After a highly competitive canine casting call, two Boulder dogs have been cast in Colorado Shakespeare Festival’s production of “Shakespeare in Love” that runs this summer.
Sharing the roles on alternating performances will be Bernie, a wire fox terrier who is already a bit of a local celebrity in town (especially at the Sundown Saloon, the Pearl Street bar owned by his guardian), and Pippin, a mini poodle mix whose theater-loving human named her after the 1972 musical.
Call it a tail-wagging twist on a classic casting call.
The audition last month drew nearly 40 dogs, and it was hosted in the historic Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre at the University of Colorado in Boulder. The updated theater venue will debut to the public in June after a two-year, $105 million renovation that was part of the adjacent Hellems Arts and Sciences building project.
Narrowing down the dogs fit for the spotlight wasn’t easy, but Bernie and Pippin stood out for their skill, trainability and stage presence, according to Tim Orr, the producing artistic director of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival.
“I’ve never seen so many talented, well-trained dogs,” Orr said. “There were some dogs that knew so many tricks they could have been in the circus.”
Based on the beloved 1998 film “Shakespeare in Love” (by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, adapted for the stage by Lee Hall), the play will run from June 27 to Aug. 1 as part of the 2026 Colorado Shakespeare Festival.
So how did the casting call for “The Dog” come to be?
William Shakespeare wrote a play called “The Two Gentlemen of Verona” that called for a dog, Orr explained. In the 1998 romantic comedy “Shakespeare in Love,” Will Shakespeare and his manager go to see one of the performances, and Shakespeare is bent out of shape: He hasn’t been paid and the audience isn’t appreciating his poetry. His manager tells him people love a bit with a dog. The audience ends up going wild over the dog, laughing as the canine actor misbehaves a little, and even the queen is delighted.
“Shakespeare, yes, was a brilliant playwright, but he was also a very smart businessman because clearly the people loved the dog,” Orr said.
And the dogs cast for the comedic and scene-stealing role in the Boulder production are, indeed, very lovable.
Kim Howell, a self-described “theater nerd” who fell in love with theater after reading “Romeo and Juliet” in the eighth grade, responded to the casting call with her rescue mutt, Pippin.
“Everyone loves this dog,” Howell said. “She’s so even-tempered and loving and kind.”
The CSF team was impressed with Pippin’s mix of “big personality and zero stage fright” and her fast-learning energy.
Meanwhile, Bernie wowed the CSF team with his spins, leaps and easygoing charm around people.
Offstage, Bernie is just as much of a star. He’s a rugged, outdoorsy pup who loves to hike and romp around outside, his owner Tony Milazzo said. But once Bernie is back home, he transforms into the “ultimate lap dog,” eager to make new friends, bond with them, and remember them well enough to greet them with enthusiasm the next time they meet.
Milazzo is excited to see how Bernie connects with the cast, and he’s looking forward to bringing him to rehearsals and watching him shine onstage.
“I’m like a stage mom now,” Milazzo said.
