3304
(1 vote, average 5.00 out of 5)
Written by Michael Muckian
Jul 14, 2011
Scene from Door Shakespeare’s “Pride and Prejudice,” currently playing in repertory. – Photo: Door Shakespeare
If you’re looking for a home where Shakespeare doth roam, then make Sundays and Tuesdays at Björklunden vid Sjön in Door County your destination. That’s when Door Shakespeare’s outdoor production of “Twelfth Night,” which opened July 8, takes key scenes from the Bard of Avon’s comedy out of its garden theater and presents them amid the estate’s natural settings.
The character of Viola, who survived a shipwreck, will actually arrive on the Lake Michigan shore. Sir Toby Belch will return home from a night of carousing only to be lectured by Maria in front of historic Boynton Chapel on Björklunden’s grounds. There may even be a few characters audience members meet along the trails, according to artistic director Jerry Gomis.
“We love the adaptability of the garden as a performance venue,” says Gomis, who manages the company with his wife Suzanne Graff. “I think the use of these locations will enhance the theater experience for the audience.”
The 425-acre Björklunden, the northern campus for Appleton’s Lawrence University, is located just south of Bailey’s Harbor. The roaming performances accompany a more standard outdoor performance Friday nights.
On Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, the company presents Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice,” originally adapted for Milwaukee Repertory Theater by former Rep artistic director Joseph Hanreddy and J.R. Sullivan. Both productions will be performed in repertory through Aug. 21.
Door Shakespeare was originally part of American Folklore Theatre, the Fish Creek company that this year is performing “Guy & Does,” “Lumberjacks in Love” and other humorous looks at northern Wisconsin lifestyles. When AFT decided to focus on original works in 1995 it suspended production of the classics. In 1999 Gomis, a native of Cerritos, Calif., and Graff, from Elm Gove, Wis., received AFT’s permission to launch Door Shakespeare as a separate entity. In 2002 the pair added a second play to bring the company to its current two-show summer schedule.
Door Shakespeare is devoted to interpreting the classics, Gomis says. The company presents one Shakespeare work each year in rotation with another classic by authors such as Oliver Goldsmith, Edmond Rostand, Oscar Wilde and Molière.
“We pride ourselves that we remain true to the playwrights and provide an entertaining evening for a modern-day audience,” Gomis says. “Shakespeare wrote for the populace. His plays are universal and should be understandable to both young and old, and those with modest or excessive means.”
Gomis and Graff, who both studied at The National Shakespeare Conservatory in New York City, pick each year’s shows based on personal preference, audience surveys and what they feel will work in the garden setting. The performances feature both professional performers and local actors.
Last season the company presented its first winter indoor production of the three-performer parody “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)” at Sturgeon Bay’s Third Avenue Playhouse. The successful production will be repeated this year. The company also sponsors “Shakespeare in the Schools,” a workshop and performance experience for area high school students studying the Bard.
Despite competing for audience segments, Gomis says Door Shakespeare has a good working relationship with AFT and Peninsula Players, Door County’s oldest summer stock company.
“The real extent of the competition has been the bowling or volleyball games that our casts have played against AFT,” Gomis says. “I think we won both last year. Peninsula Players appears to be too scared to challenge us to the bowling, volleyball or even mini golf.
