Montana Shakespeare in the Parks brought the Superior audience back to Venice and Belmont in the mid-1950s. The traveling actors performed Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice”.

A decorated stage and professional actors transformed the field behind Superior High School into a classical Shakespeare scene, but with a modern twist set in the 1950s.

Local families and theatergoers sat on lawn chairs and blankets to enjoy the traveling actor’s show.

This summer, Montana Shakespeare in the Parks toured and performed classic comedies with “The Merchant of Venice” and “Much Ado About Nothing”.

Montana Shakespeare in the Parks as traveling all throughout Montana, Northern Wyoming, Eastern Idaho, Western North Dakota and for the first time Eastern Washington this summer.

The actors come from all over the county to be apart of Montana Shakespeare in the Parks. Will Dickerson is the director of “The Merchant of Venice”.

“What kind of a comedy starts out with a declaration of sadness? Does love liberate or blind? What is the quality of mercy without tolerance?” Dickerson asks in his director notes. “I am deeply grateful to the actors, designers, and technicians for breathing life into these questions.”

One actor who stood out during the Superior performance was Miles Duffey, a first time performer from Minnesota. Duffey played anxious Prince Morocco and a convincing Salanio, Duke of Venice. As Morocco, Duffey earned claps from the audience when bearing his love on stage.

After the Superior show, the actors had 10 more performances around Montana.

This year, the troupe that has performed for 39 years will perform nearly 75 performances in 60 communities in the region.

The troupe performed six performances in Bozeman, where they are from, then started their tour June

All of the Montana Shakespeare in the Parks plays were free, expect the ones at Bozeman’s Sweet Pea Festival.

Montana Shakespeare in the Parks is an outreach program of MSU’s College of Arts and Architecture.

Grants, corporate sponsorships and individual donors help support the plays and keep them free to the public each year.

The major sponsors include the National Endowment for the Arts, Northwestern Energy, Stillwater Mining, Pacific Steel & Recycling, Barnard Construction, Montana Cultural Trust and the Montana Arts

Council.

Local sponsors for the Shakespeare in the Parks show in Superior are, Superior High School Drama Department,

Superior Education Association, the Lion’s Club, the Town of Superior, the Chamber of Commerce, the Mineral Community Hospital, K.C. Sullivan, LLC, Mineral Pharmacy, S & S Foods,

the Mineral County Performing Arts Council, Mullan Trail Bank, Wells Fargo Bank, Superior Antiques, Carol and Roger Billadeau, Beth Keyser and Jim Gross and Cathy Reich.

The schedule for the remaining shows is as follows:

Aug. 31, White Sulphur Springs, Much Ado About Nothing, WSS School Lawn, 6 p.m.

Sept. 1, Big Sky, The Merchant of Venice, Town Center, 6 p.m.

Sept. 2, Butte, Much Ado About Nothing, Mural Park, 6 p.m.

Sept. 3, Manhattan, The Merchant of Venice, Alterbrand Park, 6 p.m.

Sept. 4, Bozeman, Much Ado About Nothing, Ellen Theater, 1 p.m.**

** this is an indoor event