What used to be known as the Santa Clarita Shakespeare Festival is now being renamed the L.A. SummerFest at Rivendale.

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Since the festival has grown to focus more on arts rather than just Shakespeare, the festival will also feature jazz and rock music as well as a new play.

SummerFest will be held July 12 through Aug. 4. The opening ceremony on July 12 offers a dinner, wine and performances. Tickets are required for this event and all proceeds support the free Shakespeare in the Park performances.

Dinner will be provided by Outback Steakhouse and patrons can meet the cast and production team for the plays.

From July 12 through Aug. 4 “Henry IV” will be the featured play for Shakespeare in the Park and starts at 7 p.m. each night.

On July 19 SpareTime, a smooth jazz band, will play at 7:30 p.m. as a jazz under the stars event.

The Santa Clarita Valley Concert Band will feature a “Billy Shakespeare to Billy Joel” show on July 26 at 7:30 p.m.

HAIR, an American tribal love-rock musical, will be featured at SummerFest on July 27-28 and Aug. 1-2. All four showings will be at 8 p.m. and tickets are required.

The rock musical started in the 1960s during the hippie counter-culture movement and the sexual revolution. The musical tells the story of a group of politically active friends who protest the Vietnam War and live a bohemian lifestyle in New York.

A broadway revival of the play came about in 2009 and the musical has since earned a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award.

All events, except the opening ceremony and HAIR performances, are free to attend. Tickets for HAIR and opening day are available at the L.A. SummerFest website, www.lasummerfest.org.

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