This summer's production of Henry the Eighthmarks Jim Symons' 10th directing assignment with CSF, the most by any director in the Festival's 51-year history. Of these 10 productions, five have been from Shakespeare's English history plays: Henry IV, Part One(which he directed in 1985), Richard II (1998),Henry V (2000), Richard III (2002) and this year, Henry the Eighth, Shakespeare's last history play. He has also directed two of Shakespeare's Roman history plays, Julius Caesar (1991) and Coriolanus (1995). Jim's first season with CSF was 1984, when he played Marc Antony in Libby Appel's production ofAntony and Cleopatra. Dr Symons joined the faculty of CU's Department of Theatre and Dance in 1984 as department chair and served in that capacity for 15 years. In 1999 he was selected as a CU President's Teaching Scholar, and in 2006 was selected for membership in the College of Fellows of the American Theatre. In addition to his abiding interest in Shakespeare, he has had a lifelong fascination with Russian theatre and is the author of an award-winning book about Russian director Vsevolod Meyerhold: Meyerhold's Theatre of the Grotesque. (11 seasons)