Student Involvement
In June, Montana Shakespeare in the Parks will begin its 38th season of providing exceptional entertainment throughout the region with two of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Julius Caesar. The ten-week tour, which begins June 23rd with eight initial performances in Bozeman, will be hitting the road on July 5th and will include 75 performances in 60 communities this summer.
One of the summer’s most anticipated attractions, Montana Shakespeare in the Parks brings professional productions at no cost to the public to communities throughout Montana, northern Wyoming, eastern Idaho and western North Dakota. Remarkably self-sufficient, the company features 10 professional actors who tour without technical assistance to bring theatre to communities primarily in rural areas that may not otherwise have access to it. This summer, the anticipated audience of over 30,000 will be treated to two wonderful performances that cover the broad perspective of Shakespeare’s genius as a playwright.
All performances, with the exception of the Sweet Pea Festival are free and tickets are not needed for admission. Tour coordinators in each of the communities served by MSIP work year-round to raise sponsorship fees to offset the cost of the production. Audiences are encouraged to show up prior to the appointed curtain time with chairs, blankets, a picnic supper, and plenty of friends and family to enjoy the evening.
Montana Shakespeare in the Parks is an outreach program of Montana State University’s College of Arts and Architecture. Performances this summer are supported by and hundreds of individual donors who give what they can to keep the performances free and available to everyone in the touring area. Major Sponsors include the National Endowment for the Arts, NorthWestern Energy, Stillwater Mining Company, Pacific Steel & Recycling, Gapwest Broadcasting, Montana Cultural Trust and the Montana Arts Council.
For more information, please visit their website at http://www2.montana.edu/shakespeare/.