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Center Valley, PA, June 30, 2023—Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival (PSF) presents William Shakespeare’s magical masterpiece The Tempest. Directed by Jason King Jones, the Festival’s newly appointed Artistic Director, and starring Broadway veteran Robert Cuccioli, the production previews July 12 and 13, opens Friday, July 14 and runs through August 6 on the Main Stage at the Labuda Center for the Performing Arts at DeSales University in Center Valley, PA.
Banished from his dukedom, Prospero magically controls an enchanted isle and its inhabitants while raising his cherished daughter Miranda. With an opportunity for vengeance, Prospero summons a tempest to shipwreck his enemies. Yet, unexpected things happen on the island when mortals and magic mix. Shakespeare’s final testament to the redeeming power of love, The Tempest is an enchanting spectacle for all ages.
Commanding the stage and the island, in his PSF debut, is Robert Cuccioli as Prospero. Best known for his dual title roles in the musical Jekyll & Hyde, for which he received the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Chicago’s Joseph Jefferson Awards for “Outstanding Actor in a Musical,” Cuccioli’s additional Broadway credits include Inspector Javert in Les Misérables and Dr. Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin in Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark. Off-Broadway he was seen in And The World Goes ‘Round (Outer Critics Circle Award), Rothschild and Sons (Offie nomination – London), Bikeman: A 9/11 Play, Snow Orchid, White Guy on the Bus, Caesar & Cleopatra, among many others; and most recently in A Touch of the Poet at The Irish Repertory Theatre. His select television and film credits include The Sinner, Elementary, White Collar, The Guiding Light, Woody Allen’s Celebrity, and The Rest of Us. He is currently involved with the new musical Mozart: Her Story now in development and recently performed the role of Malvolio in Twelfth Night at The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey.
“I had the pleasure of working with Robert over 20 years ago, and I am so excited that he’s here with us for this magical production. Robert is such a force to experience on stage, and I cannot wait for our audiences to experience his incredible take on this iconic role. Additionally, I am so excited with the entire company we have assembled to tell the story,” says Jason King Jones PSF artistic director and director of The Tempest.
Prior to joining PSF, Jones spent ten years at Maryland’s Olney Theatre Center, where he served as Senior Associate Artistic Director and Artistic Director of National Players. As a freelance director, he has worked across the US, including the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles and the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. This summer Jones makes his PSF directorial debut with a cast of several new faces and many PSF favorites.
Making their PSF debuts are John Austin as Ferdinand (National Players-Olney Theatre, Arena Stage, Round House, Shakespeare Theatre Company), Sarah Gliko as Ariel (founding member, Wilma HotHouse Acting Company: The Rain Stops Falling-Barrymore Award), Gregory Isaac as Antonio (Lantern Theater, Walnut Street Theatre, Delaware Shakespeare), David Pica as Sebastian (Arden Theatre, Hedgerow Theatre, Delaware Shakespeare), Sue Jin Song as Gonzala (Off- Broadway: The World of Extreme Happiness-NYC premiere, Manhattan Theatre Club), and Billie Wyatt as Miranda (Shakespeare Theatre of NJ: Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors, Shakespeare Live! 2019-2021).
Joining them are returning artists with numerous PSF Shakespeare credits including Akeem Davis as Trinculo (Henry V, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing), Jim Helsinger as Stephano (All’s Well That Ends Well, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Eric Hissom as Alonso (Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, The Taming of the Shrew, Troilus and Cressida, All’s Well that Ends Well), Gina Lamparella as Juno (onstage: Pericles and The Tempest; as director: Richard II, and WillPower Tours), and Christopher Patrick Mullen as Caliban (Richard II, Loveʼs Labour’s Lost, Julius Caesar, Pericles, and many more).
Rounding out the cast are PSF Young Company actors Megan Castellane (Cera), Johnny Drumgoole (Master), Iyanu Joshuasville (Boatswain & Adrian), Nicole Lawrie (Francisca), and Gabrielle Moseley (Iris).
