At a press conference Tuesday, Mayor Oscar Goodman praised “A Taste of Shakespeare”—a new venture from the Las Vegas Playhouse and Springs Preserve presenting 15-minute versions of the classics—for utilizing Shakespearean “snippets.” Playhouse Artistic Director Dan Decker objected to the characterization.

Decker explained, rather adamantly, that each short play planned for the May 23-25 fest (which will also feature food and wine tastings and performances by the Henderson Symphony Orchestra) would retain the potency and grandeur of the original works. “Obviously it’s not the whole play,” Decker said. “It’s an actual restructuring of the story around the thematic core of the two major characters of the play.”

So why not just stage a full version? “That’s next,” Decker said. “Honestly, a big part of this is we have to prove ourselves.” Come May 23, they’ll have the opportunity to do just that, for audience members and funders.