Love Labours Lost?
On June 25, opening night of the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival’s tenth season, the top brass — founder Marilyn Strauss, artistic director Sidonie Garrett and executive director Shelley McThomas Bryant — had on their game faces. Champagne glasses were raised and clinked. Mayor Kay Barnes had issued a proclamation noting that the festival had reached “an important milestone … clearly an anniversary worth celebrating.”
All that’s well may not end well, though, and behind the scenes not everyone is feeling celebratory. Two inside sources tell us that financial and personnel struggles could cast a pall over the annual midsummer-night picnics in Southmoreland Park. Part of the problem is reportedly a lack of substantive fund-raising. The showy benefit galas of years past, which brought in such domestic Shakespearean actors as Kevin Kline, didn’t materialize this year. And a friend of the Festival says that some corporate sponsors (such as Coca-Cola) and caterers are feeling alienated.
Bryant has reportedly issued her resignation, effective at the close of this summer’s shows. But she told us, “I can’t comment on that.” Festival board president Daniel Bukovac echoes the same nondenial. “I really can’t comment on it,” he says. “We don’t plan to make any staff changes until after the season is over.” Strauss won’t confirm it either, saying that because she’s on the board (but back in the office full-time several years after entrusting the festival to others), she’s “honor-bound to not comment.” But she did acknowledge that, in the year since Bryant was hired and Garrett was named artistic chief, “There have been lots of ups and downs. This has been a difficult transition, and I’m not surprised there are rumors like that. But the festival’s here.” Strauss adds, “When the festival’s over, that would be the time to talk about it.”
It might be a long month. “If it doesn’t rain one night,” one source told us, “the festival might break even.” But on June 26, the festival’s second night, a tempest washed out the performance.
