SHELTON - Valley Shakespeare Festival, the Valley’s most innovative theater company, will hold a free public event May 3 at Plumb Memorial Library, 65 Wooster St.
Beginning at 2 p.m. with Afternoon Tea with the Queen, the half-day event will continue at 4 p.m. with Shakespeare Jeopardy & Pizza and culminate with an evening performance of Shakespeare’s grand adventure play, “Pericles, Prince of Tyre” at 7 p.m.
The public is invited to attend any, or all, of the three free presentations.
Beginning at 2 p.m. with Afternoon Tea with the Queen, the half-day event will continue at 4 p.m. with Shakespeare Jeopardy & Pizza and culminate with an evening performance of Shakespeare’s grand adventure play, “Pericles, Prince of Tyre” at 7 p.m.
The public is invited to attend any, or all, of the three free presentations.
The event is being held in conjunction with the company’s participation in the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven’s yearly GreatGive event, in which non-profit organizations compete to raise funds.
Valley Shakespeare Festival is a fully volunteer-run, non-profit theater company which relies completely on grants and individual contributions to fund its productions.
In addition to presenting its annual free summer productions at the Riverwalk-Veterans Park and script-in-hand readings of A Christmas Carol every December, VSF partners with Porky’s Café in Shelton for its popular twice-yearly “Theater in the Bar” productions and produces a traveling Education Initiative program for schools, libraries, and other organization wishing to bring the Bard of Avon into their communities.
In addition to presenting its annual free summer productions at the Riverwalk-Veterans Park and script-in-hand readings of A Christmas Carol every December, VSF partners with Porky’s Café in Shelton for its popular twice-yearly “Theater in the Bar” productions and produces a traveling Education Initiative program for schools, libraries, and other organization wishing to bring the Bard of Avon into their communities.
The May 3 event follows a VSF tradition of bringing Shakespeare to the Valley in fun and unusual ways, thereby hoping to continually attract new audiences, and consequently, their support.
Admission is free, but VSF hopes attendees will enjoy the experience so much they will be moved to help out by contributing to them via the GreatGive.
Admission is free, but VSF hopes attendees will enjoy the experience so much they will be moved to help out by contributing to them via the GreatGive.
There is a multitude of organizations which participate in the two-day giving event in various ways, but Valley Shakespeare Festival believes that “experiencing is believing” and that is why it has chosen to hold a live event.
“Lots of organizations pull their members together to get on their phones or go the robo-call route,” says company founder Tom Simonetti, “but we are a theater company and live action is what we do best, so we’ve decided to put it all on the line in one day and show what we have to offer.”
Simonetti, also the company’s Executive and Artistic Director, is known for his uncanny ability to adapt classic works of literature and make them topical and accessible to contemporary audiences without altering the original text.
The success and rapid expansion of programs offered by Valley Shakespeare Festival are the best evidence that his concept seems to be working.
This is a press release from Valley Shakespeare Festival.
The success and rapid expansion of programs offered by Valley Shakespeare Festival are the best evidence that his concept seems to be working.
This is a press release from Valley Shakespeare Festival.
