TEXAS SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL OPENS JULY 3

On July 3 the Texas Shakespeare Festival opens its season with The Royal Hunt of the Sun and the season runs through August 2. The cast and crew for the festival have been working non-stop to get costumes, props and stage sets ready. Above, Jimmy Humphries works on a portrait of Benjamin Franklin for the play 1776 which opens, appropriately, on July 4. Humphries is the scenic designer for the festival and seen here making an oil painting based on a Kilgore News Herald Photo by Lester Murray digital picture of the actor who will play Franklin and the wig he will wear. Humphries said he enjoys doing this type of work since that is where he first started his artistic endeavors years ago before getting into set and scene designs for plays. Humphries was able to complete this portrait in one day. Tickets are available for TSF by calling 903-983-8601. The box office is located at The Anne Dean Turk Fine Arts Center on the campus of Kilgore College.