Cymbeline
by William Shakespeare
directed by Rob Duval

July 20 - July 29, 2012

How hard it is to hide
the sparks of nature!

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Synopsis
One of Shakespeare's late plays, Cymbeline is often classified as a Romance. Along with Pericles, The Winter's Tale and The Tempest, Cymbeline is a story that utilizes, in a new way, elements of comedy and tragedy that Shakespeare had explored in earlier plays. While all of these stories have happy endings, they involve loss and painful journeys towards redemption. Cymbeline is a play in which redemption is achieved through forgiveness and reconciliation.

Cymbeline is filled with light, laughter, music and comedy. In Cymbeline, Shakespeare creates a fairy-tale world with separated lovers, an evil step-mother, a magic potion, mistaken identities, a relentless villain, a brief war, long-lost brothers and a happy ending.

A more detailed synopsis of the plot

Companion Lecture
FREE companion lecture, Friday, July 27 at 6:30pm

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Henry VIII
by William Shakespeare
directed by Taurie Kinoshita

August 10 - August 19, 2012

The net has fall'n upon me
The will of heaven be done
in this and all things ...

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Synopsis
Shakespeare’s Henry the 8th selectively charts events in the life of the iconic monarch from The Field of the Cloth of Gold through the birth of his daughter, Elizabeth I. King Henry is a man who turned against nearly all those close to him--he had six wives, two of whom he had beheaded.  Shakespeare’s version of the illustrious sovereign, is an ode to the grandeur of Renaissance England. Henry the 8th is one of Shakespeare’s final plays; it is--at the same time--a masque, a history, a romance and a tragedy. The downfall of three great individuals (Buckingham, Cardinal Wolsey and Queen Katherine of Aragon) are a pretext for the birth of Elizabeth; her reign represents England in one of its finest hours--its Golden Age.

Amidst the political intrigue, passion, machinations and betrayal of 16th century court, we witness an arrest, a trial, a beheading, a divorce, a masque, a vision, a coronation, death and a baptism. In Shakespeare’s most visually audacious and pageant-like work, fate spells catastrophe for even the best of us. Whether Reformation era Britain or America in the 21st century, the forces of destiny shape our lives, from greatness to death to regeneration: that which rises must inevitably fall. In Henry the 8th, we see the drama that is history, the power and the hand of Providence--shattering lives, weaving fortunes and reaching all the way into the present--to encompass even our own modern society in its cold and merciless embrace.

Companion Lecture
FREE companion lecture, Saturday, August 11 at 6:30pm

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Richard III
by William Shakespeare
directed by Tony Pisculli

August 24 - September 2, 2012

Since I cannot prove a lover ...
I am determined to prove
a villain ..

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Synopsis

The crown jewel in Shakespeare's History cycle, Richard III concludes the famous War of the Roses begun in the Henry VI trilogy, and features one of Shakespeare's most charismatic and dangerous villains, the "rudely stamped" Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who will stop at nothing in his quest to be the King of England.

This all-female production (a biennial HSF tradition) stars Stephanie Kong as the murderous Duke who lays waste to his entire family and all who stand between him and the crown.

Companion Lecture
FREE companion lecture, Saturday, August 25 at 6:30pm

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