FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 20, 2019
Contact: Tina.slak@pashakespeare.org
CENTER VALLEY, PA— Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival launches its 28th season with the children’s theatre production, The Adventures of Robin Hood and Maid Marian. The show opens May 31 and runs through August 3 in the Schubert Theatre at the Labuda Center for the Performing Arts on the Center Valley campus of DeSales University.
Righting wrongs and making quick escapes are only half the fun! Join Robin Hood, Maid Marian, and a merry band of adventurers seeking freedom and vitality in the Sherwood Forest. A delightful tale for kids ages three to tween.
Children can get a front row seat for the fun with on-stage carpet seating and everyone can meet the cast after the performance for autographs and pictures.
The Adventures of Robin Hood and Maid Marian will be performed by PSF’s Young Company. Mark Yowakim will play Robin Hood and Mackenzie Moyer will play Maid Marian. Joining them in the cast are Taylor Congdon, Kailey Edwards, Megan Fry, Angela LaRose, Iykechi McCoy, Jayce Meredith, Gabe Moses, Alyssa Ramsey, Matt Smaldone, and Jhalil-Marquis Younger.
The Festival’s Young Company, internships, and apprenticeships programs are among the Festival’s longest educational traditions. The Festival provides highly-coveted opportunities each year to DeSales University theatre majors. An intensive, experience-based professional development program, these positions rigorously prepare student artists and administrators for a fruitful career in the theatre industry in a “teaching hospital” active, practical setting. In addition to the children’s production, Young Company members appear in all of PSF’s mainstage performances throughout the summer and, in this production as well, benefit by working directly with PSF main stage professional directors and designers.
Tickets are $13 for children (12 and under) and $17 for adults. Tickets can be purchased online at www.pashakespeare.org or by calling the PSF box office at 610.282.WILL [9455].
The Adventures of Robin Hood and Maid Marian will have the following accessible performances:
Relaxed Performance (RP): Friday, June 28 at 10:00am
- A sensory-friendly show which creates a judgment-free and inclusive environment for patrons with a wide range of sensory and communication differences, including individuals on the autism spectrum, young children, and people of all abilities who would benefit from a relaxed experience.
Audio Described (AD): Saturday, July 27 at 10:00am
- These performances benefit patrons who are blind or have low vision by providing spoken narration about the visual content of a play.
American Sign Language Interpreted (ASL): Saturday, July 27 at 10:00am
- American Sign Language is used for interpreting the play for deaf or hard of hearing audiences.
For more information about the Festival’s accessible performances, including pricing for the Relaxed Performance, call the PSF box office at 610.282.WILL [9455].
The Productions Sponsors for The Adventures of Robin Hood and Maid Marian are Steve and Jane Auvil. The Co-sponsors are Dr. James and Penny Pantano and Darbin and Deborah Skeans.
The 2019 Festival Season Sponsor is Valerie Moritz Smith. The Associate Season Sponsors are Linda Lapos and Paul Wirth, Kathleen Kund Nolan and Timothy E. Nolan, the Szarko family, and Harry C. Trexler Trust.
The professional theatre company at DeSales University, PSF features acclaimed actors from Broadway, television, and film, winners and nominees of the Tony, Obie, Drama Desk, and other major theatre awards, from New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and around the country.
Summer 2019 Season:
Main Stage: Crazy for You (June 12 to June 30), Antony and Cleopatra (July 10 to Aug 4), Private Lives (July 18 to Aug 4), Shakespeare for Kids (July 24 to Aug 3).
Schubert Theatre: The Adventures of Robin Hood and Maid Marian (May 31 to Aug 3), The Mystery of Irma Vep (June 20 to July 14), Henry IV, Part 1 (July 24 to Aug 4).
About Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Patrick Mulcahy, is the only professional Equity theatre of its scope and scale within a 50-mile radius. PSF is one of only a handful of theatres on the continent producing Shakespeare, musicals, classics, and contemporary plays, all of which can all be seen in rep and in multiple spaces within a few visits in a single summer season. Similarly, PSF was among just a handful of theatres on the continent this summer to produce three Shakespeare plays in a single summer season. A patron would have to travel seven to nine hours from PSF to find a comparable range of offerings at a single theatre within a few weeks’ time.
The Festival’s award-winning company of many world-class artists includes Broadway, film, and television veterans, and winners and nominees of the Tony, Emmy, Obie, Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Jefferson, Hayes, Lortel, and Barrymore awards. A leading Shakespeare theatre with a national reputation for excellence, PSF has received coverage in The Washington Post, NPR, American Theatre Magazine, Playbill.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and in recent seasons The New York Times has identified PSF as one of the leading summer theatre festivals in the nation. “A world-class theater experience on a par with the top Bard fests,” is how one New York Drama Desk reviewer characterized PSF.
