Shakespeare in the Park - As You Like It!

"All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts."

Gaithersburg is getting its own version of Shakespeare in the Park this weekend.

On Friday and Saturday evening, July 22 and 23, at 8:00 p.m., the City of Gaithersburg Cultural Arts Advisory Committee in collaboration with the Maryland Shakespeare Festival will be presenting Shakespeare's beloved comedy As You Like It at the City Hall in Olde Towne.

A pastoral romantic comedy, As You Like It, features more music and songs than any other Shakespeare play. It takes place primarily in the Forest of Arden where several love stories intertwine as outlawed characters in disguise search for solace and a new life. At times their affections are mutual and at others woefully misplaced. A string of complications arising from blind-love courtship and fictitious identities make for a mind-bending and witty Shakespearean classic.

Part of the Maryland Shakespeare Festival's statewide Good Will Summer Tour of the production, the play has been staged in Baltimore's Evergreen Museum and Library Meadow, several locations in Prince George's County, Allegany County and will be making its way to Frederick, Maryland following the Gaithersburg performances in Montgomery County.

Founded in 1999, the Maryland Shakespeare Festival is a professional theatre company that espouses the values of performance, education, research and community. In the 2000-2001, a production of As You Like It debuted in Gaithersburg and Rockville and boasted an attendance of over 1,000 people in a single night.

Until April of this year, the Maryland Shakespeare Festival staged an experimental version of the play as part of a series called the Rare Bard Productions. This weekend's performance represents a fully-produced evolution from the experimental version, which allowed for only one day of rehearsals. The July 22 and 23 performances have been fully rehearsed and feature complete costumes and production measures.

Past performances by the theatre company have included: The Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, The Tempest, King, Lear, Henry V, As You Like It, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Much Ado About Nothing, Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night and Coriolanus.

In 2001, the company also launched an educational tour, Shakespeare Alive!, which performed for over 17,000 students across Maryland.

Featuring a Kid's Pre-Show at 7:20 p.m. and funded in part by a Maryland State Arts Council grant, the performance is free to the public. Bring a blanket or a lawn chair.

To learn more about the play, click here.

To learn more about the Maryland Shakespeare Festival, click here.