Audrey Young, left, and Jake Nichols perform in “Winter’s Tale,” a production of the Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival.
Image courtesy of Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival
September 18, 2019
Las Vegas, N.M. – New Mexico Highlands University presents the Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival performance of Shakespeare’s “Winter’s Tale” Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. and Sept. 28 at 2 p.m.
The plays are free to the public. Both performances are in Highlands University’s historic Ilfeld Auditorium at 900 University Ave.
“We’re very excited to come back to Highlands,” said Dawn Tucker, executive director of the Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival. “The faculty and community were incredibly welcoming in January and we’re all delighted to be traveling there again.”
Ilfeld Auditorium manager Donna Martínez said, “‘Winter’s Tale’ is an opportunity to experience Shakespeare at its finest, presented by a professional company.”
According to the Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival, “Winter’s Tale” is “a story of a family torn apart by jealousy and separated by oceans. Through powers both human and mystical, and situations both zany and dire, the characters journey through their own vices to find love and forgiveness. Shakespeare’s greatest gift to us may be his stories of redemption.”
Shakespeare wrote “Winter’s Tale” in 1623. Originally it was classified as a comedy, but in later years it became known as a romance with a happy ending.
Sean Golightly, a theater critic, wrote about the Flagstaff Shakespeare production of “Winter’s Tale,” “The beauty of Shakespeare, or rather of these actors in this play, is their ability to comingle light-hearted melodrama alongside genuine heartache and true reflection on the human condition.”
Rebecca Prezznick, another theater critic, wrote, “’Winter’s Tale’ was absolutely brilliant and inspiring.”
The stated mission of the Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival, affectionately known as FlagShakes, is to faithfully portray classics of the Renaissance as well as produce other actor-driven plays.
According to the Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival website, the festival strives through educational outreach to enlighten its audiences and revitalize empathy.