Kentucky Shakespeare, the largest in-school arts education provider in the Commonwealth, will serve its 1,000,000^th child on April 23^rd, 2013 at Fern Creek Traditional High School. Fern Creek offers the Communication, Media and Arts 5-Star Professional Career Theme.

Several types of performances will be held at Fern Creek throughout the day, as well as a presentation of Julius Caesar and a celebration of William Shakespeare’s 449^th Birthday. Over 90 productions of Julius Caesar, Living History, Inspecting Shakespeare and Artists in Residents will also be happening at different schools in the Commonwealth.

As a prize for hosting the 1,000,000^th child, Fern Creek will receive a minimum of $5,000 worth of free programs provided by KYS during the 2013-2014 school year. Fern Creek will use these programs to conduct assessments that will provide data in the valuing of arts-based education programs as they relate to test scores.

“The provision of arts education to our youth is critical and Kentucky Shakespeare has filled an important need,” states Lori Meadows, executive director of the Kentucky Arts Council. “Through workshops, performances, theatre camps and advanced training, students in every county of the Commonwealth have benefitted from their services, and I’m sure will continue to do so for many years.”

Barbara Sexton Smith, president/CEO of the Fund for the Arts, also added, “At the Fund for the Arts, we believe an arts-rich education improves graduation rates and raises test scores. Kentucky Shakespeare’s work is an excellent example of how the arts can benefit the children in our community.”

Both Lori Meadows and Barbara Sexton Smith will be on hand for interviews and questions beginning at 8 AM during the celebration festivities, as well as District 22 Councilman Robin Engel, Principal of Fern Creek Dr. Houston M. Barber and JCPS Superintendent Donna Hargens. Students will also be available for comments.

Fifth Third is a proud co-sponsor of Celebration Day, and will be hosting a Budgeting & Understanding Credit workshop to help students become more financially aware and prepared for their futures.

“Fifth Third is proud to partner with KY Shakespeare in celebration of the 1,000,000^th child,” said Tom Partridge, President & CEO, Fifth Third Bank, “There is nothing more important than educating our children, and KY Shakespeare has made a tremendous contribution to this community.”

Kentucky Shakespeare’s education programs serve 75,000 students in 120 counties in Kentucky each year, as well as in Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

For more information or to schedule a media interview, call (502) 574-9900 or visit www.kyshakespeare.com. You can also follow the organization at twitter.com/kyshakespeare or on Facebook.

One could call it Shakespeare’s “Sex and the City.” “Measure for Measure” poses a tangled plot (this is the Bard) with Claudio and Juliet having consummated their marriage too soon in the eyes of the judge governing the city in the absence of the ruling duke.

The judge’s decision to execute Claudio sets off a string of efforts by his sister and novice nun, Isabella, visiting the judge to plead for her brother only to face his sexual advances. What is a nun to do with this moral conundrum?

The answers will unfold next week when Kentucky Shakespeare presents the play performed by The Players, a company of high school students who’ve undergone a seven-week training conservatory.

Performances start at 8:30 p.m. Aug. 2-5 in Old Louisville’s Central Park. A full-service bar and VIP seating will be available.

For more information, call (502) 574-9900 or visit www.kyshakespeare.com.

The annual Shakespeare in the Park festival is proud to feature Much Ado About Nothing for its 53rd season opener.

Running now – July 29 in Old Louisville’s Central Park, Much Ado is directed by nationally recognized Jane Page, who brings a new flare to the Louisville stage with a Gunsmoke meets Shakespeare theme – where eavesdropping and gossip are central to a community and where it is truly “a man’s world.”

This hilarious Spaghetti Western-style comedy follows the tongue and cheek relationship of Beatrice and Benedick. Beatrice, played by Netherlands native Liza de Weerd, is a vixen who is not about to cower in the shadow of a man’s world or sacrifice her femininity to convention.

Benedick, played by Grant Goodman (who recently starred in Actors Theatre’s production of In the Next Room), is strikingly similar to the iconic Western bachelor who professes disdain for romantic love, but ends up falling in love and, indeed, getting “hitched.”

Also new this year, come and take in some pre-show entertainment with vendor booths, cover bands, bluegrass swing, and a bit of comedy every night at 7 PM before the 8:30 PM curtain, all while enjoying a drink from the full service bar.

