Over 300 people were in attendance in Surprise, AZ for the final show of the 2009 tour. For the second straight year, Surprise made the Arizona Shakespeare Festival's traveling show the center piece of this Fall festival. It was the largest show of the year. It has been a long haul. The tour began back on July 4th at the Northern Arizona Renaissance Faire. In the process of the tour, the company performed 28 shows in 22 cities around Arizona. This is truly a statewide tour. the cast traveled nearly to all four borders of the state. Traveling to Page on the north, Patagonia and Sierra Vista in the south, east to Window Rock and west to Bullhead City! The cast and crew logged over 9400 driving miles in the course of the tour.

Throughout the tour, crowds seemed to really enjoy this creative cut of one of Shakespeare's comedies. The show ran about 57 minutes on average and a cast of four actors (David Pickett, Jordanna DeZeeuw Spencer, Tracey Mason and Joshua Fowler) played all the parts in the show. It was fast paced and hilarious and the audiences were very responsive around the state. The show worked very well outside in Arizona where the hot weather and blazing sun can whither the spirits of even the most ardent crowd. Audiences seemed to feel this was just the right length for an outdoor show in Arizona. Kelly Johnston's editing and direction managed to keep the story and humor of the show intact while creating a good experience for everyone involved.

We will miss Kelly who resigned as AzSF's artistic director (a role he has filled from the company's inception) and moved to New York city. This tour we also say farewell to longtime AzSF actor, David Pickett who is planning to move to Oregon later this year. We wish both Kelly and David the very best in their future endeavors.