Utah Shakespearean Festival Is Readying to Open New Theatre

Dedication and naming of the new permanent home of the Utah Shakespearean Festival has been scheduled for Thursday, July 13, opening night of the eleventh annual season of the Festival, it was announced by Dr. Royden C. Braithwaite, chairman of the USF Board of Directors and president of Southern Utah State College where the Festival is staged each summer.

Constructed a year ago and used for the first time during the 1971 season, the new Festival theatre has been completed in detail during the past year and is now ready to be turned over to the State Building Board, Dr. Braithwaite said.

Those who have helped make the building financially possible and who have planned and built it will be honored at the dedication ceremonies. Included will be Dr. and Mrs. Obert C. Tanner, prime donors to the building, and members of the Adams family for whom the building will be named.

The new theatre will be designated as the Adams Memorial Theatre in honor of the pioneer parents and uncle of Mrs. Tanner, and other prominent theatrically affiliated members of the Adams family. Mrs. Tanner's parents were Thomas and Luella Redd Adams. Her uncle was Will L. Adams, founder of the Adams Stock Company. All were early Parowan, Utah residents. They, and others of the family line, have made significant contributions to the culture of the state, Dr. Braithwaite said.

Also attending the dedication and Festival opening will be the building's designer and coproducer of the summer event, Douglas Cook, head of the Department of Theatre Arts at Penn State University. Mr. Cook and Max Anderson, architect for the theatre and a member of the State Building Board, will explain the building and its use to the first night audience. President Braithwaite will outline the history of the Adams family and offer tribute to them. Dr. and Mrs. Tanner will respond.

The dedicatory prayer for the building will be offered by Watson Adams, son of Will L. Adams and a former member of fie Parowan Stake Presidency
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Opening remarks for the program and welcome will be by Professor Fred C. Adams, Festival founder and producer.

Other guests at the dedication will include representatives of Blackburn and Gower, contractors; members of the Festival Board of Directors; the SUSC Institutional Council, and local and state dignitaries.

Directors of the season's plays, Prof. Adams, Michael Finlayson, and Richard Filcher, will receive special recognition. Mr. Filcher's production of "Comedy of Errors" will follow the dedication program as the opening play of the season. "King Lear," directed by Prof. Adams, will open on July 14. The first Festival production of "The Winter's Tale" will be performed on July 15 with Mr. Finlayson as director.

Special guests will also include Mrs. Paul Clayton of Salt Lake City, a member of the Kennedy Center Advisory Committee for the Performing Arts.

The new theatre is a four-level authentic Elizabethan structure rising 32 feet above the ground. The main stage encompasses 48 feet at its maximum width and 28 feet at the outer areas. The back stage is 21 feet deep. A sub-
level basement provides access for maintenance.

The upper stage covers approximately the same dimensions as the lower stage with the exception of three balconies projecting from the center and each side of the upper level.

The stage roof protects nearly two-thirds of the stage area. Rustic shake shingles on the roof and two cupolas rising above it enhance the Elizabethan appearance of the stage house. The cupolas are designed in hexagonal shape to conform with the basic shape of the stage and superstructure. Access is provided to these upper areas for use of props such as bells and cannons and to accommodate the heralds as they play the traditional trumpet fanfare before each Festival performance. Colorful banners fly from flagpoles above the cupolas.

Funds are still being raised for future development at the theatre site which will include permanent seating and paving and landscaping of the Festival grounds and gardens, Dr. Braithwaite said.