Montana Shakespeare in the Parks returns this summer with free productions in Powell and Cody!

Powell will host Julius Caesar on Monday, July 26 at 6:30 p.m. in Washington Park.

Cody will feature A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Tuesday, July 27 at 6:30 p.m. in Canal Park.

Julius Caesar, July 26 in Powell

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.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is perhaps Shakespeare’s most produced play as well as one of his best known comedies. It is a fantastical fantasy ride that is enchanting in its imaginative use of language, place and characters. The play explores two worlds; one includes the royal court, the young lovers and the “mechanicals” that all live in the “real” world of Athens and the other a “magical forest” where the fairies rule and strange and even nightmarish things begin to happen to those who venture into the forest at night.

“To my way of thinking the fairies are hard at work in the play, it’s the netherworld that creates all of this madness,” according to artistic director, Joel Jahnke. “As the play ends, the sun comes up and all of the magic of the forest goes away. They wake not knowing if it was real or a dream.”

Midsummer’s worlds will be designed to contrast significantly with each other. The “real” world of Athens will have a monochromatic flavor while the world of the forest will be a richly textured, magical world that although controlled by the fairies is also a place of danger, of dark shadows, of mysterious things that happen to the lovers when they least expect them. “I have been strongly influenced by both Disney’s Alice in Wonderland and Tim Burton’s new version of Alice,” says Jahnke, “I’m looking to create a world that is exotic and colorful with just the right amount of mystery and danger to keep it interesting.”

July 27 in Cody

In juxtaposition to the magical A Midsummer Night’s Dream, MSIP veteran Will Dickerson has chosen to direct Julius Caesar, Shakespeare’s classic tale of betrayal, to complement the 2010 summer season. Julius Caesar is an exciting ride which includes espionage, secret alliances, murderous plots, political intrigue and lots of action. It serves as a cautionary tale for those who crave power and whose ambitions place personal gain above the public good. “I think the engine that drives the main players of this story is competition,” says director Dickerson, “and there are a lot of by-products of this competition both good and bad: pride, jealousy, courage, ambition, fanaticism and loyalty to name a few.” This summer’s production of Julius Caesar will be set in Rome in 44 B.C. “The idea is to get out of the bleached white togas and try to make these people real and accessible.”