Professional singing-actors will perform songs in the play, celebrating acoustic music from Austin songwriters, including Nagavalli, Susan Gibson, Trish Hinojosa, Walt Wilkins and Guy Forsythe. “We invite the audience on a journey to discover how Shakespeare’s enduring story-telling can be reflected by today’s Austin musical styles,” Austin Shakespeare Artistic Director Ann Ciccolella said. Music from local songwriters is not the only contemporary Austin flair Ciccolella has added to the play’s fantastical forest of Arden. Costume designer Aaron Kubacak is using the Southwest fashion vibe of Austin as a jumping off point to create looks that blend western, Renaissance and outlaw/frontiersmen styles. Tara Houston’s scenic design is inspired by Austin’s thriving street art movement.  “Graphic and bold in color, the design speaks to the vibrancy of Shakespeare’s gutsy characters and finds similarities in Austin’s past, and present,” Ciccolella said.

As You Like It will star Emily Christine Smith as Rosalind who, disguised as a man, tests the love of Orlando played by Matthew Wagner. The cast features singing actors: Helyn Rain Messenger; Chuck Winkler; Web Jerome; Patrick Wheeler; Max Green; and Ben Baskin. The cast also includes Brooke Culbertson; Richard Craig; Peter Young; Carl Kraines; John Michael Hoke; and Chris Gloyna.