Monday Movie Nights, starting at 9:30 PM, are another new addition to the season, featuring something different for every movie taste. This year’s lineup includes:
July 9th: “Shakespeare in Love”
July 16th: “Anonymous”
July 23rd: “Rocky Horror Picture Show”
July 30th: “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

ABOUT KENTUCKY SHAKESPEARE
Kentucky Shakespeare presents the oldest free Shakespeare festival in the United States and is the largest, in-school arts education provider in the Commonwealth. Mission: Grounded in the works of Shakespeare, we enrich our community by presenting accessible, professional theatre experiences that educate, inspire, and entertain people of all ages.

Shakespeare in the Park
“Much Ado About Nothing”
Central Park, Old Louisville
Tonight through Sunday; Preshow 7:00
FREE Admission
www.kyshakespeare.com

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) – Kentucky’s Shakespeare Festival’s “Much Ado About Nothing” is really something.

It is the very first play the company ever performed and you may never see Shakespeare done as a spaghetti western again.

Unfortunately, due to financial reasons, Kentuckiana may never see Kentucky’s Shakespeare Festival again.

The festival is 53 years old, making it the oldest free Shakespeare Festival in the United States.

Producing Artistic Director Brantley Dunaway said, “It’s a kind of magic that doesn’t exist anymore, except here in Kentuckiana.”

Dunaway was excited about his new position with the festival. He loved the group, the Louisville culture and the community.  Like a scene out of a Broadway love story it was perfect.

Then, at one of his first events, a woman who worked with the festival gave him a closer look at the festival’s budget.  Her exact words, “We literally didn’t know if we were going to make payroll until we finished our t-shirt sales.”

They began to sell t-shirts because they could not pay the bills. After speaking to five or six of the past festival presidents, he found this had been the norm for awhile. Looking over the books he questioned why nothing in the budget had changed in 17 years.

Dunaway said they had to ask themselves if they thought the festival was something Louisville wanted.

He and the actors believed the answer was yes. The company and staff believe this so fervently they will forgo getting paid this week, giving their paychecks back to the company to keep it running for another week.

It is almost impossible for the festival to struggle anymore than it is in this economy. The festivals had deep cuts in government funding. Dunaway explained, “It’s gone from $100,000. Last year we got $5,000.”

In the beginning, the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival was fully funded by the neighborhood associations who founded it. Dunaway said, “From the local neighborhood associations this year we received $1,100.”

Most of the actors travel great distances to be a part of the festival, at no charge it is accessible and open to all, but Dunaway said, “We literally go day by day and week by week just to be here.”

Dunaway knows why they’re in trouble.  Now he just needs to know who will help them write a happy ending.

The board of directors has given the festival notice that it will not continue unless it is fully funded.

The festivals will run through July 29.

To help or not to help?  Hopefully you don’t have to ask this question. To learn more try this site:kyshakespeare.com.

Copyright 2012 WAVE News. All rights reserved.

As the actors and actresses stepped onto the stage, an immediate hush fell over the audience. But rather than turning my attention to those in the spotlight, I was distracted by those in the audience. T-shirts and basketball shorts, suits and ties, sundresses and high heels, running shoes and even a few dogs in the mix – the diversity of the people in attendance was refreshing. This was not your average playhouse inside Actors Theatre of Louisville or the Kentucky Center for the Arts, but an outdoor arena, fit for all ages, all lifestyles and all fashions. This was Shakespeare in the Park, put on by Kentucky Shakespeare.

Located in the shade of Central Park in downtown Louisville, Shakespeare in the Park has been providing entertainment to the area for a little over 50 years. Kentucky Shakespeare holds the record for the oldest free Shakespeare Festival in the country and is known for putting a unique twist on the familiar acts composed by the English playwright. Currently performing “Much Ado About Nothing,” the company provides an American Western spin to its summer 2012 season opener.

“This type of presentation introduces the work of Shakespeare to the audience in a non-threatening, non-snooty way. It’s introducing (the audience) to what Shakespeare’s really about and (instilling) community engagement,” said Kentucky Shakespeare CEO, Brantley M. Dunaway. The play depicts familiar feelings and scenarios with the language used in Shakespeare’s original pieces, making it great for a family-friendly evening of entertainment.

If Shakespeare isn’t for you, Monday Movie Nights also offer a fun atmosphere for a family gathering. Showing movies such as Shakespeare in Love, Rocky Horror Picture Show and O Brother, Where Art Thou?, there’s something for everyone. To round out the season, Shakespeare in the Park will also feature “Measure for Measure,” August 2 through 5.

