"All's Well That Ends Well" takes Shakespeare Festival to the 60s

Heartbreak, deception and generational misunderstandings are all themes Grand Valley State University students and professional artists will bring to life during “All’s Well That Ends Well" — part of the 22nd annual Grand Valley Shakespeare Festival.

Performances will be offered October 2, 8, 9 and 10 at 7:30 p.m., and October 3, 4 and 11 at 2 p.m. All performances will take place in the Louis Armstrong Theatre in the Performing Arts Center located on the Allendale Campus.

“All’s Well That Ends Well” finds Helena in her pursuit of a man of higher social position than herself. The man whom she desires is Bertram, a young gentleman of nobility in mourning over the death his late father, the Count. Helena follows Bertram to Paris where she is granted the husband of her choice as a reward for curing the king of a terminal illness. She chooses Bertram, but he vows to never accept his marriage with Helena unless she can perform two tasks: remove a ring from his finger and conceive a child with him. Utilizing her trickery and imagination, Helena finally earns her man, and all apparently ends well.

Each year, the Shakespeare Festival mainstage production adapts Shakespeare’s works in order to modernize them for today's audiences. Karen Libman, director and professor of theater, said Grand Valley’s version of "All's Well That Ends Well" takes place in the 1960s.

“In this play, the women are fighting to get what they want. They are becoming more liberated. Women’s liberation was becoming a big thing in the 1960s, particularly toward the end of the decade,” she said.

Libman added that another important theme in "All's Well That Ends Well" is generational gaps.

“The older generation didn’t understand the younger generation, and there was a war going on, but I wanted to make sure that the play was taken as a comedy, so I didn’t want to get into the strife of this period – just the nostalgia,” she said. “So I am setting it in the nostalgic 60s with more of a ‘mod’ feel than a hippy feel, and not in a particular year.”

Multiple guest professional artists join Grand Valley students in the mainstage production each year. Two of this year’s three guest artists are Rick Moreno, stage manager, and Brian Webb Russell, Actors Equity Association actor. Mark Cabus, teaching artist at Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, helped prepare students for their performances during a 40-hour intensive workshop in August.

Jo Miller, professor of English and production dramaturg, will host pre-show discussions at 6:45 p.m. prior to the October 2 and October 10 performances.

Tickets for “All’s Well That Ends Well” are $14 adults; $12 alumni, seniors, faculty and staff; and $6 students and groups. Those who come in a 60s-themed costume to the October 8 performance will receive a half-off coupon for a future production and entry into a costume contest.

For more information and a complete schedule of events, visit www.gvsu.edu/shakes.