Utah Shakespearean Festival begins Thursday

Wednesday, June 19, 2002 | 9:17 a.m.

For new and experienced actors returning to Cedar City and the Utah Shakespearean Festival, the theme of "Just Imagine" strikes the right note, Festival founder Fred Adams said.

After all, Adams asked, "How do you top a Tony Award?"

The Utah Shakespearean Festival won the coveted Tony for Outstanding Regional Theater in 2000. So whats in store this season?

"Just imagine," Adams said. The range of plays this year invites audiences to imagine everything from a giant rabbit to chivalrous knights.

"The Utah Shakespearean Festival isnt just plays, its an attitude," Adams said of the 41st year of his dream come true.

The 2002 season begins Thursday and runs through Oct. 19, And there is a strong connection between Cedar City and Las Vegas.

Las Vegas resident Phil Hubbard will move from behind the stage lights for his roles as Corin in "As You Like It" and the governor/ innkeeper in "Man of La Mancha."

For Hubbard, the head of the M.F.A. acting program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, this is his third season with the Utah Shakespearean Festival.

Last season Hubbard appeared as McComber in "Ah, Wilderness!" Antonio in "The Two Gentlemen of Verona," and Cinna in "Julius Caesar." He also appeared on the Utah stage in 1994.

Another Las Vegas resident, Melinda Pfundstein, graduated from Southern Utah University and is returning for her fifth season at this summers festival. Last year she played Belle in "Ah, Wilderness!" and in 1999, as Gloria Thorpe in "Damn Yankees."

Pfundsein has just completed her first year of graduate school pursuing an M.F.A. at UNLV.

Veteran professional actors are also returning to the festival this summer.

Brian Vaughn, first appearing in the festival in 1991 playing Castrone in "Volpone," returns to the wooden "O" of the Adams Memorial Theatre to play Posthumus Leonatus and Cloten in Shakespeare's "Cymbeline."

He also plays the role of Sandy Tyrell in "Hay Fever," according to festival founder Fred Adams. Vaughn has appeared in more than 20 productions at the Utah festival.

Leslie Brott, who first appeared at the festival in 1992 as Ruth in "Blithe Spirit," returns for her seventh season in the roles of Judith Bliss in "Hay Fever," and Mrs. Ethel Chauvenet in "Harvey."

Last season Brott played Lily Miller in "Ah, Wilderness!," and Martha Brewster in the popular "Arsenic and Old Lace."

Kieran Connolly first performed in the Utah festival 20 years ago. He returned last season to appear as Teddy Brewster in "Arsenic and Old Lace," and as Gonzalo in "The Tempest."

Connolly returns this season to play Richard Greatham in "Hay Fever" and Gratiano in "Othello." He currently teaches graduate and undergraduate acting programs at Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Sam Stewart, who played 17 characters in last season's world premiere production of "Around the World in 80 days," steps into the role of Elwood P. Dowd in "Harvey," and the Duke of Venice in "Othello."

Stewart's first appearance with the Utah Shakespearean Festival was as a Greenshow performer in 1988. Since then, he has gathered regional credits that include more than 30 shows with the Pioneer Theatre Company in Salt Lake City. He also has numerous acting credits in New York City.

Libby George returns this summer to play the roles of Veta Louise Simmons in "Harvey," and the housekeeper in "Man of La Mancha."

George first appeared at the festival in 1998 as Mrs. Dora Moxton in "Relative Values," and the nurse in "Romeo and Juliet." Last season she appeared as Essie in "Ah, Wilderness!," and as Lucetta in "The Two Gentlemen of Verona." She has toured with John Houseman's Acting Company and worked frequently in New York City.

Other performance notes:

Joe Cronin returns to Utah for his second season at the festival, playing several roles, including Duke Senior in "As You Like It," Brabantio in "Othello," and Cornelius and Sicilius Leonatus in "Cymbeline."

Cronin is one of the founders of the Portland Artists Repertory Theatre. He has also performed in England.

Jonathan Gillard Daly plays the roles of David Bliss in "Hay Fever," and the title role in "Cymbeline." He is a member of the resident company at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre.

Robert G. Anderson returns to the festival after four years, playing William R. Chumley, M.D., in "Harvey," and Le Beau in "As You Like It."

Martin Kildare last appeared in the festival in 1997 as Hamlet. This year he plays the role of Iago in "Othello," and Lyman Sanderson, M.D., in "Harvey." Besides stage roles, Kildare has appeared in television roles on "Beverly Hills 90210," "Melrose Place" and "Law and Order."

Peter Sham comes back to Cedar City after a six-year hiatus, in the roles of Sancho Panza in "Man of La Mancha," and Duke Frederick in "As You Like It."

Sham has spent the last two years as artistic director for the Eichelberger Performing Arts Center in Hanover, Penn.

David Toney will appear for the first time at the festival in the title role of Othello. He will also play Jacques in "As You Like it."

Andrea Frierson-Toney makes her festival debut as Aldonza in "Man of La Mancha," and as the queen in "Cymbeline."

Sara Kathryn Bakker makes her first appearance at the festival as Rosalind in "As You Like It" and multiple roles in "Cymbeline."

Michael David Edwards joins the festival for the first time as Touchstone in "As You Like It," Iachamo in "Cymbeline" and multiple characters in "Othello."

Besides stage roles, Edwards has appeared as Mr. Almond on the television program "Frasier."

Anne Newhall appears at the festival for the first time this season as Myra Arundal in "Hay Fever" and Betty Chumley in "Harvey."