While camping with her family in Potawatomi State Park, Hannah Klapperich-Mueller, executive director of Summit Players Theatre, came across an unused outdoor amphitheater, which sparked the idea for creating a traveling Shakespeare performance troupe. “As a theater student I just got the urge to get up on that stage and thought it would be awesome to do Shakespeare there,” says Klapperich-Mueller.
What started off as Klapperich-Mueller’s senior capstone project at Marquette University turned into what is now a 501(C)(3) nonprofit organization getting ready for its second summer of performing Shakespeare in various Wisconsin state parks. “I was so excited when Hannah pitched the idea because she had such passion for it,” says Kaitlyn Martin, stage manager and technical director for Summit Players. Along with Martin, the troupe is composed of fellow Marquette Theatre alumni Molly Edwards, Joe Picchetti, Armando Harlow Ronconi, Ava Thomann and current Marquette Theatre student A.J. Magoon. This July and August they will be performing As You Like It and reprising A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which they performed for their first season last summer. Summit Players Director Maureen Kilmurry suggested reprising that show for the people who missed it last year.
As part of the new “Shakespeare out of a trunk” project, the company will let the audiences decide which show they would like to see and both shows will be performed on select dates. “At the beginning of the season we thought, how can we grow and challenge ourselves more?” Klapperich-Mueller says. “It is fun for the kids to have involvement in what show is happening.”
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Forty-five-minute workshops precede the performances. These include icebreakers as well as character and text study. “We want to get parents and kids off their feet and get into the mode we use as actors,” says Picchetti. “Seeing some of these kids listening to Shakespeare and getting it and seeing that spark in their eyes has probably been the most rewarding thing.”
Klapperich-Mueller said her main goal for their “Shakespeare out of a trunk” project was to get rid of the preconception that Shakespeare is just a boring author you have to read in high school. “With Shakespeare people are always afraid they won’t get the jokes, but I think they will be surprised at how quickly they can pick it up,” Magoon said. “People normally think of theater as strictly indoors, and camping outdoors, and you don’t mix the two, but this gives people a way to experience art outdoors.”
A Midsummer Night’s Dream and As You Like It run July 16-Aug. 21 at various Wisconsin state parks including Three Bridges Park in Milwaukee on Friday, July 22. For other dates and locations visit summitplayerstheatre.com.
Theatre Happenings
n Greendale Community Theatre will bring Disney’s The Little Mermaid to the stage July 21-30. The family friendly musical follows mermaid Arial’s journey to becoming a human through classic songs like “Part of Your World” and “Kiss the Girl.” The production will take place at the Henry Ross Auditorium in Greendale High School, 6801 Southway, Greendale. For tickets, call 414-817-7600 or visit greendaletheater.org.
n Based on the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, SummerStage will perform The Secret Garden at its outdoor amphitheater in Lapham Peak State Park located on W329 N846 County Rd. C, Delafield. July 21-Aug. 6. Adapted by Pamela Stirling, the play follows a young British girl named Mary as she discovers a garden that has been locked and neglected after exploring her uncle’s estate. For tickets, call 262-337-1560 or visit summerstageofdelafield.org.
