Date: Feb 27, 2008

THE BARD'S "HAMLET" TO HIGHLIGHT HOFSTRA'S 59TH ANNUAL SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL

March 6 to 16, 2008; Performances Will Take Place on Hofstra's Renowned Globe Replica

Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY … From March 6 to 16, Hofstra University presents its annual Shakespeare Festival, featuring Hamlet at the John Cranford Adams Playhouse, which is celebrating its golden anniversary this year. Hamlet, Shakespeare’s masterpiece on the morality and nature of revenge, was the featured production of the University’s 1958 Shakespeare Festival.

Hamlet will be performed on Hofstra’s famous reconstruction of Shakespeare’s Globe stage. It is notable that every part of the University’s John Cranford Adams Playhouse, from the scaffolding to the lighting, was designed with the Globe reconstruction in mind.

This special production of Hamlet features guest direction by Gus Kaikkonen. Show times are Thursday, March 6 at 8 p.m.; Friday, March 7 and 14 at 8 p.m.; Saturday, March 8 and 15 at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, March 9 and 16, at 2 p.m.

Tickets are $12; $10 for senior citizens (over 65) or matriculated non-Hofstra student with ID. Members of the Hofstra community receive one free ticket with their current HofstraCard. For tickets and more information call the Hofstra Box Office at (516) 463-6644, Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.

Each Shakespeare Festival comprises multiple performances: a full-length Shakespearean play, a shorter dramatic piece and the “Festival Musicale,” a concert by the Hofstra Collegium Musicum, an ensemble from the Music Department devoted to the performance of early music. The Festival Musicale includes a chorus and ensembles of historical instruments such as viols, recorders, sackbuts, and cornetto.

This year’s Festival Musicale, directed by William E. Hettrick, is That Is The Question. The companion play is This Bud of Love, a one-hour version of Romeo and Juliet, an excellent introduction to the works of William Shakespeare, suitable for young theatergoers.

Performances of That Is The Question and This Bud of Love are Saturday, March 8 and 15, at 2 p.m. at the John Cranford Adams Playhouse. Tickets are $10, $8 for senior citizens (over 65) or matriculated non-Hofstra students with ID. Members of the Hofstra community receive one free ticket with current HofstraCard.

There will also be a special performance of This Bud of Love on Thursday, March 13, at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $6. Members of the Hofstra community receive one free ticket with current HofstraCard. Tickets for the Festival Musicale and companion play are also available through the Hofstra Box Office.

The Shakespeare Festival is widely considered by the theatrical community to be a terrific training ground for aspiring actors. Hofstra graduates with acclaimed careers in the performing arts – including the late Madeline Kahn, Lainie Kazan, Susan Sullivan, Phil Rosenthal (Emmy Award-winning executive producer of Everybody Loves Raymond), Robert Davi (Profiler), Joe Morton (Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Brother from Another Planet, Broadway’s Art and National Theatre’s Stuff Happens), Peter Friedman (Broadway’s Twelve Angry Men and Ragtime) and Tom McGowan (Sleepless in Seattle, As Good As It Gets, television’s Frasier) – have credited the Festival for playing a part in their subsequent success.
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