For the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Shakespeare at the Columns is back.
Well, technically it will be Shakespeare Adjacent to the Columns — at least on opening weekend — as the Actors Theatre of Missouri presents “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” June 29-July 1 and July 6-8 at the Springfield Art Museum. This weekend’s shows will be inside the museum’s auditorium, not at the columns just west of the building, due to the heatwave. The show starts at 7:30 each night. Admission is free and donations are accepted.
“We’re back and we’re terribly excited,” said Meg Rice, the show’s director. “Normally we would be outside and loving it, but our opening night is supposed to be a temperature of 103 and I don’t even want to think about what the heat index is going to be. The museum has this wonderful inside space, too, so in inclement weather, we can be in there.”
Updating a classic for modern times
The choice of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was a very intentional one for the company, which started its Shakespeare at the Columns shows in 2013. Rice said they wanted to come back with something familiar to audiences.
“We’re kind of updating it,” she said. “Of course we use his script, but we’re incorporating social media use in it and you’ll hear a lot of terms like ‘gone viral’ or ‘got canceled.’ We wanted to make it a little more timely.
“If you’re a non-fairy (in the show), you know how to use social media, until you get into the forest and the fairy realm and then you don’t — and (the fairies) like it that way.”
These twists are nothing new for Shakespeare at the Columns. Its production of “As You Like It” was set in the Great Depression era, while “Much Ado About Nothing” was set on the beach in Venice in 1969. It helps make the Bard more accessible.
“What I like to say is, ‘We ain’t your mama’s Shakespeare,’” Rice said. “We’re not what you studied in school. … We have the most unusual audiences. They are not Shakespeare people. We have all kinds of people that come to the show that you would not think would come to see Shakespeare, but I think that’s also because we go out of our way to have fun with it.”
Rice knows what it's like to ‘go viral'
It’s interesting that this script includes phrases like “gone viral.” Rice knows a little something about going viral herself. Back in March, she sought out the opinion of an attorney to make sure they wouldn’t get into any legal trouble for having a man dressed as a woman in the show. At the time, several states were considering legislation that would restrict drag performances.
“Traditionally men played all the parts,” Rice said. “There are women in this show, so we don’t have to do that. But I don’t know who’s going to audition, so I met with our attorney and said, ‘Where’s the law right now on men wearing women’s clothes or vice-versa?’ And I made a post about that.”
That post, on her Facebook page, went viral very quickly. As of June 29, it had 848 reactions, 273 comments and 986 shares.
“It even reached other countries, which blew me away,” Rice said. “Some people asked me to make it shareable, so I did. About two hours later there were quite a few shares. I thought ‘Great! I’ll get a few more people to audition and a few more people to see the show.’ And in approximately 36 hours a couple of big Facebook groups had picked it up and it spread even more.
“It was the first time in my theatrical career that I’ve had to do that. But I needed to know and, yes, we do have someone in the show who is not wearing clothes of their assigned gender. We accept (people) for whoever they are and that’s great with us.”
Family atmosphere surrounds the show
The cast has been rehearsing since April. Rice estimates a third of them have never done Shakespeare before. The rest are veterans. She said there has been a family atmosphere surrounding the show.
“This is a real collaboration and a real community effort,” Rice said. “We’ve built the sets, we’ve painted the sets. They’ve hung posters, they’ve put it on their Facebook. It’s very much a ‘We’re all in this together’ thing, which is great because I wouldn’t be able to do it otherwise.”
It even extends to that attorney, Corey Kilburn of RoundTable Legal. He’s serving as the fight coordinator for the show.
“He was over here helping to nail the set together, wearing his velvet suit jacket,” Rice said. “And I cannot say enough wonderful things about the Springfield Art Museum. They’re just fabulous working with us. They let this ragtag group of actors come in every six months and liven up the place.”
‘More of an experience that just seeing a show'
They also provide restrooms for the show, so patrons don’t have to trudge over to nearby Phelps Grove Park for facilities. Actors Theatre of Missouri, meanwhile, books food trucks to feed the crowds.
“My assistant director, Jamie Isham, has it set it up so we have two food trucks every night,” Rice said. “They’re different — a sweet and a savory, or a main dish and a dessert, every night.”
So bring your appetite to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and, on the nights it’s playing outside, bring a few other things, too.
“What I tell people is bring your blanket, bring your lawn chair, bring your granny, bring your kids, bring your dog,” Rice said. “You could bring your cat, but I don’t think your cat is going to have a good time. Because we’re free and people can just come and go, it creates an atmosphere that is more of an experience than just seeing a show.”
Want to go?
What: “A Midsummer Night's Dream,” part of the Actors Theatre of Missouri's Shakespeare at the Columns series
When: June 29-July 1 and July 6-8. All shows start at 7:30 p.m.
Where: Opening weekend will be held in the auditorium of the Springfield Art Museum (1111 E. Brookside Dr.). Shows July 6-8 are planned for the columns on the west side of the museum campus, but could be moved indoors due to weather.
Tickets: Admission is free and donations are accepted. Actors Theatre of Missouri is a volunteer organization and all donations go to pay for productions.
For more information: Find Shakespeare at the Columns on Facebook.
