Recently I went to see Francesca Choy-Kee (Damico) as Hermione in “Winter’s Tale” at the Hudson Shakespeare Festival (NYU Grad Acting – just sayin’ she’s extraordinary). Oh my gosh – she is amazing and the production is wonderful.
What is the Hudson Shakespeare Festival?
The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival (HVSF) is a professional, non-profit theater company based in Garrison, NY, one-hour north of Manhattan.
The Festival has established a reputation for lucid, engaging, and highly inventive productions. The productions are staged under an iconic, open-air theater tent overlooking the Hudson River at historic Boscobel House and Gardens. In recent years, the Festival has also ventured beyond their own location to perform in other venues throughout the area. Furthermore, HVSF engages other communities through “radically participatory art-making”. In addition, it reaches over 60,000 students and educators through its year-round educational programs.
The mission of the Hudson Shakespeare Festival is to engage the widest possible audience in a fresh conversation about what is essential in Shakespeare’s plays. As a result, this unique theater lives in the here and now, at the intersection between the virtuosity of the actor, the imagination of the audience, and the inspiration of the text.
Actors desirous of improving their Shakespeare interpretation may wish to consult Shane Ann Younts. She teaches voice and speech classes for actors in New York City.