Touring group to perform ‘Winter’s Tale’
Summit Players Theatre will present Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, June 20, at Hartman Creek State Park, west of Waupaca.
The outdoor performance will be free and be preceded by a 45-minute workshop at 1 p.m.
The Wisconsin-based traveling theater company was off last year due to the pandemic.
This year, Summit Players will perform in 24 Wisconsin state parks.
“We’re excited to get back to presenting live theatre and bringing people together across Wisconsin,”
stated Executive Director A.J. Magoon, a founding member of the organization. “‘The Winter’s Tale ‘is like Shakespeare’s take on a fairy tale – there’s love, there’s loss, there’s magic and music. The audience gets to help us reach that happily-ever-after ending, which is a perfect way to return this year.”
“The Winter’s Tale” performance will be 75 minutes long and completely free, in accordance with the company’s mission of creating Shakespeare anyone can afford, attend and understand.
The group’s educational workshop, “Inside Shakespeare’s Story: The Winter’s Tale” is new this year and offered before every show. It serves as a way for kids and adults to get comfortable with the play, Shakespeare’s language and the way nature played into his works.
Participants take part in Shakespeare games and exercises culminating in performing a short scene.
This year, the Summit Players team boasts three new members – Maura Atwood, Cole Conrad and Kaylene Howard. All three will act in “The Winter’s Tale” as well as serving as teaching artists for the company.
“We’re coming back with something totally new, which is perfect for people who love us or people who have never seen us,” said Caroline Norton, education director and two-year alumna of the company’s tours. “There are new things to learn in our workshop, new people to see in our show, new jokes, new lessons and new fun while still getting that classic Shakespeare in the State Parks experience.”
Summit Players Theatre’s 2021 season is supported in part by grants from the Wisconsin Arts Board and Wisconsin Humanities Council, with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities.