SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK

Shakespeare Takes Up Residency in the Adirondack Park this Summer

Every summer in New York City the Public Theatre produces free Shakespeare in Central Park. This summer The Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts with various community partners will follow suit and produce its own version of Shakespeare in the Park. Only our park is much larger. We have the entire Adirondack Park.

This summer The Arts Center will produce a 45 minute outdoor production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream to be performed at the parks and beaches of twelve Adirondack towns. The cast will feature a unique mixture of professional actors from New York City and local aspiring actors. The production will be open to the general public, is appropriate for all ages, and is free admission. For more information about the event call The Arts Center at (518)-352-7715 or visit The Arts Center’s website at www.adirondackarts.org

The goal of this production is to capture the spirit of the Adirondacks. In that vein the design for the production incorporates elements of the culture of the Adirondack Park. The world of the fairies is divided into male and female with Oberon and Puck being romantic representations of the lumberjack tradition and Titania and her fairies representing environment friendly hippies. The young lovers will be summer teens on vacation from the city in their designer clothes and footwear. And the mechanicals will be beatnik actors from the city; dressed in black and armed with their bug spray.

The following are some preliminary sketches by costume designer Tim Brown. Tim is a graduate student in Set and Costume Design at Yale University. Shakespeare in the Adirondack Park is sponsored by The Price Chopper Golub Foundation, Van Auken’s Inne, Moose River House B&B on Fawn Landing, Mountain Greenery, The Cohen Family, Tupper Lake Arts Council, The Long Lake Library, Raquette Lake Navigation, Raquette Lake Supply, Burke’s Marina, St. Williams on Long Point, Town of Minerva, Town of Indian Lake, The Adirondack Park Institute, Borealis Color, Inlet Chamber of Commerce, The Adirondack Speculator Region Chamber of Commerce, Susan W. Svoboda, CPA, and Blue Mountain Designs. North Country Public Radio is a media sponsor for this event.