Montana Shakespeare in the Parks: AMBITIOUS TOURING COMPANY HAS PROUD HISTORY OF BRINGING THE BARD TO THE MASSES IN FIVE STATES

Lights, action, enjoyment. Montana Shakespeare in the Parks brings a pair of works to enthusiastic audiences from Bozeman to Cody, Wyo., Helena to Superior, parts of Idaho with a stop in Washington state. Here is a production in Fishtail, Montana. The award-winning endeavor is presented free and sustained by grants and donations.

"Love's Labors Lost" was on tour in an earlier production. Notice the elaborate costumes, and a stage that is collapsed, packed up and transported via truck dozens of times per season.

STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS

PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER

"The Carpe Diem Kids"

ONE OF Big Sky Country's treasured institutions is Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, beloved by thousands of loyal supporters for its energy, dedication and rich history dating to its 1973 beginning.

Affection for the ambitious touring theater is with good reason, connected to a deep respect for the company's longtime artistic director Joel Jahnke. The Montana State University professor took the helm in 1980, continuing the intent of founder Bruce Jacobsen's to bring Shakespeare to the masses.

Theater professor Joel Jahnke of Montana State University in Bozeman directed the company with vision and dedication for decades. The ambitious Shakespeare in the Parks touring program tours the Bard's work across the Rockies each season.

Jahnke, now retired from a long teaching and directing career, ran Shakespeare in the Parks for decades, beating the drum for fundraising and growing the company's budget from a shoestring more than a half-century ago, sustaining it in good times and lean ones. His passion for bringing the Bard's work to rural communities continues with Kevin Asselin, current artistic director.

A troupe of seasoned actors from across the United States doubles as costumers, technicians, designers and fund-raisers for one of the state's most enterprising organizations. The troupe tours the Rockies each year to the delight of playgoers from eastern Washington to northern Wyoming and the prairies of Montana.

With a schedule that would challenge most actors, the young, limber company presents two plays in repertory fashion. While theirs is a mostly Shakespeare repertoire, this year's docket features "The Three Musketeers," adapted from the Alexandre  Dumas work, along with "Measure for Measure," which many consider among Shakespeare's finest.

Executive-artistic director Kevin Asselin sustains the original vision of founder Bruce Jacobsen and longtime artistic director Joel Jahnke.

My long friendship with Jahnke goes back to 1973 when I first wrote about the energetic company. Through the years I've keep track of this visionary man, who directed dozens of productions and kept the fundraising torch burning. He believes the touring troupe's mission has always been "to serve rural areas and people who might not normally be able to afford or have access to quality theater."

My first of many interviews with Jahnke was in 1976, three years after the company was founded. He spent 35 years at the helm as director and is crucial to its success and longevity. Kevin Asselin has been the company's executive director since 2014 and is continuing Jahnke's crowd-pleasing tradition.

THE CROWD at a recent production of "The Three Musketeers" in Fishtail Family Park was an eclectic blend of locals -- Republicans and Democrats, students, families -- a mix of tourists new to Shakespeare in the Parks, and devotees who show up faithfully for decades.

A tender moment in "The Three Musketeers" in Montana's Fishtail Family Park. The company occasionally does works by other playwrights.

 "We' re about finding ways to come together regardless of political or socioeconomic differences. That belief forms the backbone of the company's success," Asselin says.

What makes the endeavor noteworthy is that in a single day, the company transforms an empty space into a believable theatrical stage -- complete with balcony, set and costumes. The feat is remarkable when one considers it is done day after day with little time off and in unpredictable weather.

DONATIONS are welcome and the website shows you where to catch the next show. The company's outreach extends beyond Shakespeare in the Parks to a school program and other fund-raisers and presentations.

A young girl is head over heels for her night at the theater, mesmerized by the action on stage.

The season begins in "hometown" Bozeman for a rare week. Usually stops are a single night, or sometimes two. The troupe returns to  Bozeman for Sweet Pea Festival, visits Butte and Big Sky, then heads west into Driggs, Pocatello and Salmon, Idaho. 

OTHER STOPS included Silvergate, Big Timber, Powell, Cody and Worland Wyoming, Roundup and Townsend Gardiner, Boulder, Forsyth, and a swing into Beach, North Dakota, in July. The August run includes western Montana and a stop in Liberty Lake, Wash., northern Montana towns and Missoula in western Montana, then two weeks in September in Philipsburg, St. Ignatius, Superior, Anaconda, Deer Lodge, Whitehall, Livingston, Three Forks, White Sulphur and a finale in Bozeman with "The Three Musketeers" at Grand Chamberlain Park.

Check the schedule for a play near you by Montana Shakespeare in the Parks.

The road home after a play as sunset comes. The company packs up the set, costumes and equipment each evening.

"We love it when we get to stay two nights," the company members say. "It's a real treat not to have to move everything every day." 

For tickets or more information:

ShakespeareInTheParks.org