Filling the park with laughter and music each night (with the exception of Monday Movie Nights) this elevated, yet elementary take on Shakespeare will be running July 12 through 29. Entertainment begins at 7:30 p.m. and the curtain opens at 8:30 p.m. VIP seats are $20 for comfy chairs and unlimited drinks from the full-service bar.

If you would like more information about Shakespeare in the Park and Kentucky Shakespeare, visit www.kyshakespeare.com.

Performances:
July 12-29 *excluding Mondays
Closed Captioned Performances July 20, 21

Pre-Show Entertainment:
7:00 PM

Curtain:
8:30 PM

Monday Movie Nights:
Show times begin at 9:00 PM
July 9th: Shakespeare in Love
July 16th: Anonymous
July 23rd: Rocky Horror Picture Show
July 30th: O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Photos by JAMES EATON/Contributing Photographer

Our community should take a bow at contributing to the most successful arts fundraising campaign in the country. The 11% increase in the Fund for the Arts campaign and the nearly $800,000 in new dollars topped all campaigns nationally. The more than $8 million raised was the third highest total in the 63 year history of the fund drive.

That’s fitting as Louisville is among only a dozen cities with a resident theatre, children’s theatre, opera, ballet, and orchestra. People in our area have an estimated 4,000 chances a year to see an arts performance of some kind.

The future looks even brighter as the producing artistic director of the oldest free outdoor Shakespeare Festival in the country – Kentucky Shakespeare Festival – envisions a destination tourism model for that company.

If Churchill Downs with the Kentucky Derby and Actors Theatre of Louisville with the Humana Festival of New American Plays can provide destination tourism, so can Shakespeare.

It works in smaller cities in Oregon, Utah and Alabama and can certainly work here. The economic impact in Cedar City, Utah with Utah Shakespeare was $35 million last year.

Kentucky Shakespeare will perform before its one millionth student next year with its education program that has served all 120 counties in Kentucky and many in southern Indiana. Performing from May to October with theatrical performances instead of just two months in Central Park would not only employ more folks year round in the arts community, but attract tourists for a week at a time who will help us all gain a greater rate of return on our investment in the arts.

Copyright 2012 WAVE News. All rights reserved.

Much Ado About Nothing
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Jane Page
Reviewed by Rachel White
Entire contents are copyright © 2012 Rachel White. All rights reserved.

Kentucky Shakespeare Festival’s production of Much Ado About Nothing claims to be Gunsmoke meets Shakespeare and melds the campy television American western style with the heightened Renaissance poetry of Shakespeare.  In so doing, it turns Much Ado About Nothing into a slapstick romantic western comedy.

It took me a minute to adjust to hearing Shakespeare’s words spoken in a thoroughly western setting, but soon the play and the setting began to mesh very well. The story is set in the small town of Messina and follows the escapades of two sets of lovers: the quipping, fiercely independent Beatrice (Liza de Weer) and Benedick (Grant Goodman); and the sweet, young Claudio (Ian Kramer) and Hero (Paige Herschell). Like the American West, the town of Messina is a wild place. The men come home from wars, there are sheriffs and there are duels. It is a place where men rule – and women are subject to them.

For a modern audience, the western backdrop also highlights several ideas in the play: ideas about marriage, freedom and romantic love. To Americans, the West is often thought of as a place where you go to find your freedom, to be single and to live out your dream. By placing the play in a familiar landscape like the Wild West, the plight of freedom-loving independent characters like Beatrice and Benedick come into focus.

Shakespeare’s language does not feel at all out of place in this world, and it occurred to me that the language of 19th century Wild West was probably much closer to Shakespeare’s than our own language. The language did the job of placing the audience in another time and culture. Western accents are used sparingly by the minor characters, and this is effective as it immediately puts those characters into a class that the audience can identify with.

The production was often very campy and very much in the American Western tradition in terms of set design and costumes. I like more romance and wit and a little less camp; but it got good laughs from the audience. There is a scene where Benedick hides in a barrel with only his cowboy hat sticking out as he listens in on a conversation. This was cartoonish slapstick; but in a way it made the play accessible and fun, and all of the kids sitting next to me thought it was hilarious. Several of Shakespeare’s songs are sung to the tunes of “El Paso” and “Amazing Grace.” These western clichés were in abundance, and it made me wonder how the play would fair if the designers had conjured a more specific and authentic western world, rather than one directly out of pop culture. But like Shakespeare’s time, the production plays on familiar cultural references and stereotypes that the audience can pick up on and enjoy.