The Tempest will feature projections by CJ Barnwell, sound by David M. Greenberg, lighting by Eric T. Haugen, choreography by Gina Lamparella, original compositions by Johnny Drumgoole, set design by Steve TenEyck, and costumes by Lisa Zinni. The Stage Manager is Leslie Ann Boyden and the Associate Stage Manager is Emma D. Emde. Rodrigo Hernandez Martinez is the associate scenic designer and Eli Lynn is the intimacy director.
Audiences can enhance the experience before every performance with live music and a variety of dining options “On the Green,” and a free prologue for insights into the play held in the theatre 45 minutes prior to curtain. Other special offerings are an Opening Night post-show champagne toast with the PSF Company on Friday, July 14; a specialty dinner themed to the play with behind-the-scenes insights on Wednesday, July 19, at 5:00pm; a talk back with the actors after the show on Thursday, August 3; and an Audio Described and Open Captioned performance on Saturday, July 29, at 2:00pm.
The Production Sponsor for The Tempest is Amaranth Foundation, the Co-Sponsor is Joanne Hartshorne, and the Actor Sponsors are Lee and Dolly Butz. The 2023 Season Sponsors are Yvonne Payne and Edward Spitzer. The Associate Season Sponsors are Douglas Dykhouse, Linda Lapos and Paul Wirth, Kathleen Kund Nolan and Timothy E. Nolan, The Szarko Family, and Harry C. Trexler Trust.
Tickets can be purchased online or by calling 610.282.WILL [9455] or by visiting the PSF box office at the Labuda Center for the Performing Arts.
Summer 2023 Season:
Schubert Stage: Henry IV, Part 2 (May 31 to June 11); James and the Giant Peach (July 7 to Aug 5); Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill (July 19 to August 6).
Main Stage: In the Heights (June 14 to July 2); The Tempest (July 12 to August 6); Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility (July 20 to August 6); Shakespeare for Kids (July 26 to August 5).
Outdoor Summer Stage: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised] [again] (June 28 to July 16).
“Play On!” A Midsummer Night’s Dream Community Tour: (June 2 to June 18).
Artistic Leadership, Cast, and Creative Bios, here.
About Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival is the only professional Equity theatre of its scope and scale within a 50-mile radius. PSF is one of only a handful of theatres on the continent producing Shakespeare, musicals, classics, and contemporary plays, all of which can normally be seen in repertory and in multiple spaces within a few visits in a single summer season. Similarly, PSF was among just a handful of theatres on the continent in recent summers to produce three Shakespeare plays in a single summer season. A patron would have to travel seven to nine hours from PSF to find a comparable range of offerings at a single theatre within a few weeks’ time.
The Festival’s award-winning company of many world-class artists includes Broadway, film, and television veterans, and winners and nominees of the Tony, Emmy, Obie, Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Jefferson, Hayes, Lortel, and Barrymore awards. A leading Shakespeare theatre with a national reputation for excellence, PSF has received coverage in The Washington Post, NPR, American Theatre Magazine, Playbill.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and in recent seasons The New York Times has identified PSF as one of the leading summer theatre festivals in the nation. “A world-class theater experience on a par with the top Bard fests,” is how one New York Drama Desk reviewer characterized PSF.
Founded in 1992 and the Official Shakespeare Festival of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, PSF’s mission is to enrich, inspire, engage, and entertain the widest possible audience through first-rate productions of classical and contemporary plays, with a core commitment to Shakespeare and other master dramatists, and through an array of education and mentorship programs. A not-for-profit theatre, PSF receives significant support from its host, DeSales University, from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Traditionally, with 150 performances over ten weeks, the Festival attracts patrons each summer from 30+ states. In 30 years, PSF has offered 200+ total productions (82 Shakespeare), and entertained 1,000,000+ patrons from 50 states, now averaging 34,000-40,000 in attendance each summer season, plus another 13,000 students each year through its WillPower Tour to schools. PSF is a multi-year recipient of awards from the National Endowment for the Arts: Shakespeare in American Communities, and is a constituent of Theatre Communications Group, and the Shakespeare Theatre Association (STA). In 2013, leaders of the world’s premiere Shakespeare theatres gathered at PSF as the Festival hosted the international STA Conference. The Festival’s vision is for world-class 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
