Holy Cross Partners With Redfeather Theatre to Bring Summer Shakespeare Festival to Worcester

WORCESTER, Mass. – The College of the Holy Cross and Redfeather Theatre Company have partnered to present Shakespeare’s As You Like It from Aug. 2 to 20, Wednesdays through Sundays, at 7 p.m., at the Memorial Grove Amphitheatre in Green Hill Park. General seating is $14; $10 for students and seniors. Tickets can be purchased at the event. The production is directed by Edward Isser, associate professor and chair of the theatre department at Holy Cross.

The partnership between Redfeather and Holy Cross is the latest community development project the College has undertaken. Timothy J. Smith, founder and artistic director of Redfeather, was hired as an adjunct professor in the theatre department at the College, and the relationship between Redfeather and Holy Cross flowered. Redfeather began the tradition of Shakespeare in the Park for the Worcester area last year with their production of The Tempest. While there are dozens of Shakespeare festivals held throughout the country in the summer, Worcester has been without one for almost 10 years.

As You Like It is about a group of people who have lost their rightful status in society and are banished to the Forest of Arden, a foreboding wilderness. Fearful of the unknown, hungry and without hope, they are shocked to find an idyllic place of song, comradeship and love. The characters discover that their forced banishment becomes a respite — an escape from the harshness of the outside world. However, they also find that the real dangers in the forest are the complexities and mysteries of their own hearts. The play in comedic fashion examines the terrifying and transformative nature of love — in all its permutations.

Isser has been directing Shakespeare regularly at Holy Cross since he joined the faculty more than a decade ago. His first Shakespeare production at the College, Measure for Measure, won an award in directing from the American College Theatre Festival. Since then he has directed Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet at Foothills Theatre and four other Shakespeare productions on campus.

The cast of As You Like It is made up of students, alumni, members of the local community and esteemed Holy Cross theatre professor Steve Vineberg.

For more information, visit the Redfeather Theatre Co. Web site. For press tickets and publicity photos, please contact Joe Mader in the theatre department at 508-793-3490 or jmader@holycross.edu.