CEDAR CITY — Fans of the Utah Shakespeare Festival were in for a treat last weekend. Artistic and administrative staff used Twitter to unveil preliminary designs, give behind-the-scenes information, educate followers about the plays, and interact with the Festival’s Twitter followers. Here are some of the highlights from the event.

The sneak peak actually started a day early on Friday, with this photo of an early model of the Love’s Labor’s Lost set:

On Saturday night, the Festival live-tweeted exciting news about Peter and the Starcatcher, last year’s Tony Award winner for Best Play.

 

 

Here is an idea of what this show will look like, from set designer Jo Winiarski:


And here’s an example of what he means by that:

After seeing these photos (and more), UTBA’s reaction was this:


On Sunday, the Festival presented designs for Twelve Angry Men:

 

 

 

 

After seeing those photos, one Twitter fan said:

I felt the same way:

And the final show that the Festival previewed was The Tempest:

The photos show that they didn’t lie:

 

Those photos looked great to me on a late winter day in northern Utah.

 

 

 

 

 

And as exciting as all of these photos are, it’s important to remember that they might not reflect what audiences will see this summer:

Just a reminder all these designs are subject to change. We are looking at a production “in process.” #usfdesign #utahshakes

Thanks to the Utah Shakespeare Festival for sharing this information with the public. Other theatre companies that frequently tweet include Pioneer Theatre Company, Plan-B Theatre Company, Broadway in Utah, BYU Arts, and Tuacahn. Check them out on Twitter and discover more cool behind-the-scenes information.

For more tweets, follow @UtahShakespeare and @UtahTheatreBlog. For more information about Peter and the Starcatcher, Twelve Angry Men, The Tempest, and other shows from the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s 2013 season, visit www.bard.org.