{"id":203463,"date":"2026-05-27T13:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T13:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/203463\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T13:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T13:12:10","slug":"the-curtain-rises-pa-shakespeare-festival-takes-stage-at-desales-university-southern-lehigh-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/203463\/","title":{"rendered":"The curtain rises: Pa. Shakespeare Festival takes stage at DeSales University | Southern Lehigh County"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>U. SAUCON TWP., Pa. &#8211; The stage is set and the curtain is getting ready to rise on a summer tradition in Lehigh County.<\/p>\n<p>69 News Reporter Sydney Kay was in Upper Saucon Township with a preview of an annual festival getting ready to open Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/pashakespeare.org\/press\/pennsylvania-shakespeare-festival-marks-milestone-35th-anniversary-with-2026-season-announcement\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Pennsylvania\u00a0Shakespeare Festival&#8217;s<\/a> 2026 Summer Theatre Series runs from May 27 through Aug. 2 at DeSales University.<\/p>\n<p>This\u00a0season&#8217;s theme is\u202f\u201cLegends and Legacy,\u201d\u202fcelebrating a &#8220;historic convergence of milestones,&#8221; according to the event website: PSF\u2019s 35th anniversary, its 30th year as the official Shakespeare Festival of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the 25th anniversary of its educational WillPower Tour, and the nation\u2019s 250th birthday.<\/p>\n<p>Festival Artistic Director Jason King Jones said the festival has 149 performances over the next 10 weeks. The festival brings in about 150 to 200 seasonal artists, from craftspeople building sets to people making costumes. 200 volunteers also participate, Jones said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a labor of love,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>He said the company is the largest regional theater in the area.<\/p>\n<p>Akeem Davis, who plays Boy Willie in August Wilson&#8217;s &#8220;The Piano Lesson,&#8221; said Wilson is one of the most prolific American playwrights. He wrote a 10-play cycle. Each of the plays is set in a different decade of the 20th century.<\/p>\n<p>He explores the development of American culture through the lens of African-American culture.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Piano Lesson,&#8221; set in the 1930&#8217;s, is about a family heirloom that has both sentimental and financial value.\u00a0Boy Willie and his sister have different ideas on how to use the asset to propel the family forward.<\/p>\n<p>Do you hold on tightly to your roots, or do you exchange it for the value it can provide and try to build on that? That&#8217;s one of the themes of the play.<\/p>\n<p>Jessica Johnson, who plays Berniece,\u00a0Boy Willie&#8217;s older sister in\u00a0&#8220;The Piano Lesson,&#8221; said this year is the second time she is performing at the festival.<\/p>\n<p>Subscriptions for the 2026 Summer Theatre Series can be purchased online at <a href=\"http:\/\/pashakespeare.org\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">pashakespeare.org<\/a>, by calling the box office at 610.282.WILL [9455], or in person at the Labuda Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of DeSales University in Center Valley, PA. Single tickets will be available for purchase in February 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Below is a list of plays in this year&#8217;s\u00a02026 Summer Theatre Series:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Piano Lesson<\/p>\n<p>By August Wilson<\/p>\n<p>Schubert Theatre \u00b7 May 27 to June 14<\/p>\n<p>Million Dollar Quartet<\/p>\n<p>By Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux<\/p>\n<p>Original Concept and Direction by Floyd Mutrux<\/p>\n<p>Inspired by Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins<\/p>\n<p>Main Stage \u00b7 June 10 to June 28<\/p>\n<p>The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged<\/p>\n<p>By Jessica Bedford, Kathryn MacMillan, Charlotte Northeast, and Meghan Winch<\/p>\n<p>Schubert Theatre \u00b7 June 24 to July 12<\/p>\n<p>Moriarty<\/p>\n<p>A New Sherlock Holmes Adventure<\/p>\n<p>By Ken Ludwig<\/p>\n<p>Main Stage \u00b7 July 16 to August 1<\/p>\n<p>Romeo and Juliet<\/p>\n<p>By William Shakespeare<\/p>\n<p>Main Stage \u00b7 July 8 to August 2<\/p>\n<p>Coriolanus<\/p>\n<p>By William Shakespeare<\/p>\n<p>Schubert Theatre \u00b7 July 22 to August 2<\/p>\n<p>PA Shakespeare Festival\u2014 Family Theatre Series:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPlay On!\u201d Community Tour presents\u2014As You Like It<\/p>\n<p>Touring the Lehigh Valley region and beyond \u00b7 May 29 through June 14<\/p>\n<p>Sheila the Magical \u2014The Princess &amp; The Frog Prince Part 2<\/p>\n<p>Schubert Theatre \u00b7 July 3 to August 1<\/p>\n<p>Shakespeare for Kids presents\u2014Romeo and Juliet<\/p>\n<p>Onstage and touring community libraries \u00b7 July 22 to August 1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U. SAUCON TWP., Pa. &#8211; The stage is set and the curtain is getting ready to rise on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[214,153,155,154,8178,3705],"class_list":["post-203463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-_homepage_top_stories","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-southern-lehigh-county","tag-sunrise"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}