13-06-2025
Shakespeare's 'As You Like It' opens at Grand Forks' Town Square
Jun. 13—GRAND FORKS — Curt Tofteland has always been quite comfortable with the renowned works of William Shakespeare, because he became familiar with the Bard's style of writing at a young age.
The 16th Century playwright, poet and actor is widely considered the greatest writer in the English language.
"I was raised on the King James Bible, which was written in the time period that Shakespeare was writing," said Tofteland, who grew up in Martin, North Dakota, a tiny Sheridan County town 10 miles west of Harvey.
"When you're raised on the King James Bible, you don't think it's odd that they say 'thee' and 'thou.' So I didn't have the same kind of aversion to the language that perhaps some of my other classmates had."
Tofteland, of Holland, Michigan, is directing the North Dakota Shakespeare Festival production of "As You Like It," which opened Thursday, June 12, at Town Square, DeMers Avenue and Third Street. This is the first production he's directed for the festival. Rehearsals have been taking place at UND's Burtness Theater.
Performances are scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursdays through Saturdays, June 12-14 and 19-21. A matinee is also planned for 2 p.m. Sunday, June 15.
Admission is free; donations are welcome. Reservations are requested at
, but walk-ins are welcome. Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and blankets.
"As You Like It" is presented by the North Dakota Shakespeare Festival, now in its ninth season. A performance will be staged at 2 p.m. Wednesday, June 18, on the lawn of Grand Forks Public Library, 2110 Library Circle; attendees should bring their own lawn chairs and blankets.
It will also be performed June 26-30 and July 3-7 in Medora, North Dakota, and July 1 in Lemmon, South Dakota.
The play, performed by professionals from throughout the country, is "a delightful pastoral comedy," said Stephanie Faatz Murry, producing artistic director, North Dakota Shakespeare Festival. It is "a joyful tale of love, wit and transformation under the forest canopy."
Tofteland said, "'As You Like It' is considered by many folks that are Shakespeare experts, as the female 'Hamlet' in length and breadth. ... In a number of Shakespeare's plays, the female character disguises herself as a male — and that's true of (this play).
"The great thing about (this play) — as in many of Shakespeare's comedies — is no one gets killed," he said. "And it's about love and people fall in love and usually the play ends with a marriage. In this instance, the play ends with multiple marriages."
The story starts out in the urban world, "then it transposes to the pastoral world, which is the forest, so most of the play happens out in the country," he said. "We thought it was a great play to do in North Dakota, being primarily an agrarian culture and society."
The local production promises to delight audiences because "it is one of Shakespeare's plays that has the most amount of music in it," Tofteland said, noting the talent of Erin O'Neil, an East Grand Forks fiddler.
The play boasts "a lot of singing and dancing," including a square dance, which he expects will resonate with North Dakota audiences, he said. Also it features musicians who play the ukulele, accordion and percussion.
Cast and crew members include Abby Anderson, as Rosalind; Andrew Bates, scenic designer; Murray, as Celia, Audrey and Lord; Tyler Folkedahl, as Duke Senior, Corwin and Sir Oliver Martext; Veronica Lee Folkedahl, as Phoebe, Duke Frederick and Oliver; Michael Matthys, as Touchstone, Adam, Silvius, Hymen and Jaques de Boys; O'Neil, as lead musician, Amiens, William and Lord; Alexandra Rice, stage manager; Tyler Smith, sound engineer; Mark Swift, Jaques and Charles; Emily Taylor, costume designer; and Christopher Zou, as Orlando.
Along with Tofteland, the UND alumni are Taylor, Smooth, the Folkedahls, Rice and O'Neil.
A North Dakota native, Tofteland attended his first eight grades in school at Martin and completed his high school education in Harvey, North Dakota, where an English teacher ignited his interest in Shakespeare's plays by introducing him, as a junior, to the tragedy "Romeo and Juliet." In 1968, as a senior, he watched Franco Zeffirelli's newly-released film, of the same name, in a Harvey, North Dakota, theater.
Tofteland earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from UND — one of the first BFA degrees conferred — with an emphasis on vocal performance, in 1974, he said. He also had concentrations in theater and creative writing with a focus on poetry.
Tofteland has built a career celebrating the Bard's work. During his 20-year tenure as the producing artistic director Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, he has produced about 50 Shakespeare productions, directed 25, and acted in eight. The Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, the oldest free Shakespeare festival in North America, he said.
A professional director and an Equity actor, Tofteland has more than 200 professional productions to his credit. He has presented more than 400 performances of his one-man show "Shakespeare's Clownes: A Foole's Guide to Shakespeare".
Tofteland has earned international acclaim for his work with "Shakespeare Behind Bars," a program he created 34 years ago to influence the lives of people in prisons and juvenile detention centers.
Tofteland is "a bit of a legend in the Shakespeare Community" for the program "that brings Shakespeare performance opportunities to incarcerated men and women," Murry said.
As founder of "Shakespeare Behind Bars," Tofteland has produced and directed 14 all-male Shakespeare plays. The work is "transformational," he said.
Under this program, "we have about 500 prisoners who've been released. Our recidivism rate is less than 6% over 30 years, whereas the national average is 67% come back within five years."
To learn more about the SBB program, go to
and watch the award-winning documentary by Philomath Films, which premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and traveled to more than 40 film festivals, winning 11 awards.
