Shakespeare in the Park is a pretty well-established concept, and one that puts the idea of "All the world's a stage" into practice. A Milwaukee-based theater troupe is now into its second season of putting its distinctive spin on the concept.
"(Shakespeare is) consistently fun to watch whether they're tragedies or comedies and so bringing them out into a park where the whole world seems bigger and more open to you - it seems to fit," says Hannah Klapperich-Mueller. She's co-founder and executive director of Summit Players.
Summit Players Theatre collaborated last year with the Wisconsin DNR to produce A Midsummer Night's Dream in state parks around Wisconsin.
The group says this year's season is "bigger, badder and bard-ier."
"We want to give the audience more opportunity to interact with us," explains Klapperich-Mueller. "And that was one of the reasons we decided to do two shows this year and before each performance let the audience pick which one they'd like to see."
The two shows featured this summer, directed by Maureen Kilmurry, are As You Like It and and another rendition of A Midsummer Night's Dream. These shows will be perform at various Wisconsin State Parks.
The Summit Players next performance is Friday night at Three Bridges Park in the Menomonee Valley, with a workshop beforehand.