Utah Shakespearean Festival earns Tony nod

Wednesday, May 10, 2000 | 9:57 a.m.

The Utah Shakespearean Festival of Cedar City, Utah, will join an elite group of regional theaters June 4 when the 40-year-old organization receives a Tony Award that will be presented during a nationally televised ceremony at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

The Tony is given annually for distinguished achievements in theater.

Past winners in the Outstanding Regional Theatre category include La Jolla Playhouse in California, the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, Minn., the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago and the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego.

Fred C. Adams, founder of the Utah Shakespearean Festival and its executive producer, will lead a cadre of festival officials who will attend the ceremony.

"This is, indeed, a great honor for the festival and puts us in the company of the world's greatest," Adams said in a prepared statement. "I, and all of us involved with this project for the past 40 years, are extremely gratified and thrilled. From our humble beginnings in Cedar City to this unbelievable plateau has been quite a journey."

The festival, which began in 1962, is one of the oldest Shakespearean festivals in North America and the fifth largest in size and budget. It offers six plays in repertory in its annual summer season, June through September, and an additional two plays in September and October.

This year's season runs from June 22 to October 14. Among the plays to be presented are "The Merchant of Venice," "The Merry Wives of Windsor" and "The War of the Roses."