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On behalf of the board of directors and the members of The Montford Park Players, I welcome you to our spectacular 35th Anniversary season of Shakespeare in the Park.

This year we are pleased to bring you the largest number of productions in the history of the Montford Park Players. We'll open our season June 15 with Romeo & Juliet, the timeless tale of star-crossed lovers, staged by veteran director Jason Williams (of last season's Tempest fame). July 20 ushers in Cyrano de Bergerac, by Edmund Rostand (translated by Brian Hooker), and presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service. To the best of our knowledge this production has never been performed outdoors on the East Coast, and I know you will be thrilled by this enchanting tale, directed by Mary Landingham, last season's director of Hamlet.. We are pleased to bring you the World Premiere of a new work by local playwright William H. Logan, entitled The Signature, which will open August 17. Mr. Logan will direct his story of Mary, Queen of Scots, and we will feature a “Conversation with the Playwright and Cast” following each performance. Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing wraps up our Mainstage Season, opening September 7, and this delightful comedy will be directed by veteran actor Michael Coghlan.

This season, we've prepared a special treat for you. We're inaugurating a new, continuing series that we call “Stripped-Down Shakespeare”. The Montford Park Players will present rarely performed works of William Shakespeare in a staged reading format, in which the cast will perform the stage action with script in hand and in rehearsal costumes, with appropriate badges of rank and office. For our inaugural production, Professor David Mycoff of Warren Wilson College will direct and stage the entire Henry VI Trilogy on successive evenings the first two weekends in October, with Part I on Friday, Part II on Saturday, and Part III on Sunday. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to spend a weekend with us and see what most scholars have concluded are the first plays William Shakespeare wrote! These plays are rarely performed except by large, established professional companies, and then seldom more than once in a decade.

I'm delighted to report to you that the Montford Park Players' 34th summer season posted record audience and revenue figures. We entertained over 4,700 audience members during the summer, a 110% increase over last season, with audience donations of $11,000, representing a 162% increase over last year. The Montford Park Players posted the highest percentage increase in both attendance and revenue of any outdoor theatre in the United States.

While our summer productions are always free to the public, our production costs continue to increase each year, particularly as we continue to expand our season and bring you more great classical theatre, so when the actors stroll through the audience with hat in hand, or when you go to the concession stand for a refreshing snack, please give generously so we may continue to offer educational, enjoyable, top-quality outdoor theatre in a pastoral setting. The Montford Park Players accepts Visa and MasterCard for donations and concessions.

Now sit back, relax, and be ready to laugh, to cry, and to be entertained as the curtain rises on another great season of performances by The Montford Park Players, North Carolina's Longest Running Shakespeare Festival.

John Russell
Managing Director

Biography

John Russell has returned to his native Asheville after working in the nonprofit world for nearly 20 years. After many appearances in front of the footlights with The Montford Park Players (and countless hours behind the scenes as technical director) he relocated to the Piedmont in 1985 and served as Marketing Director and Technical Director for the Gallery Players of Burlington, where he developed and ran a Patrons and Season Ticket Campaign that increased the theatre's subscriber base by over 700 percent.

John worked as Technical Director, Set Designer and Production Stage Manager and then became Marketing Director for the Barn Dinner Theatre, a professional theatre in Greensboro from 1989-1992, and later served as Marketing Director and Chief Financial Officer for an urban ministry, addressing the issues of homelessness. He holds the prestigious Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Duke University and has taught in the Duke University School of Continuing Education. In his spare time he enjoys golf, reading and pinochle.