The cast is excellent. De Weer and Goodman as Beatrice and Benedick are great sparring partners. Their witty banter is sharp and fast; but they manage to keep the audience up on the jokes, and so the humor is never lost. The young lover Claudio is sweet and young, and I believed his devastation when he hears of Hero’s betrayal. All of the performances are strong, and even the minor characters are all in support of the story. What I loved most were the subtleties and vulnerabilities that the actors convey in the midst of the comedy. At one point Benedick says of Beatrice after complaining about her, “She speaks poniards, and every word stabs”; I got a sense of his love for her in that line. Little hints of melancholy like these made me attach to and root for these characters throughout the play.

I recommend this production to anyone who wants to get out on a warm summer night and see some Shakespeare. The play was great fun with highly professional, polished performances, all in the serene beauty of Central Park. And the weather was (at least when I was there) perfect.

Much Ado About Nothing

July 12-29, 2012
Kentucky Shakespeare Festival
1340 South Fourth Street
Louisville, KY 40208

(502) 574-9900
http://kyshakespeare.com/

NOW PLAYING

What: The Kentucky Shakespeare Festival’s “Much Ado About Nothing” by William Shakespeare
When: 8:30 nightly (except Mondays) through July 29 (7 p.m. pre-show entertainment)
Where: Old Louisville’s Central Park, Fourth Street and Magnolia Avenue
Cost: Free
Information: (502) 574-9900; kyshakespeare.com.

This month’s opening of the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival production of “Much Ado About Nothing” dovetailed with cooler temperatures — a good development for audiences seeing the play outdoors in Louisville’s Central Park.

But work has been going on at what seems a fever pitch for the past two years, since the organization’s producing artistic director, Brantley Dunaway, came on board. During that time, he’s been working to remake the organization into what he said can be a driving force in the local economy and more.

What brought you to Louisville?

In 2009, I had finished making the film “Love in a Time of Cholera” (Dunaway was one of the film’s producers). Afterwards, I was fried. I had worked on it for five years. Maddie (his wife, Madison Dunaway) had done a couple of films, and we needed a break.

We packed up our house and moved to Virginia for one year, where my wife got her master’s degree and I worked for the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C., before returning to California (where he continued working in film, television and theater productions).

We didn’t want to raise kids there. One night, a friend came over for dinner and said, “I took a job in Louisville. You should totally check it out.” I literally went on the Theatre Communications Group’s site that night and this job was there. May 17, 2010, was my first day of work. Maddie moved here in July, and we had Finnleigh (their younger of two daughters) in August.

What persuaded you to take this job?

A big part of it was for the family, the culture here and the way of life. I want to have a yard. I want to have a swing set. I want to have kids. I want to have community. That’s a big thing for us. My wife and I had childhoods where we moved around a lot, and I was working as a child actor.

What were some of the first things you did after getting the job?

There’s been a lot of internal changes — structural, organizational, cultural, relationship-oriented, branding. Literally, I changed everything.

I got new phone systems. We changed how we answer the phone. We changed the computer systems. I rewrote the employee handbook. I changed payroll to where it matches the union pay cycle. We changed offices. We were over at Fourth and Magnolia, and we weren’t engaged in the arts community sitting in Old Louisville in an office with mushrooms growing out of the ceiling.

Immediately, I started engaging with the other arts organizations and hiring some of their employees who were out of work for the summer. We really just created a brand-new company with some cultural guidelines, and I’m still working on building the new foundation. Now believe me, it’s not perfect. We are still working out kinks.

How did you begin to review the mission?

We had a board retreat last year and a strategic planning retreat this year. In those, I focused on part of the mission statement: “works of Shakespeare,” “accessibility,” “professional theater.” We talked about what it means to be a professional theater. We use Actors Equity (a theatrical union) now. It’s more than getting paid. It’s dedication to work and experience and more. There is a code.

Then we talked about accessibility, which for years meant free. But it’s not that. Free is a component. But it also involves economic barriers, social barriers, understanding, environment, physical handicaps. Then we asked ourselves: Do we always use the works of Shakespeare? Or do we use something else?

Will you perform works other than those by Shakespeare?

Historically, the company had done other works. When we rewrote the mission statement, we stipulated that the company be “grounded in the works of Shakespeare.” We will do Shakespeare as a foundation of what we do. But that’s not everything.

