The Utah Shakespeare Festival / Southern Utah University Annual Shakespeare Competition

Authors

  • Michael Bahr Utah Shakespeare Festival
  • Don Weingust Center for Shakespeare Studies, Southern Utah University / Utah Shakespeare Festival

Keywords:

Performance Studies, K-12 Education

Abstract

The Utah Shakespeare Festival / Southern Utah University Shakespeare Competition brings upwards of 3,000 students from over 100 high schools and middle schools to Cedar City, Utah each fall to compete in one of the longest-running programs of its kind in the nation. The Competition, mixing elements of competitive and non-competitive gatherings, provides a centerpiece for early academic-year educational programming in Shakespearean literature, theater, dance, and music. The Competition provides significant opportunity for "service Shakespeare," not only for competing students, but also for the sponsoring Shakespeare Festival and University and for many of the University's students, while raising and addressing questions in the controversy over competitive versus non-competitive educational programming. The Competition has developed within a cultural milieu that has contributed significantly to its success.

Author Biographies

Michael Bahr, Utah Shakespeare Festival

Michael Bahr is the Utah Shakespeare Festival's Education Director, with programs reaching 35,000 students annually. He has taught theatre as a high school teacher in California and Utah, created two community theater companies, and teaches theater education courses for Southern Utah University (SUU). A passionate advocate for educational theatre, Bahr serves on numerous boards including SUU's Center for Innovative Education, Utah State Office of Education Professional Outreach Program in the Schools, and the Executive Committee of the Shakespeare Theatre Association. He has testified on the economic impact of the arts in rural areas to the United States House of Representatives.

Don Weingust, Center for Shakespeare Studies, Southern Utah University / Utah Shakespeare Festival

Don Weingust is Director of Shakespeare Studies and Associate Professor of Theatre at the Center for Shakespeare Studies of SUU and the Utah Shakespeare Festival, where he is also a dramaturg. A Berkeley Ph.D., he has performed Off-Broadway and in regional repertory, is a member of Actors Equity Association, the International Shakespeare Conference, and is on the Editorial Board of Theatre Survey. He is founding Chair of the Shakespearean Performance Research Group of ASTR, author of books for Routledge (Acting from Shakespeare's First Folio: Theory, Text, and Performance) and Palgrave Macmillan (Original Practices, forthcoming), and many articles, including for the Folger Shakespeare Library.

Issue Cover text: B&L, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2013. Image: Two actors in traditional Indian dress perform Macbeth and Lady Macbeth deep in discussion.

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Published

2013-09-01

Issue

Vol. 8 No. 2 (2013): Fall/Winter

Section

Articles