I was walking into Starbucks in Uptown yesterday – usually the farthest I ever drift from campus – about to order my usual complicated order, when my eyes locked on an unfamiliar poster.
The words “Shakespeare In The Park” sat, beckoning me to come in for a closer look.
“What?” I thought to myself. “DALLAS has a ‘Shakespeare in the Park?!'” Grabbing my frothy drink, I headed over to challenge this unusual sighting.
As it turns out, Dallas does indeed have a “Shakespeare in the Park,” and has since 1971.
Back then, it was a one-man production of “Hamlet,” which was part of a free summer Shakespeare festival inspired by the New York Shakespeare Festival. It has since expanded to include three productions a summer.
Shakespeare Dallas, the company which hosts “Shakespeare in the Park,” is one of North Texas’ only producers of an education program focused on teaching Shakespeare.
Along with “Shakespeare in the Park,” they also produce “Shakespeare on the Go,” an in-school learning component of Shakespeare Dallas’ programs.
How is it that, with Shakespeare as one of our campus’ main student choice of English perspectives, this festival is virtually unknown?
Being located so close to Downtown Dallas, SMU students are offered endless cultural experiences, yet we find it increasingly difficult to move our social endeavors away from campus.
What better way to break away than a night of Shakespearian wonders beneath the stars?
“Julius Caesar” will be performed at 8 p.m. Sept. 23 through Oct. 18 at the Samuell-Grand Amphitheater and Addison Circle Park.
Noted as one of Shakespeare’s greatest plays, “Julius Caesar” portrays the life-and-death struggle for power in Rome.
A faction of politicians plots to assassinate Caesar, fearing that his growing strength and constitutional ambitions threaten the Republic. But when Caesar is killed, chaos engulfs Rome.
The Samuell-Grand Amphitheater is located at 1500 Tenison Parkway, and tickets are free Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday. Friday and Saturday they’ll cost you about two venti Starbucks ($10), but for a date night that’s probably worth it.
For more information visit Shakespearedallas.org and next time you’re in Starbucks, check out the local bulletin board. You never know what you may stumble across.
