{"id":80,"date":"2013-08-18T20:08:31","date_gmt":"2013-08-19T01:08:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/staging\/1734\/?p=80"},"modified":"2013-08-18T20:08:31","modified_gmt":"2013-08-19T01:08:31","slug":"backyard-shakespeare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/backyard-shakespeare\/","title":{"rendered":"Backyard Shakespeare"},"content":{"rendered":"

This third in a trio will complete my short series of blog posts on discovering your own backyard. It is another way of highlighting the marvelous joys that are sometimes well within our grasp, if only we find the time and the opportunity to enjoy them.<\/p>\n

Shakespeare in the Parks<\/a> is completing its second summer of visits to area parks all around Chicago, with a well-practiced troupe from the Chicago Shakespeare Theater <\/a>that this year has been performing The Comedy of Errors<\/em> in 18 different locations, bringing the treasures of Shakespeare to every single neighborhood in the city. I just watched their performance tonight in Washington Park, on the city\u2019s South Side. The play was an excellent choice for a diverse audience, favoring one of Shakespeare\u2019s comedies, an absurd twist on the concept of mistaken identity, using the story of twins separated at sea only to be reunited under outrageous circumstances in the\u00a0port city of Ephesus. Shakespeare fans can surely fill in the blanks, and for the uninitiated, I suggest actually reading the play or seeing it.<\/p>\n

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“The Comedy of Errors” at Washington Park, Chicago<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

What is so wonderful about this expression of culture is that it is free to all comers. No expensive tickets\u2014just pull up your lawn chair or your blanket on the park lawn and watch the action. The stage is set up in an open space, and you can test your affinity for Shakespeare at no cost other than about two hours of your time to follow the plot. Who pays for it? Look on the program to find the corporate sponsors\u2014Boeing, BlueCross BlueShield, BMO Harris Bank, etc. They get some good advertising, the people get a play, and the play\u2019s the thing to renew an acquaintance most people lost after their high school English classes. It\u2019s well worth renewing. In the process, a whole group of young actors gets valuable experience in a live setting in front of a friendly audience on a warm summer evening.<\/p>\n

Most importantly, the Chicago Park District<\/a> helps the city expand its position as a hub of culture that unites its citizens with unique artistic opportunities. Everybody wins, and you don\u2019t even need a car. Bring your bicycle; bring your two feet, just get there. I look forward to seeing this program\u2019s third year.<\/p>\n

Jim Schwab<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This third in a trio will complete my short series of blog posts on discovering your own backyard. It is another way of highlighting the marvelous joys that are sometimes well within our grasp, if only we find the time and the opportunity to enjoy them. Shakespeare in the Parks is completing its second summer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80\/revisions\/82"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}