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Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival Announces 2021 Summer Season

Shakespeare and James Ijames plays are on the slate for its final summer before a move to a new home.

GARRISON, N.Y.: The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival has announced plans for its 2021 summer season, which will be presented in alternative formats if in-person performances are not able to proceed in time. This will also be the company’s final season on the grounds of Boscobel House and Gardens, where it has been in residence for 34 years, before it moves to its new permanent home in Philipstown, N.Y. Full information, including dates and ticket information, will be announced at a later date.

“Planning a season in an ongoing pandemic is a challenge, but we feel that we are uniquely positioned to make theatre under an open-air tent next summer,” said artistic director Davis McCallum in a statement. “A scaled-back two-play season will allow us to adapt to the changing circumstances of the pandemic and returns us to our roots as a repertory company, with many of the same actors appearing in both plays.”

The first play of the summer season will be Shakespeare’s The Tempest, directed by company member Ryan Quinn.

The second play will be The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington, by James Ijames, which explores the ramifications of America’s original sin as Martha Washington lies on her deathbed, surrounded by the slaves who will be freed when she dies. Taylor Reynolds will direct.

In addition to the two-play season, the theatre will offer an audio production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, adapted and directed by Raz Golden, which will be shared with partner schools as a podcast.

Founded in 1987, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival stages productions every summer in an open-air tent overlooking the Hudson River.

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