Shakespeare's "Henry VIII" and "Measure for Measure" will receive their first productions at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival in the company's summer season of 2013.

The season will also include Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest," the award-winning comic-thriller, "The 39 Steps," and Rodgers and Hammerstein's legendary musical, "Oklahoma!"

The season opens May 31 and runs through Aug. 4 in the Labuda Center for the Performing Arts on the Center Valley campus of DeSales University.

"For most of our patrons, the pulse quickens a bit when the opportunity presents to attend a Shakespeare play they haven't seen, or have seen infrequently," said Patrick Mulcahy, producing artistic director. "And we are all reminded of why the classics endure."

For the third consecutive season, PSF will produce two plays in repertory on its main stage: "Measure for Measure" and "The Importance of Being Earnest."

"Earnest" will be directed by long-time PSF artist Jim Helsinger, who will also play the role of Lady Bracknell.

Following his powerful interpretation of "Sweeney Todd" for PSF last summer, Associate Artistic Director Dennis Razze will direct "Oklahoma!"

"'Oklahoma!' is the most produced of all of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musicals and it was their very first collaboration," Razze said. "The musical form was forever changed after 'Oklahoma!' debuted, and today it remains a rousing and inspiring tribute to the American spirit."

After garnering Tony and Olivier awards and audience raves around the country, "The 39 Steps" receives its professional Lehigh Valley premiere with the PSF production.

"Even with our proximity to New York, many in our community have yet to experience this masterful, comic whodunit," Mulcahy said. "With four actors playing 150 characters, this play gives actors a great opportunity to showcase range and test their transformative abilities, and audiences a chance to come along for a wild and exhilarating ride."

Matt Pfeiffer, who previously directed "The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged)" in 2009 for PSF, returns to direct.

"Henry VIII," one of Shakespeare's final plays, loosely chronicling the opulent corrosive power struggles of the notorious king's reign, will be rehearsed similarly to the way Shakespeare's company would have and in the way PSF presented "King John" and "The Two Noble Kinsmen" in the past two seasons.

Actors will arrive with their lines learned, rehearse on their own, wear what they can find in a costume shop "raid," and open in a matter of days. There will be no director the position didn't exist in 1613 and no designers. Most productions at PSF rehearse for three-plus weeks, with a director and a full complement of designers.

"With two years of experience now, we've found that the actors and patrons embrace this process, and the final production gives our audiences something akin to what we think Shakespeare's audiences experienced the thrill of the unexpected, the creative, and the unique power of adrenaline combined with discovery," said Mulcahy.

The 2013 season will also include two productions for children: "Beauty and the Beast" and "Shakespeare for Kids."

Here is the 2013 PSF schedule:

Main Stage Theatre

"Oklahoma!," June 12 - 30

"Measure for Measure," July 18 - Aug. 4

"The Importance of Being Earnest," July 10 - Aug. 4

Schubert Theatre

"The 39 Steps," June 19 - July 14

"Henry VIII," July 24 - Aug. 4

"Beauty and the Beast," May 31 - Aug. 3

"Shakespeare for Kids," July 24 - Aug. 3