Shakespeare Fest to Fulfill Season

The Grove Shakespeare Festival will complete its summer season in Garden Grove, despite the the City Council’s vote to give the festival only about one-quarter of the subsidy it requested.

The board of the Grove Theatre Company, which runs the Shakespeare festival, has decided “to guarantee the season whatever the council decides,” board president Robert C. Dunek said Thursday. “We’re basing this on the strong support we have received from the public, financially and morally.”

Grove artistic director Thomas F. Bradac said $8,200 had been raised through curtain pleas at the Festival Amphitheatre since “Richard II” opened June 24. “Much of this money came in as $20 donations,” Bradac said.

Gateway Properties has donated an additional $5,000 in emergency funds. “We have a major business in this city, and we’d like to see a thriving cultural life here,” said Bill Riechers, a general partner in the firm, which owns the Hyatt Regency Alicante Hotel in Garden Grove.

In the meantime, about 100 letters have been received by city officials, heavily favoring the festival. “I’d say 95% of them want the theater to continue,” City Clerk Carolyn Morris said.

The Grove had requested a $53,000 advance on a proposed $83,000 subsidy for both the Shakespeare Festival and the regular Grove season at the Gem Theatre. The city staff recommended that the full amount be granted, but the council gave only $20,000, enough to keep the festival open through July 14. The council’s decision marked the first time in the festival’s 10-year history that the city hasn’t put up all the money that was requested.

The festival is scheduled to run through Sept. 17.