2010 Shakespeare festival opens Friday!

Riverside – William Shakespeare's Love’s Labour’s Lost, directed by Theodore Swetz, will open the 2010 Riverside Theatre Shakespeare Festival on June 11. The Festival will also include performances of Romeo and Juliet. All performances are Romeo and Juliet will open on June 18 and the two shows will be performed in rotation at the Riverside Festival Stage in Lower City Park until July 11. This is the first time Riverside has produced Love's Labour's Lost; Romeo and Juliet was last performed in 2002.

One of Shakespeare’s most romantic and wittiest comedies, Love’s Labour’s Lost is a feast of young love, ripe with parody, puns and surprises. A king and his noblemen swear off women to concentrate on their studies. Then, four of France’s most alluring beauties arrive! Kansas City director Theodore Swetz is a founding company member of American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin, and is currently head of graduate actor training at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Love’s Labour’s Lost features Zachary Andrews as the young King of Navarre. His lords are played by Michael Daniel Anderson, Andrew Truschinski and Michael Perez. The Princess of France is played by Kalen Harriman; her ladies are Cristina Panfilio, Kersten Haile and Emily Draffen, and an attending lord is played by Riverside co-founder Ron Clark. Comic characters include Tim Budd as Armado the Braggart, Patrick DuLaney as Costard the Clown, David Tull as Dull the Constable, Dan Stearns as Nathaniel the Curate, and Riverside co-founder Jody Hovland as Holofernes the Pedant. Jessica Flood, Andrew Clancy and Dennis Florine round out the cast. The costumes are designed by Lindsay W. Davis, scenic and lighting design by Paul Sannerud, original music and sound design by Timothy Munger.

To make an evening of the Festival, audience members are invited to bring a blanket and enjoy a picnic in City Park. Concession items are available for sale before the show and during intermission. One hour before each main stage performance, patrons may gather at the Green Show stage (located next to the pavilion) to brush up on the plot of that night’s play with original story theatre versions of the evening’s play performed by the Festival Intern Company.

Patrons are also invited to take advantage of Family Night discounts. On Family Nights, up to two adults accompanying a youth (18 or younger) will receive their tickets at the $15 youth price. Family Night performances for Love’s Labour’s Lost are scheduled for June 22 and July 6; Family Night on June 29 will feature Romeo and Juliet. Family Night shows begin at 7 p.m.

Directions to Lower City Park and information about parking can be found at www.riversidetheatre.org. Ticket prices range from $15 to $37, with discounts available for youth, students and seniors. Group discounts are also available. To purchase tickets, call the box office at (319) 338-7672 or visit www.riversidetheatre.org.