It's day one of Shakespeare on the Road and our team of intrepid road trippers are getting started at the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival in Kansas City, Missouri. Here's what the festival organisers have to say about who they are and what they do:
The Festival's Mission
"To make Shakespeare’s works accessible to a diverse audience through free professional theatre and educational programs.
HASF's core activity is an annual production of a Shakespeare play or plays, presented free to the public at Southmoreland Park. The Festival continues to introduce Kansas City audiences to the broad range of Shakespeare's works. The Festival's level of professional artistic quality is key to our continued success. We have the best and brightest Kansas City-based artists, actor, designers, and technicians, ensuring excellence.
Every summer for the past twenty-two years, HASF has constructed a stage and theatre space in a city park. Families and friends gather under the trees to enjoy a picnic supper and are entertained by the Team Shakespeare parody, enriched by Show Talk, and have an enjoyable evening of conversation and community with friends and family before the play begins.
This year, the festival will produce The Winter’s Tale, from June 17 - July 6, 2014. The season offers six nightly performances each week for a total of 18 performances.
The Winter’s Tale is a true tragi-comedy; three acts of tragedy, two acts of comedy and a miraculous ending. A cast of 20 adults, six teenagers and 1 boy will bring the story to life nobly aided by LIVE musicians onstage (we haven’t had live music onstage in 15 years!)
Go to www.kcshakes.org for all the info on pre-show activities, dining options and information about parking, seating and all things FESTIVAL. See you in the park!"
