Senior Associate Artistic Director and Artistic Director of National Players, America’s longest-running touring theatre company. In the past twenty-five years Jason directed over seventy-five productions, mentored hundreds of early-career theatre makers, and established various in school and summer educational programs. He is an Acting Company alumnus, a proud member of the PSF Board, and a member of the Shakespeare Theatre Association’s IDEAA Committee, and Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Nonprofit & Business Partners Council. Jason holds a BFA in Theatre Performance from Missouri State and an MFA in Directing from Boston University.
CASEY WILLIAM GALLAGHER (Managing Director) has worked at PSF for 26 seasons. Over the years he was a box office intern, a stage management intern, the assistant house manager, box office manager, company manager, assistant producer, director of development and worked directly with PSF Founder Jerry Schubert in the early years of the organization. Since 2004, in his role as general manager and later managing director, he served as the administrative leader of the festival, working very closely with former Producing Artistic Director Patrick Mulcahy and the box office, business, development, marketing and production departments. Casey now serves as co-leader of the Festival with Artistic Director Jason King Jones. Beyond PSF, Casey was treasurer for the Shakespeare Theatre Association, director of audience services for The People’s Light & Theatre Company, a board member for Civic Theatre of Allentown, a peer panelist for the New Jersey Council on the Arts and a judge for the Greater Philadelphia Barrymore Awards for excellence in theatre.
Information provided to TVL by:
Tina Louise Slak
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival
The Professional Theatre at DeSales University
2755 Station Avenue
Center Valley, PA 18034
p: 610-282-WILL [9455]
www.pashakespeare.org