Basically the idea is similar to the programs of other Shakespeare companies: the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Utah Shakespeare Festival and the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.

What specifically will you stage outside of Shakespeare’s work?

I’m working on that. I can tell you what I won’t do. I won’t do new works. What I will do is Shakespeare and other iconic literary material. I will definitely do Tennessee Williams. I will definitely do some Jacobeans (playwrights from the mid-1500s to the mid-1600s who were Shakespeare’s contemporaries).

It won’t be just a classics company. I’ll do Moliere. I’ll do Noel Coward. I’ll do Sam Shepard. And in time, I’ll do a musical. I’m saving that.

How have you looked at building the organization?

The idea is to pull in resources, and we’ve put together the strategic plan and the look for the new messaging. We’ve looked at what people are doing around the country. We started putting it together in July last year, and it was approved May 17.

Our goal is to build the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival into a destination. Oregon Shakespeare is the oldest festival in the country, founded in 1935. It’s in a community with a population of 21,000 and a median income of $35,000. The nearest major city is 290 miles away. Its annual budget is $26 million, and economic impact is $321 million. That’s 150 percent of what the arts community in Louisville generates.

Utah Shakespeare in Cedar City, Utah, had a $35 million economic impact last year with a season in the middle of the desert. We have five major cities a short drive away. The closest competition with destination models for Shakespeare festivals are in Alabama and Virginia.

In a city that knows destination tourism, with the Kentucky Derby, the St. James Court Art Show and Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival of New American Plays, to me the writing’s on the wall.

The ultimate goal is for us to literally start a season just after the Kentucky Derby and go through until the start of St. James in October and ultimately do five to six shows, with two outdoors with free admission and the rest indoors.

That could help generate a sizable economic impact. The average person who goes to a destination theater actually spends 5.2 days there. Six hours in the theater and 90 hours in the community.

I’m in this huge transition right now with this little company with a budget of $700,000 a year.

(Dunaway later noted that this year the Kentucky Arts Council increased its funding to Kentucky Shakespeare Festival by 22 percent, Metro government raised its allocation by an estimated 98 percent, Brown-Forman tripled its annual contribution and the National Endowment for the Arts awarded a grant to the organization to support its performances in Central Park for the first time.)

What do you need to attract those out-of-town audiences?

Facilities are important. There are people who won’t go to Central Park. We have to find a facility. Want to have it by 2014 — that will be Shakespeare’s 450th birthday.

It will be our 65th anniversary as an organization.

We have been looking into purchasing the Theater Square building where the Roxbury Nightclub and Lounge is now. But we’ve talked to Actors Theatre about renting their facilities during the summer months.

How have you been building your education programs?

All of our education programs are growing, and we have new ones. We launched a new program called “Living History: We the People” last year after consulting 12 history teachers from across Kentucky. It has study guides and covers topics and figures in history — Thomas Paine, JFK, the McCarthy hearings — through using original source material. Our goal was to have 50 performances last year, but we did 90.

We have another called “Kentucky History” launching in the spring.

But we want be part of the University Resident Theater Association of America, where students can study and get professional experiences. We’re now in the last stages of securing arrangements with Bellarmine University to work together as part of the association. There are discussions about shared facilities.

We’re also doing the same thing with the Jefferson County Technical College to focus on the vocational trades — carpentry and electronics. For that, we’re looking for an indoor facility that would house Bellarmine and JCTC programs in the day and Kentucky Shakespeare Festival events at night. Right now, Bellarmine University and JCTC are working together to write an agreement that would allow students who finish two years at JCTC to go to Bellarmine.

Because Kentucky Shakespeare’s education program sees 75,000 students in a five-state region, we can talk about higher education to them and this opportunity.

If they go through this education program, they will graduate with professional credits and experience, work with impressive people, gain a professional resume and graduate with their equity card. Then Louisville becomes the place that grows artists.

Last night, Kentucky Shakespeare opened its production of Much Ado About Nothing, with a twist—this version is set in the Wild West. Producing Artistic Director Brantley Dunaway joined WFPL’s Erin Keane on Friday’s Byline, to talk about the show, and what’s new with Kentucky Shakespeare.

Listen NOW!

Shakespeare in the Park gears up for its 53rd year.

