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Shakespeare Festival to fold canceled fall production into its main event in June 2018

Shakespeare in the Streets' "Blow, Winds," inspired by "King Lear," is staged on the steps of the St. Louis Public Library, Central Library, downtown.
Provided | Shakespeare Festival St. Louis
Shakespeare in the Streets' "Blow, Winds," inspired by "King Lear," is staged on the steps of the St. Louis Public Library, Central Library, downtown.
Shakespeare in the Streets' "Blow, Winds," inspired by "King Lear," is staged on the steps of the St. Louis Public Library, Central Library, downtown.
Credit Shakespeare Festival St. Louis
Shakespeare in the Streets play Blow, Winds was cancelled in September but will be presented June 15-16.

The cast and crew of this year’s Shakespeare in the Streets production worked for a year to bring its take on the Bard’s “King Lear” to the steps of the St. Louis Public Library’s Central Library, downtown.

But the Sept. 15 opening day of “Blow, Winds”coincided with another big event in St. Louis: Judge Timothy Wilson's non-guilty verdictin the murder case against Jason Stockley. Shakespeare Festival St. Louis canceled the weekend run amid protests against the verdict.

Theatergoers will have a chance to see it next summer. The festival plans to present “Blow, Winds” June 15-16, in connection with its annual event in Forest Park.

Jennifer Wintzer is Shakespeare Festival St. Louis' interim director.
Credit Shakespeare Festival St. Louis
Jennifer Wintzer is Shakespeare Festival St. Louis' interim director.

The decision honors the efforts of more than 100 artists,  interim festival director Jennifer Wintzer said.

“Giving these artists the opportunity to share all the hard work is the most ideal component of making sure it comes back to the stage,” Wintzer said.

Story of complicated love

Stockley, a former St. Louis police officer, who is white, shot and killed Anthony Lamar Smith, a black man, in 2011. Protesters began marching on the night of the verdict in a movement that continues two months later.

In September, when playwright Nancy Bell learned of the cancellation, she was disappointed but supportive of the demonstrators.

“The theater in the streets that needs to be happening is the protests that you are seeing every day and night,” Bell said.

Joneal Joplin as King Louis, Adam Flores as The Fool and Michelle Hand as Kent rehearse a scene from Blow, Winds.
Credit Provided | Shakespeare Festival St. Louis
Joneal Joplin, Adam Flores and Michell Hand rehearse a scene for Blow, Winds.

The play’s theme of St. Louisans’ complicated love for the city resonates now more than ever, Wintzer said.

“It’s timely; it’s relevant,” she said. “I think it’s important that we continue to tell the story. It was a story that came out of conversations with people all over our city.”

This year’s festival in the park production is “Romeo and Juliet." Elena Araoz, a New York-based director, actor and playwright will direct the play, which runs June 1-24. The Theatre Communications Group will also be holding its annual conference in St. Louis during that same period, on June 14-16, providing a national audience for both Shakespeare Festival productions.

Shakespeare in the Streets will take a break next year and return in 2019. The festival will consider permanently moving the Streets play from its traditional fall slot to coincide with the June event.

“It’s an excellent opportunity to engage our audiences who often come to the park to come to Shakespeare in the Streets as well,” Wintzer said.

Follow Nancy Fowler on Twitter: @NancyFowlerSTL

Copyright 2021 St. Louis Public Radio. To see more, visit St. Louis Public Radio.

Nancy is a veteran journalist whose career spans television, radio, print and online media. Her passions include the arts and social justice, and she particularly delights in the stories of people living and working in that intersection.