Princeton Rep returns to Pettoranello Gardens with its Shakespeare Festival.
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By: Josh Appelbaum
After a one-year hiatus, the Princeton Rep Company is returning to Pettoranello Gardens for its summer Shakespeare Festival. The nonprofit company will stage Twelfth Night, the comedy it first brought outdoors to Palmer Square in 1999.
The classic play of mistaken identity, which will run July 20 to Aug. 27 at the park’s amphitheater, is one that helped the repertory company establish its yearly summer festival at Community Park North, thanks to overflow crowds for the Shakespeare in the Square performances. Victoria Liberatori, the company’s artistic director, hopes the festival’s return to its roots will bode well for future productions, especially after the 2005 summer series was scrapped due to scheduling issues at Pettoranello.
"I think ‘Twelfth Night’ is a show that has good karma for us," she says. "It’s going to bring us back, and it’s very popular and much loved by our audience."
As such, the Shakespeare Festival also will bring back a pair of familiar faces, Nell Gwynn and Donald Kimmel, to play the roles of Viola and Malvolio. Ms. Gwynn performed in 2004’s production of Much Ado About Nothing and Mr. Kimmel was in 2002’s King Lear. Ms. Liberatori says the company will rehearse for three weeks two weeks in Manhattan and another week at the amphitheater in preparation for the opening weekend of previews. The performances, which run Thursday through Sunday each week, are free to the public, though donations are requested.
Along with the pair of familiar actors, Princeton Rep is getting some help from a couple of philanthropic heavy-hitters. Ms. Liberatori emphasizes that without longtime sponsor Bank of America, the Shakespeare Festival might not have coalesced, and the rep company has recently received a grant from Internet giant Google. "The Google grants are awarded to nonprofit 501(c)3 companies it’s a fabulous program," Ms. Liberatori says. The colossal search engine has given the company a series of free advertisements, which allows it to earn money every time a Web surfer clicks its banner ad.
"It also helps us reach a much larger audience," Ms. Liberatori adds.
With all its financial and logistical ducks in a row, Ms. Liberatori says the company is prepared to do the business at hand, which is to provide the community with compelling al fresco theater.
"The caliber of the performances is very high and I think we make Shakespeare very accessible to audiences," she says. "We keep the (language) intact, though we do cut… we have families with children that come back several times throughout the season to see the production again."
Twelfth Night is just one component of the festival’s summer season, which also includes educational programs and special Shakespeare-related events.
Young theater enthusiasts will have an opportunity to receive professional training under master teachers with hands-on components in acting design and administration this summer thanks to the company’s apprentice program, which will take place at the Hopewell Valley Performing Arts Center in Pennington.
In addition to the apprentice program and performances in Pettoranello Gardens, the company will continue its Shakespeare in the Square series on June 11 with open-mike poetry. Summer celebrations continue June 17 with Princeton Rep’s OnStage benefit, an evening of songs, scenes, soliloquies, food and drink at Hopewell Valley Performing Arts Center.
Ms. Liberatori says the payoff of seeing Shakespeare in the park is unparalleled for audiences. "Personally I don’t think that there is a more exciting or thrilling experience than enjoying Shakespeare in the outdoors nothing that even comes close," she says, beaming. "The setting at Pettoranello is very natural and the amphitheater is set on a beautiful, gently sloping hillside. It overlooks the lake, is surrounded by gorgeous trees and plants all that, and the beauty of Shakespeare’s language."
The Princeton Rep Shakespeare Festival’s production of Twelfth Night will run at Pettoranello Gardens Amphitheater/Community Park North, Route 206 and Mountain Avenue, Princeton, July 20-Aug. 27. Performances Thurs.-Sun. 8 p.m. Free admission; $10 donation per adult suggested. Shakespeare in the Square festival kick-off will take place on Palmer Square, Nassau and Hulfish streets, Princeton, June 11, 2 p.m. Princeton Rep OnStage will take place at Hopewell Valley Performing Arts Center, 259 Pennington-Titusville Road, Pennington, June 17, 5 p.m. Tickets cost $30, $25 advance. For information, call (609) 921-3682. On the Web: www.princetonrep.org

