Sean Scrutchins starts his summer mornings as most Boulderites would: By waking up with the birds and going for a long jog.

And while the average Boulderite might return home, shower (or if you’re me, take a 45-minute nap), grab the briefcase and head to their 9-5, Scrutchins’ workday is more of a 1-10 p.m. For the past nine years, Scrutchins has spent his summers reporting for the 1 p.m. call time as an actor for the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, which typically begins the first week of June and wraps in mid-August.

While making sure to get in that daily cardio is extremely important for all human beings, physical stamina is especially vital for actors in the summer Shakespeare circuit, according to Scrutchins.

“These are such physical shows, and such a physical space, that you really want to be in tip-top condition,” Scrutchins said. “Just making an entrance on this stage can get you completely winded, especially being at such high elevation. So it’s really important that I have my body warmed up, and my voice warmed up when I show up for call time.”

Scrutchins, along with some 30-odd castmates, have an intense summer ahead of them: The Colorado Shakespeare Festival has more than 60 shows scheduled over the three-month festival period.

This summer’s bill features some of Shakespeare’s most prominent works, including “Much Ado about Nothing,” “The Winter’s Tale,” “King Lear,” as well as “One Man, Two Guvnors,” Richard Bean’s modern-day adaptation of the Italian comedy classic “The Servant of Two Masters.”

The festival’s Original Practices series will return with a single performance of “The Comedy of Errors” — which is already sold out — rounding out the festival’s season with a show on Aug. 6.

“The Winter’s Tale,” “One Man, Two Guvnors” and “A Comedy of Errors” will be performed in the newly renovated indoor Roe Green Theatre inside the University Theatre building on the University of Colorado Boulder campus, while the two other plays — “King Lear” and “Much Ado About Nothing” — will take place outside at the beloved Mary Rippon Theatre.

The Mary Rippon Theatre has been a cornerstone of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival since its inception in 1958. In 2021, the University of Colorado Boulder announced its plans to renovate the historic Hellems Arts and Sciences Building complex, a project that will include updating the Mary Rippon Theatre.

The renovations are expected to take at least one year — perhaps longer — meaning that the Colorado Shakespeare Festival will move indoors in 2024 while the theater gets a facelift.

According to CSF Producing Artistic Director Tim Orr, the festival wanted to pay homage to the historic theater by putting on two of Shakespeare’s most towering works.

“We really wanted to celebrate the works of Shakespeare at the height of his powers in this beautiful space so that we will always remember what it used to look like,” Orr said. “After this summer, this current version of the Mary Rippon Theatre will only exist in our memories. So I am encouraging everyone who hasn’t been to the theater, or if they haven’t seen Shakespeare under the stars the way it was watched 60 years ago, this is the summer to do it.”

Another one of the highlights of the festival is its highly popular Original Practices series, this year directed by Jessica Robblee — who was recently named artistic director for Boulder’s Butterfly Effect Theatre of Colorado.

In the series, audiences are treated to a historically accurate depiction of how Shakespeare’s plays were staged on London’s Globe Theater way back in the day. During Shakespeare’s time, actors were not given complete play scripts, but rather a snippet of words that served as cues for delivering their lines.

“The research has indicated that back in Shakespeare’s day, because the technology to easily print and distribute scripts did not yet exist, only one master copy of the entire script existed,” Robblee said. “Instead, actors were only given their own individual lines, and then four cue lines, meaning that actors really had to be paying attention to what was going on in order for the production to run smoothly.”

The result was a collaborative performance that provided audiences with genuine reactions from the actors — and it liberated the poor scribe from wrist pain.

According to Robblee — who will also act during CSF, playing Beatrice in “Much Ado About Nothing” and Goneril in “King Lear” — this year’s Original Practices performance of “The Comedy of Errors” is a perfect way to get the true Shakespearean experience, for both actors and viewers alike.

“When you’re doing Original Practice, you’re not just in the play — you’re living the play,” Robblee said. “It’s a little more wild, and it involves some direct addresses to the audience. It’s quick and dirty, with heavy attention to, and technical knowledge of, how he was writing.”

Guests can also look forward to toasting Shakespeare and the Mary Rippon Theatre this summer with the reintroduction of alcoholic beverages. For the past three years, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival has been an alcohol-free zone, due to complications from the COVID-19 pandemic and a labor shortage. This year, however, the festival will be setting up multiple concession tents that will feature two beers from Longmont’s Left Hand Brewing Co.

Attendees can look forward to enjoying a Good & Gone Vienna-style lager or a Dry Irish Stout Nitro under the stars while watching some of Shakespeare’s most towering works. Sounds like like a midsummer night’s dream.

On Sunday, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival will return for year 66 with an extraordinary celebration of the Bard’s enduring legacy, bringing his timeless tales to life against the backdrop of Colorado’s natural beauty. Whether you’re a devoted fan of Shakespeare or you only read his stuff in a 100-level college course, this festival is sure to offer a captivating experience that will leave a lasting impression on all who attend.

For tickets, visit cupresents.org/series/shakespeare-festival.