From a post in the Facebook group King Richards Faire/ BRF Past and Present.
Oyez, Ahoy and Hallo friends from Long Ago – here is the program from Chicago’s 1981 King Richard’s Faire. As we explore these not so olden times we can see some evolutions from the “early” KRF seasons as the event started becoming a more sophisticated show in its own right. Know that the KRF scenario was trend-setting among renaissance festivals across the United States and was much imitated but never bested!
Some items of note:
- The Ring of Steel once again is the backbone of the ensemble “fight” cast. This is the very first year of an official “scenario” that weaved its way through the season. It was titled, “Katharine the First.” It was a daunting task in that it changed each of the seven weekends of the season, giving an extraordinary challenge to the artistic members of the show to, essentially, learn a new show every weekend!
- The daily show continued to include a parade: the Artistic Director, John Mills is quoted as saying, “I’m just queer for parades!”
- Vaughn Filwett continued to portray King Richard and Barbara Burinski (“Bodge”) makes her first appearance as Queen Katherine after several years of performing with the acapella vocal group Les Jongleurs with Douglas Kondziolka, Lee Ramey and Donna Goforth née Lusch.
- Ron Scot Fry appears this year as the Royal Cup Bearer. Conrad Warren (“Weather Bunny”) plays the Archbishop of Bristol.
- Richard Weber was the Lord High Sheriff.
- David HB Drake returns with the Ring of Steel as William Jinks
- Jose Granados and Douglas Kondziolka appear as Don Juan Gaspar and Miguel Rodrigo Jusus Alfredo Esteban de Zaragoza in the scenario, presaging the formation of the infamous “Don Juan and Miguel Show”
- Dave David Krajec and Brian J. Conrad return as Nicholas Blunt and Byron Cutter, respectively.
- The Jousting Knights of the Renaissance continue as the official jousting troupe of King Richard’s Faire
- The College of Wizards has a substantial presence in the show this year, solidifying the fantasy element of the festival. Jeff Grygny (J Philip Grygny) heads the group as Aurelius Megistus with Phyllis Blanchard as Artemidora, and Jim Kuehl (James Mullen-Kuehl) as Merlin, among other players in that troupe. This may have been the year that the College of Wizards was excavated in the far northeast section of the site – truly an amazing structure now lost to further development of the grounds
- Frank Harnish continued to portray William Shakespeare
- Michael & Marilyn Marzella made an appearance at the show, presaging their return when the Bristol management assumed ownership of the theme park in 1988, playing King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn
- The Rose & Thorn Puppet Theater performed under Ray St. Louis (Nelson)
- Denise Harnish played The Mistress of the Cottage. The Cottage was, apocryphally, assembled out of the wreckage of director John Mills garage in Chicago
- Tom Morello (of Rage Against the Machine fame) appeared for the first time at KRF as a member of the Queen’s Dance Company
- Amazingly talented Catherine Martineau appears this year as a member of the Rainbow Guild.
The (exhausting) theme weekends this year were:
- The King’s Coronation – July 3-5
- Folk and Faryltale Festival – July 11-12
- Int’l Festival of Dance – July 18-19
- Renaissance Music Festival – July 25 -26
- The Tournament of Games – August 1-2
- The Royal Sight Hound Races – August 8-9
- Harvest Carnival – August 15-16
John Mills was the entertainment director once again. Mike Dvorak was the Theme Weekend Coordinator, Bob Dawson was the Ring of Steel Director, and Jim Ellis was the assistant to John Mills.