The Scranton Shakespeare Festival is having faith in its 15th season. Faith, in several forms, is the theme of the season that starts June 19. Beyond Shakespeare, the professional troupe offers classic musicals and other plays.
“We’ve sort of found different ways to explore this theme that we thought was really important and wide-ranging,” said Michael Bradshaw Flynn, the artistic director and co-founder.
The mainstage season, with a professional troupe of visiting and local performers, will feature “Carousel,” followed by an adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s “Saint Joan,” William Shakespeare’s “Henry V” and the musical “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
The high school ensemble will do Shakespeare’s comedy “Much Ado About Nothing” and the musical “Alice By Heart.” It is inspired by “Alice in Wonderland” but set in the London Blitz of World War II.
The plays are free. Tickets to the musicals are $25.
Scrantonian Madelyn Casey is returning to the festival after a national tour in a children’s show. She will play Julie, the female lead in “Carousel.” It will run June 26-28 and July 25. Casey will also be in the ensembles of “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Saint Joan.” She is the daughter of Patrick and Tracy-Lyn Casey.
Madelyn Casey (COURTESY OF MADELYN CASEY)
“Carousel” is “an important story about not giving up, and leaning on your community and the people you’re involved with and having faith that everything will be OK,” Casey said.
It was written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II and set in New England in the late 1800s. A doomed lover’s redemption arc features the song “You Will Never Walk Alone.”
The 1940s musical is funny but also includes themes of domestic violence and suicide, which “will require delicate examination and a closer look” from today’s viewpoint, Flynn said.
The adult ensemble of about 44 performers and 14 technical staff draws from a wide area, including Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia, Texas and elsewhere. Managing director Jonathan Stephens lives in the United Kingdom. Some are local residents or area natives who moved away for their careers and are returning to perform.
In addition to Casey, mainstage performers and technical staff with local ties include Ashley Bohn, Jennifer Cowgill, Heidi Lewis, Nicola Pugliese, Rocco Pugliese, Hannah Sottile, Colin Holmes, Jimmy Williams, Dominique Ferraro, Kelly Jean Graham, Dawn McGurl, Kiana Grella, Marissa Duricko, Maura Malloy and Caroline Lapinski.
Regional high school students make up most of the youth ensemble, which has more than 30 performers. It is producing the first show of the season, “Much Ado About Nothing,” on June 19-21 and again in July.
The shows are a great way to bring the community together, Casey said. “And especially with this season of faith and community, it is an important one for people to see, to celebrate the 15 years of SSF,” she said.
The musicals will be produced at a new venue, Church of the Good Shepherd in the Green Ridge section of Scranton. “It’s really a breathtaking space,” Flynn said. Musicals usually draw the biggest audiences and the church is much bigger than the festival’s permanent home in the Marketplace at Steamtown.
Ticket sales begin June 5 on the website scrantonshakes.com.
A fundraising gala and musical performance will be held at Sergei’s in Scranton on Sunday, July 26.
Scranton Shakespeare Festival season
“Much Ado About Nothing”: June 19-21 and July 22
“Carousel”: June 26-28 and July 25
“Saint Joan”: July 2-5 and July 24
“Henry V”: July 10-12 and July 23
“Jesus Christ Superstar”: July 17-19 and July 25-26
“Alice by Heart”: July 30-Aug. 2.
Concert: The Scranton Shakespeare Festival’s 15th Birthday Celebration, a fundraising concert, July 26.