Alabama Shakespeare Festival Announces 2009-2010 Season

The Alabama Shakespeare Festival has announced programming for its 2009-2010 season, which will kick off with the family musical Ferdinand the Bull (November 7-December 19), based on the children’s classic tale by Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson, and adapted for the stage by Karen Zacarias and Deborah Wicks La Puma.

Next up will be the stage version of the movie classic A Christmas Story (November 27-December 24), adapted by Philip Grecian from the works of Jean Shepherd. Harriet’s Return (February 5-28), based on the life of Harriet Tubman, will star actress and playwright Karen Meadows Jones.

ASF will present the world premiere of the musical Nobody (March 12-28) by Richard Aellen, based on the tempestuous lives of African-American vaudeville performers Bert Williams and George Walker; followed by the world premiere of The Fall of the House (April 9-25), by Robert Ford, which evokes the spirit of Edgar Allen Poe in this tale of magic, betrayal, forbidden love, tragic accidents, secret documents, and familial bonds.

ASF’s Repertory Season will include Peter Shaffer’s Lettice and Lovage (April 9-May 22), Shakespeare’s Hamlet (April 16-May 22), and Shakespeare’s comedy All’s Well The Ends Well (April 23-May 22). The season will conclude with Mary Murfitt and Betsey Howe’s country musical Cowgirls (June 11-July 3), involving a saloon owner who mistakenly hires a band of classical musicians to save her business with a fundraiser.

For more information, visit www.asf.net.