Dramas about racial issues will be in the spotlight at Utah Shakespeare Festival next year.
"Our 2018 season provides a unique examination of intolerance and the adverse impact it can have on our collective humanity," said Brian Vaughn, artistic director, in a season announcement.
The next-season lineup was announced Friday evening before the opening performance of "Shakespeare in Love" in Cedar City.
One showcase of the 2018 season will be William Shakespeare's rarely produced "Henry VI Part One," the next in the company's ongoing history cycle, as well as "The Merry Wives of Windsor" and "The Merchant of Venice," all to play in the outdoor Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre. Later in the season, the company will open "Othello" in its smaller studio theater.
Also on the schedule is the world premiere of Art Manke's "Pearl's in the House," a play with music about Pearl Bailey, which the company is staging in a reading next month.
Plays in the indoor Randall L. Jones Theatre are the Roger Miller musical "Big River," David Ives' adaptation of a French farce, "The Liar," and Larry Shue's popular Southern farce, "The Foreigner."
Season tickets will go on sale Saturday, July 15.
ellenf@sltrib.com
