May 9, 2011

New Shakespeare troupe will perform in Evergreen’s Meadow

The Maryland Shakespeare Festival will bring its 2011 Good Will Summer Tour to Baltimore in June, performing over nine days, June 29–July 2 and July 6–10, in the Meadow at Johns Hopkins’ Evergreen Museum & Library. The company continues the tradition previously established by the Baltimore Shakespeare Festival, which in April announced its closing after 17 years, of staging Shakespeare under the stars at the museum.

The innovative Frederick-based company will perform one of Shakespeare’s best-loved comedies, As You Like It, complete with boasting wrestlers, women disguised as men, a lion attack, four weddings, a couple of banishments and some of the most famous lines the Bard ever wrote, including “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”

For more than a decade, the Maryland Shakespeare Festival has been playing Shakespeare the way the playwright and his company played it: bold, passionate and sometimes rowdy. Its annual Good Will Summer Tour offers joyous, casual performances in outdoor venues across Maryland with live music and a festival atmosphere for the entire family.

As You Like It is directed by John Bellomo. Gates open at 5 p.m. for picnicking, with shows at 7 p.m. Ticket prices are $20 for adults, $15 for military and seniors, $10 for students, and $55 for a family package of four tickets. Tickets can be purchased through the Maryland Shakespeare Festival website at www
.mdshakes.org/summer-tour or by calling 301-668-4090.