Is Shakespeare in the Park basically the best summer camp ever for actors?
For sure. This year the summer camp vibe is even more obvious, because it’s one ensemble moving between two shows. We’re bonding in the craziest environment imaginable, because jumping between two different characters in two different Shakespeare plays in this amount of time is crazy. There’s no other word for it. Have you been enjoying the craziness? The amount of text you have to consume is insane, but once you get that under your belt it’s just fun. We have two very capable directors [Daniel Sullivan for Merchant of Venice, Michael Greif for The Winter’s Tale] and an ensemble that’s more than up to the challenge. Once you realize you’re up and doing it, you start to go, “Wow—if I can do this, I can do anything.” Why are The Merchant of Venice and The Winter’s Tale good fits to play in rep? I’m not sure how the two fit together as a unit, but they definitely inform one another. They couldn’t be more different, which may be why they work together—the settings are wildly different, the
