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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>Ohio Shakespeare Festival</span><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>330-673-8761 box office</span><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><a href="http://www.ohioshakespeare.com/"><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"'>www.ohioshakespeare.com</span></a><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'> </span><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><i><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>For Immediate Release</span></i></b><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'> </span><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><i><span style='font-size:14.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>The Merchant of Venice </span></i></b><b><span style='font-size:14.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>opening at Ohio Shakespeare Festival </span></b><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>featuring Robert Hawkes as Shylock <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>Ohio Shakespeare Festival is performing for the eleventh summer at beautiful Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens in Akron. Following the success of the season-opening comedy <i>A Midsummer Night's Dream</i>, OSF will present one of William Shakespeare’s most acclaimed and fascinating works, <i>The Merchant of Venice,</i> running August 2-19.</span><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'> </span><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>The multi-layered <i>Merchant </i>is frequently considered to be both Shakespearean comedy and drama, a nuanced piece with comic plotlines laced with serious themes of betrayal, vengeance, greed and intrigue. In it, moneylender Shylock loans a large sum to merchant Antonio interest free, but with the stipulation that, if the debt should go unpaid, Shylock would be entitled to a pound of Antonio’s flesh.</span><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>Robert Hawkes, an OSF veteran who has been well-known to Northeast Ohio theatre-goers since the early 1980s, will portray the Jewish moneylender Shylock. Mr. Hawkes was seen last summer as Buckingham in<i> Richard</i> <i>III, </i>and in 2010 as Gloucester in <i>King Lear. </i>Recently, he has been seen in <i>November</i> at Lakeland Civic Theatre, <i>The Internationalist</i> at convergence-continuum, <i>October in the Chair</i> at Cleveland Public Theatre, <i>Middletown</i> at Dobama Theatre, and<i> Much Ado About Nothing</i> at the Southwest Shakespeare Company of Mesa, AZ. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>Joining Mr. Hawkes is an impressive cast of both new and veteran OSF Company members. The performers include David McNees (<i>King Lear</i>) as Antonio, Lara Knox (<i>A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Taming of the Shrew</i>) as Portia, Joe Pine (<i>Love’s Labours Lost, The Taming of the Shrew</i>) as Bassanio, Bernard Bygott (<i>A Midsummer Night's Dream</i>) as Gratiano, Ernie Gonzalez (<i>A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Comedy of Errors</i>) as Lancelot Gobbo, Jeremy Jenkins (<i>Love’s Labours Lost, The Taming of the Shrew</i>) as Lorenzo, Kyra Kelley (<i>A Midsummer Night's Dream</i>) as Jessica, Alfred Anderson (<i>The Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet</i>) as the Duke, and Tess Burgler (<i>Love’s Labours Lost, Romeo and Juliet</i>) as Nerissa.</span><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'> </span><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>Merchant </span></i><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>audiences will get a special treat --- they will see the debut of OSF's new Elizabethan stage. The playing space is modeled after Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, the natural arena for all the Bard's plays. The new stage, supported in part by the Corbin Foundation, the Knight Foundation, and the Akron Community Foundation, will serve as a permanent playing area intended to enhance the quality and legitimacy of OSF's Original Practice Shakespeare. Using this permanent stage, OSF can more powerfully and authentically recreate Shakespeare’s plays in what is thought to be their original form.</span><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>The Merchant of Venice</span></i><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'> will preview on August 2 (all seats $12), open August 3, and perform through August 19. Performances are Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights at 8pm, with a Greenshow at 7:30pm consisting of songs, dances and a hilarious parody of <i>Romeo and Juliet</i>, all performed by the younger Company members. Stan Hywet’s grounds open at 6pm for picnicking in a wide variety of scenic locations, and concessions are available. </span><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'> </span><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens is located at 714 N. Portage Path in Akron. Tickets are $30 for reserved seating (the first 100 seats closest to the stage), or $25 for festival (open) seating. Student tickets are $15, and further discounts on adult tickets are available for OSF and Stan Hywet Members. Reservations may be made any time through OSF’s web site at </span><a href="http://www.ohioshakespeare.com/"><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"'>www.ohioshakespeare.com</span></a><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>, or by calling the box office at (330) 673-8761 daily (except Mondays) from noon to 5pm.</span><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'> </span><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:13.5pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>“Each OSF outing is a marvel of clarity and precision, rendering even the most obtuse digressions by Will suddenly comprehensible. The result is a kind of euphoric time travel in which one feels transported back 400 years to the Globe Theatre, relishing all of the Bard’s words with immediate glee just as his audiences did then.” <i>(Akron Beacon Journal)</i></span><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>“The essence of summer evening perfection.” <i>(Cleveland Scene Magazine's review of OSF's July production of A Midsummer Night's Dream) </i></span><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p align=center style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center'><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'> </span><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>-- End --</span><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><br><br><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>