Twenty-five years after the first Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival was held, and following a two-year pandemic-caused hiatus, the event kicks off its joyous return to California Lutheran University’s Kingsmen Park with performances of one of the Bard’s most popular comedies.
The Kingsmen Shakespeare Company will perform “As You Like It” at 8 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through July 17 on the Thousand Oaks campus.
Warren C. Bowles, who has decades of experience in Shakespearean and contemporary theater throughout the country, presents the play as the festival’s first Black director. He has spent many years working with Mixed Blood Theatre Company in Minneapolis as a director, actor, playwright, stage manager and fight choreographer. Mixed Blood uses theater to disrupt injustices, advance equity, build community and inspire people to create ripple effects of social change.