The Utah Shakespearean Festival is helping to feed less fortunate families this holiday season with a food drive for the Iron County Care and Share. Local residents can get half-price tickets to any Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday performance throughout the fall season by donating five items of nonperishable food per ticket. This is the sixth annual food drive hosted by the Festival during the fall season.

“The Festival’s annual food drive allows local residents to have a fun, affordable evening out while supporting the arts and helping families in need,” said Kami Terry, Festival marketing director. “It is a win/win situation.”

In the fall of 2008, the Utah Shakespearean Festival donated more than 2,000 pounds of food to the Iron County Care and Share with the help of local residents. This year the Festival hopes to increase that amount and feed even more families during the holiday season.

Residents of Iron, Washington, Kane, Garfield, and Beaver counties in Utah are eligible for the discount, as well as patrons from Lincoln County, Nevada. All residents should bring proof of residency and five non-perishable food items for each discounted ticket they wish to purchase. This offer is good Tuesday through Thursday on the day of the performance only. There is a limit of four discounted tickets per resident I.D.

“The Care and Share simply cannot survive without community support such as that provided by the Utah Shakespearean Festival,” said W. Scott Albrecht, chairman of the board for the Iron County Care and Share. “Government grants alone do not provide enough backing to allow us to function as we would like. We rely on food drives such as the Festival’s to assist us in helping our community.” 

Tickets to the 2009 fall season are on sale now at 1-800-PLAYTIX and www.bard.org. Presented this fall is the hilarious farce “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged),” the ghost play “The Woman in Black,” and the poignant comedy “Tuesdays with Morrie.”