Shakespeare in Sandpoint

Free performance features troupe from Montana Shakespeare in the Parks

By DAVID GUNTER

Feature correspondent

SANDPOINT — Shakespeare in Sandpoint was never meant to be a one-time event, which makes the triumphal local return of the bard for the third year in a row something worth celebrating. On Aug. 20, the actors from Montana Shakespeare in the Parks will bring a taste of the Globe Theater to the Bonner County Fairgrounds when they perform Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.”

When the group pulled up stakes in nearby Heron, Mont., after a multi-year run there, Lost Horse Press founder Christine Holbert pounced on the chance to bring the troupe to Sandpoint. It was, she explained, an ideal way to help fulfill the publishing company’s mission to “make literature available through cultural, educational and public programs.”

“They ran every year in Heron, so my plan was always to have it be an ongoing event here,” Holbert said. “This is a way to get literature to people in a different format. Sometimes, that makes them like it more.”

Holbert and a core group of volunteers hosts the traveling acting troupe each year, putting them up in spare bedrooms and providing home-cooked meals while they’re in town. Sandpoint has become one of the group’s favorite venues in its summer-long tour, since they feel fairly spoiled for the short time they’re in town.

“They work hard and they do everything,” said Holbert, pointing out that the 10-member cast doubles as stage crew before and after each lengthy performance. “It’s like the circus coming to town. The actors spend three hours setting up the stage and two hours breaking it down – with a play in the middle.”

The seasoned pros who mount these shows make her job relatively easy, according to Holbert.

“I’m pretty accustomed to putting on big events,” she said. “But the Montana Shakespeare in the Parks people are so experienced that it’s not that difficult.”

“Macbeth” is on tap for the fairgrounds next Sunday, with shows in places such as Libby and Trout Creek featuring different plays. Despite Montana having a wealth of Shakespearean offerings to choose from, residents from across the border still find their way to Sandpoint.

“We get people from Montana and North Idaho, all the way up to the Canadian Border,” Holbert said. “I specifically invite the nursing home folks and they send busloads. They all studied Shakespeare when they were in school, so they’re very interested in having the plays here.

“But the thing I like most is the number of young people who come and sit in rapt attention during the play,” she added.

From the beginning, Shakespeare in Sandpoint has pulled big crowds, with audiences of 1,000-1,200 people plopping down on the grass to take in the action on stage.

“I never expected such a huge audience from year one on,” said Holbert. “It’s always a wonderful turnout and, hopefully, we’ll grow it even more this year.”

The event goes beyond the play itself, stretching activities out over the entire afternoon.

“This year, we’re collaborating with the youth Shakespeare program at the Music Conservatory of Sandpoint,” the Lost Horse Press founder said. “They’re doing excerpts from a couple of plays in the afternoon and the professional actors from Montana Shakespeare in the Parks are giving a master class to these students.”

Adding to the spectacle will be roving performances by the belly dancers from Devotion Tribal Belly Dance of North Idaho – a dance troupe that celebrates the “Aurora-like fluidity and beauty of the dance” and teaches classes and workshops in Sandpoint and Bonners Ferry.

During its annual summer tour, Montana Shakespeare in the Parks travels to more than 60 communities and gives 75 performances throughout Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, North Dakota and Washington, with an emphasis on underserved rural areas. Nearly 80 percent of the communities they visit have a population of less than 10,000 people.

Since 1973, the summer touring program has presented more than 2,150 performances to nearly three-quarters of a million people. Best of all, every performance is free thanks to grants, corporate sponsorships and individual donors who support the acting company – an outreach program of the College of Arts and Architecture at Montana State University.

Shakespeare in Sandpoint will take place Sun., Aug. 20, at the Bonner County Fairgrounds. Gates open at 3 p.m., with the young actors from the Music Conservatory of Sandpoint performing at 4 p.m. The performance of “Macbeth” will be staged at 6 p.m. People are encouraged to arrive early with chairs, blankets and picnics. The performance is free and open to the public.

For more information about Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, visit online at: www.shakespeareintheparks.org

For details about the play in Sandpoint, call Lost Horse Press at 208-255-4410 or email: losthorsepress@mindspring.com