All the world may be a stage, but this summer Louisville theater-goers should head to Central Park for Kentucky Shakespeare’s delightful slate of summer fare. The oldest free outdoor Shakespeare festival in the country, Derby City’s Shakespeare in the Park has been delighting local audiences for more than 50 years. This year promises to be another winner, with crowd-pleaser “Much Ado About Nothing” leading off the season.

The witty comedy centers around the tempestuous couple of Beatrice and Benedick, whose battle of wits includes some of Shakespeare’s cleverest repartees, and one of his most endearing, realistic romances. This summer, the iconic duo is brought to the stage by Liza de Weerd, a native of the Netherlands, and Grant Goodman, who recently wowed Louisville audiences in Actors Theatre’s production of “In the Next Room.”

“Much Ado” holds a special place in the legacy of Shakespeare in the Park. In 1960, it was the first outdoor production put on by Kentucky Shakespeare’s predecessors, The Carriage House Players. The performance, at an art fair in Central Park, marked the first step in the group’s transformation into Shakespeare in the Park. The company returns to the beloved classic this summer, in a reinterpretation by visiting director Jane Page that transplants the Elizabethan text into an Old Western setting.

Billed as “Gunsmoke meets Shakespeare,” the production places the fiery Beatrice and Benedick in a saloon, surrounded by a slew of comic characters that fill out the rollicking comedy of mistaken identities and unexpected romance. Page explains her choice of aesthetic: “My immediate challenge in approaching this comedy was to find a locale and period that spoke to me, a setting that would reveal insights into the play and the characters as well as make it instantly accessible to the audience. I believe that a small, late-19th-century town in America fills the bill perfectly. I think that Italy (note: the play is originally set in the town of Messina) was as exotic a frontier to Shakespeare as the West is to us today.”

Page has been working with outdoor Shakespeare festivals across the country since 1978. She describes settings like Shakespeare in the Park as “a wonderful, though challenging, venue, which provides a remarkable opportunity for a group of theater artists to ‘make it work.’” She also emphasizes the enormous boon such an organization offers to a city, adding, “If an area is fortunate enough to have a free public festival, the productions offer a remarkable resource for a community. These performances allow all people to come together, participate in an event, and share a story.”

In August, “Much Ado” turns the stage over to “Measure for Measure,” a complex drama presented by The Players, Kentucky Shakespeare’s youth ensemble. The cast of high school students participates in an eight-week intensive camp, which includes daily classes in movement, voice and acting, and culminates in the full-scale production, offered to the public.

Director Will Salmons says the play serves as “a showcase of what young actors can do with Shakespeare.” Most of the cast members have been attending Kentucky Shakespeare camps for years, working diligently for their chance to grace the main stage. Playing up to five roles each, Salmons gushes, “This group is incredibly smart. Of course there are challenges within the script, what with themes and language, but they understand the difficulties and parameters of this particular show.”

Since The Players share a set with the main stage production, they must find an aesthetic that fits with the larger show’s set design. This year, Salmon chose Old World Spain. He also plays with gender roles and cross-casting, giving the production a fresh, contemporary twist.

While many critics consider “Measure for Measure” to be one of Shakespeare’s most challenging plays thematically, Salmon had no qualms about tackling it with a younger ensemble. “For me, it’s a wonderful play about loyalty and standing up for what is right,” he says. “This is a huge thing many of my actors are dealing with in their own lives, and they are eating it up.”

Ultimately, the camp and Shakespeare in the Park serve to expose people to the vibrancy and incredible humanity of Shakespeare’s work, taking his timeless plays and sharing them with a wide audience. This summer’s festival offers something for everyone, including weekend concerts preceding the performances of “Much Ado,” as well as outdoor movie screenings.

Describing her experience with “Much Ado,” Page sums up the festival’s aims: “What draws me to Shakespeare are the stories, the language, the human condition, and connections imbedded in the plays. There is something remarkable knowing that you are participating in a ‘global love affair’ with Shakespeare.” This summer, for the 53rd year running, Shakespeare in the Park promises to keep the romance alive, one iamb at a time.

‘Much Ado About Nothing’
July 12-29 (excluding Mondays)
Free; 7 p.m. (pre-show, Thu.-Sat.), 8:30 p.m. (curtain)

Monday Movie Nights
July 9: “Shakespeare in Love”
July 16: “Anonymous”
July 23: “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”
July 30: “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”
Free; 9:30 p.m.

‘Measure for Measure’
Aug. 2-5
Free; 8:30 p.m.

Old Louisville’s Central Park
1340 S. Fourth St.
kyshakespeare.com