mary's musings: Yes, Shakepeare is for everyone.

In three years of blogging, I've often written about the places I enjoy in my city - parks, pools, neighborhoods, etc. Another gem in Milwaukee, of which I'm a huge fan, is Shakespeare in the Park. It was a pleasure to attend this year at the new venue, the Peck Pavilion at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, with three generations of my family. All of us - from fourteen to eighty-two years of age - thoroughly enjoyed Much Ado About Nothing. We watched, captured by the story and the characters; we laughed; and we were moved and entertained each in our own way. That's the beauty of Shakespeare's plays. And it's our great fortune to have Shakespeare in the Park giving us that gift each summer for free, making Shakespeare accessible to families and to others who might not otherwise be exposed to the Bard.

our group before the performance of Much Ado About Nothing

The new location is amazing, and I look forward to future summers of Shakespeare there! At the same time, I feel lucky to have been in on Shakespeare in the Park from the start and to have enjoyed the various venues through the years. I remember taking my sons, then ten and twelve years old, to see The Tempest the inaugural year at Alverno College. We were excited and got dressed up for our theater date. I recall my sons' excitement at attending a play outdoors and their enthusiasm for the characters and the sets. The next two years, my husband and I took all three of our kids to Twelfth Night and Macbeth at Alverno. We appreciated the humor of Twelfth Night and the eeriness of Macbeth, our first tragedy.

a view of the stage at Kadish Park, summer of 2015

The move to Kadish Park brought new excitement, being right in our own Riverwest neighborhood. We were there with various groups of family and friends to see As You Like It in 2013 and A Midsummer Night's Dream in 2015. It's been fun to see some of the same actors, from year to year, in different roles or to recognize actors whom we've seen in plays at First Stage or other places. Although I didn't make it to Kadish Park last summer, our younger two kids saw Julius Caesar with their aunt and uncle the same weekend my husband and I were moving our oldest child to college. So, yes, our kids really have "grown up" with Shakespeare, thanks to Shakespeare in the Park!

a list of supporters' names illustrate William Shakespeare, summer of 2013

If you're in Milwaukee, there are a few more opportunities to see Much Ado About Nothing at the Peck Pavilion this Thursday, Friday and Saturday (July 20-22).

Click here for details and get thee to the show!

*****

Why Shakespeare? (an end-note)

Shakespeare's plays have endured through the ages and hold a place in the canon of literature.  Many of the themes are universal and accessible to people - of various ages and backgrounds - in different ways.  References to Shakespeare's plays, plots and characters abound in literature and art and even in popular culture.  And the language of the plays is wonderful. I'm not a scholar or expert, but I know for sure that Shakespeare's plays have enriched our lives.

As a book lover and voracious reader, one of my priorities as a parent has been to expose my kids to good books and literature. I was inspired by an education blog to introduce my kids to Shakespeare when they were still pretty young.  Experiencing Shakespeare is not just about slogging through the text of Romeo and Juliet or The Merchant of Venice in middle or high school.  In Shakespeare's day, people didn't read Shakespeare. They attended and enjoyed the plays.  If we read Shakespearse's plays, that shouldn't be completely divorced from experiencing them as performances.  For example, we have: listened to an audiobook dramatization while following along in a text; read a synopsis or an abridged version and then watched the play or movie; or, attended a play first and then gone back to read parts of the text. There's an abundance of resources about Shakespeare and his plays, both online and in books - adaptations, teaching guides, graphic novels, cartoon dramatizations, and so on.  A Google search or a chat with your favorite librarian can get you started, or feel free to ask me about some of my favorite resources.