Founded in 1992 and the Official Shakespeare Festival of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, PSF’s mission is to enrich, inspire, engage, and entertain the widest possible audience through first-rate productions of classical and contemporary plays, with a core commitment to Shakespeare and other master dramatists, and through an array of education and mentorship programs. A not-for-profit theatre, PSF receives significant support from its host, DeSales University, from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. With 150 performances of seven productions, the Festival attracts patrons each summer from 30+ states. In 27 years, PSF has offered 168 total productions (72 Shakespeare), and entertained 900,000+ patrons from 50 states, now averaging 34,000-40,000 in attendance each summer season, plus another 13,000 students each year through its WillPower Tour. PSF is a multi-year recipient of awards from the National Endowment for the Arts: Shakespeare in American Communities, and is a constituent of Theatre Communications Group, and the Shakespeare Theatre Association. In 2013, leaders of the world’s premier Shakespeare theatres gathered at PSF as the Festival hosted the international STA Conference.
The Festival’s vision is for world-class work.
PATRICK MULCAHY (Producing Artistic Director, PSF) Since assuming leadership in 2003, Mulcahy has led PSF’s surge in artistic excellence, financial stability, and national recognition. Accomplishments include first-ever grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, attracting a multitude of award-winning artists including winners and nominees of the Tony, Obie, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Barrymore, and Emmy awards, a doubling of annual attendance, a successful campaign to double the Festival’s endowment, and the expansion of the number of Actors’ Equity contracts per season. He led the strategic planning process that led to PSF’s Vision 2030, a commitment to world-class professional theatre, and coverage in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Washington Post. As a professional director, actor, and fight director, credits include Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theatre, television and radio. Mr. Mulcahy has acted with many industry luminaries including Don Cheadle, Angela Bassett, Cynthia Nixon, and Tony Shaloub at the New York Shakespeare Festival, The Roundabout Theatre, Hartford Stage, Great Lakes Theatre Festival, and the Walnut Street Theatre. He served as fight director for A Few Good Men on Broadway, and multiple Off-Broadway productions starring Marcia Gay Harden, John Mahoney, Patrick Dempsey, and John Savage. He directed Oscar nominee Vera Farmiga in The Real Thing, and, for PSF, directed The Winter’s Tale, Henry IV, Part 1, The Tempest, Antony and Cleopatra, Hamlet, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, and Shakespeare in Love. Also Head of Acting at DeSales, Patrick holds degrees in acting and directing from Syracuse University.
2019 Young Company Bios:
Taylor Congdon (Scarlett) DeSales University Act 1 credits: Pippin, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, Into the Woods, The Devil’s Disciple, Murder on the Nile, Young Frankenstein, The Crucible, and The Homecoming: a Christmas Story.
Kailey Edwards (Sheriff) Previous PSF credits: Shakespeare for Kids (Self); Act 1 credits: Young Frankenstein (Elizabeth Benning) and Peter and the Starcatcher (Smee). Other credits: My Fair Lady (Eliza Dolittle).
Megan Fry (Widow) is returning for a second year with the Festival, having performed as an ensemble member and as Mother in Ragtime last summer. Megan is a rising senior musical theatre major here at DeSales University and recently performed in their production of Pippin as an ensemble member. The Shawnee Playhouse credits: The Addams Family (Morticia), Oklahoma! (Gertie Cummings), and I Do! I Do! (Agnes).
Angela LaRose (Rufus) returning to PSF for her third summer. Angela is a rising senior musical theatre major at DeSales. Some of her previous credits include PSF’s productions of Ragtime (Ensemble/ Evelyn Nesbit u/s performed) and Evita (Ensemble). Other credits include Pippin (Fastrada), Dames At Sea (Ruby), Young Frankenstein (Ensemble/Inga u/s), and Into The Woods (Cinderella u/s).
Iykechi McCoy(Little John)a rising senior musical theatre major at DeSales University.
Jayce Meredith (Beuford) is a musical theatre graduate from DeSales University. He was previously an ensemble member in PSF’s productions of Evita and Ragtime, and is honored to return to the Festival for their productions of Crazy For You and Robin Hood.
Gabe Moses (Andy) is a rising junior theatre major here at DeSales University and is excited be to a part of his second season at PSF. Last year, he performed in Ragtime as Matthew Henson and the Harlem Ensemble. DeSales University Act 1 credits: Pippin, The Cherry Orchard, Picnic, and Into the Woods.
Mackenzie Moyer (Maid Marian) DeSales University Act 1 credits: Pippin, The Devil’s Disciple, Godspell, and The Crucible.
Alyssa Ramsey (Celia) is a 2019 graduate musical theatre major here at DeSales University. Previous credits include Ragtime (PSF); and Pippin as Leading Player, Godspell, Hair, Picnic and Merry Christmas George Bailey!.
Matthew Smaldone (George) has worked with PSF twice before (Evita and King Richard. DeSales University Act 1 credits: The Devil’s Disciple (Richard Dudgeon), Into the Woods (Narrator), Murder on the Nile (Simon Mostyn), and The Homecoming (Clay-Boy Spencer).
Jhalil-Marquis Younger (Friar Tuck) is a recent DeSales University graduate. PSF credits include: last year’s Young Company, Red King in Alice and Wonderland, Valentine and u/s Sebastian in Twelfth Night.
Mark Yowakim (Robin) is a musical theater major going into his junior year at DeSales University, is returning to PSF for his second year in the Young Company. Previous PSF credits include an ensemble member in Ragtime, an onstage musician in Shakespeare in Love, York’s Servant in Richard II and Tweedle-Dum and the Knave in Alice in Wonderland.
