Crowns of Power: Henry IV, is presented by Junior Players in collaboration with Shakespeare Dallas now through Aug. 6. The production, at Samuell-Grand Park Amphitheatre, is a combination of Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part 1 and Part 2. Created by Director Montgomery Sutton, the play features professional adult actors alongside teen participants for the first time in Junior Players’ 33-years.
Gates open at 7:30 p.m. and the show begins at 8 p.m. at the Samuell-Grand Park Amphitheatre, 1500 Tenison Parkway in Dallas. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at juniorplayers.org/tickets. Tickets are $15 for general Admission, and $10 Student/Senior for Thursday through Sunday night performances. Tickets will be sold at the door via card payments only; cash will not be accepted. While at the park, masks are encouraged but not required.
The production features 25 of North Texas’ most talented high school students from 14 different high schools. Three professional adult actors–two of them Junior Players’ alumni—are also featured.
Crowns of Power Plot Synopsis
Set in a kingdom plagued with rebellion, treachery, and shifting alliances in the period following the deposition of King Richard II, the two parts of Henry IV focus especially on the development of Prince Hal (later Henry V) from wastrel to ruler rather than on the title character. Hal struggles between choosing the court life that his father, Henry IV, so desperately wants him to inherit, or the rowdy tomfoolery and fun that Falstaff and his friends try to sway him towards instead. Hilarious, touching, and dealing with universal themes of family, power, and honor, this show is not to be missed.
Crowns of Power: Henry IV is sponsored, in part, by City of Dallas: Office of Arts and Culture, Holloway Family Foundation, Diane and Hal Brierley Foundation, Fichtenbaum Charitable Trust, George Family Foundation – Next Generation Fund, Moody Fund for the Arts, TACA, Texas Commission on the Arts, McKinney Arts Commission, The Hersh Foundation, Rea Charitable Trust, Harold Simmons Foundation, The Addy Foundation, Louise e. Kahn, PalterGeist Memorial Fund, Courtney Kincaid Memorial Fund, WFAA, Emily Javadi Memorial Fund, Southern Methodist University: Meadows School of the Arts.
Junior Players
Now in its 33rd year, the Junior Players’ Discover Shakespeare program, produced in collaboration with Shakespeare Dallas, has become a mainstay in the North Texas cultural scene. This production of Shakespeare, performed entirely by young adults ages fifteen to nineteen, has provided hundreds of students with real hands-on professional theatrical training, at no cost to the participants. It, and has introduced thousands of young audience members to Shakespeare.
Junior Players was founded in 1955 and is the oldest nonprofit children’s theater organization in Dallas. Over its existence, Junior Players has worked to meet the changing needs of the community. From 1955 to 1989, Junior Players presented traditional children’s theater productions performed entirely by children and teenagers. In 1989, the Board of Directors changed the focus of Junior Players activities, deciding that Junior Players can best serve the youth of Dallas by providing free programming accessible to all the children of North Texas. Junior Players therefore exclusively provides free arts education programs in local recreation and cultural centers, housing projects, elementary and middle schools, and through social service agencies serving youth at risk.
For more information, please visit juniorplayers.org, or call 214-526-4076.
