By Karen Allaire

For over thirty years I’ve attended at least one classic play surrounded by nature at American Players Theatre (APT). It is an open-air stage in Spring Green specializing in Shakespeare’s plays. Their professionalism and ability to communicate through actions, emotions, and thoughts brings me back year after year. The experience starts with the walk through the woods up the hill to the theatre. As I take my seat and the play begins, I feel a connection to the words I wasn’t able to achieve when reading them in high school. Last year seeing Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” under the stars with a sold-out house was magical.

I don’t typically attend the same play twice in a season, but last year that’s what happened. Each performance impacted me differently and I wondered… why is that? Live theatre is exactly that, it changes with every performance. Each time they take the stage the actors show up with the skills from their training, but also a willingness to create something fresh and new. They are in the moment in live theatre actors bring whatever is happening in their lives into their performance. If an actor is really tuned in and expressing themselves without trying to be too intellectual, I feel the highs and lows. I have memories of going to APT with my mom. We shared a love for theatre and going to APT brought us closer. We had a ritual of choosing a Shakespeare play to attend every season. We looked for plays that featured our favorite actors because they seemed to make the play come alive.

A play is an opportunity for a collective heartfelt connection with Shakespeare’s words through the actors and the audience. The audience changes with each performance. The actors are bringing something fresh. They stimulate and help us become creative with them. As momentum builds, we get pulled in.

When I go to a play I am on an experiential journey. It’s similar to reading a book, but at the theatre there is the energy of the crowd. It reminds me of the experience of reading a book and then watching the movie in the theatre. I typically find the book is better because I was using my imagination and having a creative experience.

There is also a primal component because at APT I am connecting with the womb of mother nature. It is an unconscious physical response. I feel a sensation, then I start to think about it, and it turns into an emotion. I make it what I wish.

Many theatre groups want to portray a meaningful message in the play. I believe APT thoughtfully chooses plays for the times we’re living in. I find the energy of the plays at APT open ended. They set a stage to allow me to recognize the message and decide if it resonates. If they are able to express their creative vision powerfully with strong intent I may tap into it. If it moves me it’s important. Sometimes the message challenges me to understand.

My first memory of visiting APT was in the early 90s with a friend. There wasn’t a performance scheduled so we wandered around and explored the stage. The experience stuck with me. The famous quote from “As You Like It”, spoken by Jaques came into my thoughts as I was writing.

Speech: “All the World’s a Stage” by William Shakespeare

“All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women are merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven stages. “At first the infant,

Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms;

And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel

And shining morning face, creeping like snail

Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,

Sighing like the furnace, with a woeful ballad

Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,

Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,

Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,

Seeking the bubble reputation

Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,

In fair round belly with good capon lin’d.

With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,

Full of wise saws and modern instances;

And so he plays his part. The sixth stage shifts

Into the lean and slipper’d pantaloon,

With spectacles on his nose and pouch on side;

His youthful hose, well sav’d a world too wide for his

shrunk shank and his big manly voice,

Turning again toward childish treble, pipes

And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all.

That ends this strange eventful history,

Is second childishness and mere oblivion;

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.”

While some may believe Shakespeare is suggesting we are trapped in a life that is staged and predictable, I don’t see it that way. I believe he suggests we can write our play, our story within the stages. Now after thinking about it I understand why I am drawn to the plays. They allow me to create my own stage and enjoy in my own way.

(Shakespeare, W. – “All the World’s a Stage” Poetry Foundation. www.poetryfoundation.org)