KILGORE, Texas (KLTV) – The 41st season of the Texas Shakespeare Festival will feature performances including “Hamlet,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and “1776,” a musical based on America’s founding.
Actors are coming in from across the country to perform in Kilgore.
Nicholas Dipuma, who plays both Hamlet and Thomas Jefferson, said this is his fifth year with the festival.
“I really love the community,” Dipuma said. “It’s not everywhere in the country where you work that the community loves you so much and takes care of you as much as East Texas does. And so, it’s always a pleasure to be here and give back to them what they give to us.”
This is artistic director Meaghan’s Simpson’s sixth year leading the festival.
“This year we just really wanted to kind of double down on all the things that we do well,” Simpson mentioned. “One of the things we wanted to really highlight and celebrate is the America 250, and so we’re doing ”1776″ in honor of that and to kind of remind us about the founding of this country and the good and the bad and the challenges that our founding fathers faced.”
Simpson said she hopes to create the next generation of theater lovers.
“We all love Netflix, and going to see the movies, but when you come to the theater, and if you see good theater, and you see it well done, I believe you will become a theater lover,” Simpson said.
The festival kicks off June 25.
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