Shakespeare in the Park is coming to Oconto

Wisconsin-based traveling theater company Summit Players Theatre is returning to live, outdoor performance after a year off due to COVID-19 and will be performing Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” from June 12 to Aug. 22 in 24 different Wisconsin State Parks.

The troupe is scheduled to visit Copper Culture State Park in Oconto on Saturday, June 19, with a 45-minute educational workshop starting at 5:30 p.m. and a free performance at 7 p.m.

“We’re excited to get back to presenting live theater and bringing people together across Wisconsin,” said Executive Director A.J. Magoon, a founding member of the organization. “’The Winter’s Tale’ is like Shakespeare’s take on a fairy tale – there’s love, there’s loss, there’s magic and music. The audience gets to help us reach that happily-ever-after ending, which is a perfect way to return this year.”

Each “The Winter’s Tale” show will be 75 minutes long and completely free, in accordance with the company’s mission of creating Shakespeare anyone can afford, attend and understand. Through a collaboration with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the

Summit Players are also able to introduce audiences around the state to their local parks.

The group’s educational workshop, “Inside Shakespeare’s Story: The Winter’s Tale” is new this year and offered before every show. It serves as a way for kids and “fun adults” to get comfortable with the play, Shakespeare’s language and the way nature played into his works. Participants take part in Shakespeare games and exercises culminating in performing a short scene.

This year, the Summit Players team boasts three new members—Maura Atwood, Cole Conrad and Kaylene Howard. All three will act in “The Winter’s Tale” as well as serving as teaching artists for the company.

“We’re coming back with something totally new, which is perfect for people who love us or people who have never seen us,” said Caroline Norton, education director and two-year alumna of the company’s tours. “There are new things to learn in our workshop, new people to see in our show, new jokes, new lessons and new fun while still getting that classic Shakespeare in the State Parks experience.”

Summit Players Theatre’s 2021 season is supported in part by grants from the Wisconsin Arts Board and Wisconsin Humanities Council, with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities.