Romeo and Juliet - Saratoga Shakespeare Company

Saratoga Shakespeare celebrates Shakespeare’s 400^th and SUMMER 2016 with 2 shows in Congress Park

Saratoga Shakespeare Company is celebrating our 16th summer season of free outdoor theater in beautiful Congress Park in downtown Saratoga Springs, NY and we’ve added more additional programming in our continuing partnership with Skidmore College! Cyrano OPENS JULY 19^th. This Free Production in Congress Park Runs through JULY 30^th. We will also be offering another Free Production of the Bard’s timeless tale, Romeo and Juliet, in Congress Park, OPENING AUGUST 2^nd and running through AUGUST 7^th.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY, May 11, 2015 -– Saratoga Shakespeare Company has brought years of free professional summer productions to Saratoga Springs since 2000. This year, we are pleased to announce an expanded summer season. For the first time, our company will present two productions and our first three-week summer season in Saratoga’s beautiful Congress Park. This summer is also celebration of Love, Laughs and Swordplay as part of Shakespeare’s 400^th Legacy Anniversary Year.

Saratoga Shakespeare is thrilled to welcome back founding artistic director William Finlay to direct Cyrano, a new translation of Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac by Michael Hollinger and adapted by Michael Hollinger and Aaron Posner. Cyrano is the first non-Shakespeare classical play to be performed by the company, and celebrates one of theatre’s most memorable characters and a beloved and romantic story. This will be the first play of Saratoga Shakespeare’s expanded three-week, two-production Congress Park season. Cyrano will be performed on the Alfred Z. Solomon Stage in historic Congress Park in the heart of Saratoga Springs. The production opens on Tuesday, July 19^th and runs through Saturday, July 30^th. Performances are at 6:00 PM Tuesday through Saturday, and 3:00 PM on Sunday.

Saratoga Shakespeare’s second Congress Park production is another beloved romance, and one of the company’s most requested of Shakespeare’s plays, Romeo & Juliet. David Girard, who directed both critical hits The Merry Wives of Windsor and Macbeth, and is a frequent guest actor with the company, will direct the production. Romeo & Juliet opens on Tuesday, August 2^nd and runs through Sunday, August 7^th. Performances are at 6:00 PM Tuesday through Saturday, and 3:00 PM on Sunday.

The Saratoga Shakespeare Company employs members of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers, as well as several very talented non-union professionals, and members of their select internship program. Many cast members will be featured in both summer productions.  The excellent casts include some returning company members and several new faces. The company is thrilled to welcome back Wesley Broulik in the title role of Cyrano.  Wesley was the hilarious Don Armado in last summer’s production of Love’s Labour’s Lost. He has performed off-Broadway and regionally, in television and in feature films. Saratoga Shakespeare Company is thrilled to welcome a new cast member, Wynn Harmon, with extensive credits on Broadway, off-Broadway, The Kennedy Center, Glimmerglass Opera, and many regional theatre companies. Returning professional cast members include several area favorites, including Associate Artistic Director Tim Dugan, Yvonne Perry, John Romeo, and David Baecker. Saratoga Shakespeare is proud to note that many of our Equity cast members are also distinguished teachers at colleges and universities throughout the region and country and serve as mentors to the company’s interns.

In addition, our fabulous intern company will be performing a travelling production of Much Ado About Nothing, running from August 3rd – August 6th in multiple locations throughout Saratoga Springs. Times and Dates are TBD. 

The Saratoga Shakespeare Company is grateful to Skidmore College for their generous grant, and generous support from The Office of Special Programs and the Department of Theater. The company is thrilled to be the recipient of a Community Arts Grant from Saratoga Arts as well as an Alfred Z Solomon Grant.

For further information, visit www.saratogashakespeare.com or Saratoga Shakespeare’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/SaratogaShakespeare, or you can contact Associate Artistic Director, David Girard, at 518-528-1677 (david@davidmgirard.com), or our Executive Director, Barbara Opitz, at 518-587-2166 (bopitz@skidmore.edu).