Shakespeare in the park

Zilker Park in Austin, Texas has hosted Shakespeare for 20+ years. An open air amphitheater allows hundreds of people to see their plays. They have a good stage and an excellent sound system. This season they have been presenting A Midsummer Night's Dream as a rock play. We caught the last night of production.

This is a huge family event. People gather with their children, dogs, and coolers on the hillside around dusk. There is lots of activity throughout the crowd until the play begins.

Even the little ones come along. They are cute (in a grandpa-ish, non-perverted sort of way).

The production is a labor of love without a big budget, so the sets are simple, yet imaginative. This is Titania's sleeping bower.

Austin people are dog people. Dogs in attendance ranged from lap dogs to this giant Great Dane. The Great Dane was right behind us. (Apologies for the quality of the photo - dusk was coming on.)

Music was provided by a 4 piece combo (drummer missing in this shot). The guitarist was also a singer. The rock music was a bit strange in the production. It was good, but weird. Austin weird. We had kind of expected the language to change, along with the music. It didn't happen that way, though.

Costumes, except for the fairies, were non-traditional, too. This was the opening scene, with most of the non-supernatural characters.

This activity made for a pleasant evening. There was a light breeze until intermission, when bugs overtook us.