No Holds Bard

Summer does not arrive in Sleepy Town until Shakespeare ushers it in. This year, MadDad took on As You Like It, that gender-bending forest romp, for his annual park production.


Miss M got into the spirit of disguise right off the bat.

Like so many directors before him, MadDad gave a contemporary look to this startlingly progressive Elizabethan comedy--only his vision was not retro-hippie but rather peak oil and MTV. The bad guys were evil capitalists, sporting suits and driving Hummers.* Fossil fuels ruled and skateboarding fines were strictly enforced.


This is a huge Sleepy Town in-joke right now.

In contrast, the good guys were eco-hippies who escaped to the forest of Arden in order to live off-grid.



Jacques (out in front there) was an anarchist punk-rocker...



... and the love-sick shepherd, Silvius, was Emo.



As is usual in MadDad productions, sight gags abounded, even those of a most sinister nature.



There was a human sheep that did a fine job eating that icky, brown grass and whose plaintive bleats got the loudest laughs.

But the highlight of the production was its WWE-esque wrestling match between Charles, the Duke's wrestler, and the dashing, bare-chested hero, Orlando.





Most nights, Miss M refused to go home until Charles was carried off on a stretcher.

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For whatever reason, the shy Miss M comes into her own each year during these productions.**







I don't know if it has something to do with all the talented young women whom she idolizes and whose identities she projects on to herself, or maybe it's that she gets to stand on the side-lines slowly learning the tricks of her father's trade. She loves nothing more than to do the group vocal warm-up and she's even managed to master some fairly tricky tongue twisters. Unique New York, unique New York...

After a week of over-hearing eleven benevolent elephants umpteen times over, she decided to take it up as a challenge for closing night.


1-10 are at her feet. She's #11.




One of her favourite roles is as audience member.

All in all, I think she comes into her own at these productions because this is where she gets to see her father at his best, his most natural. Over the last 10 days, she's started calling him by his given name instead of "Daddy."*** I think she sees herself as his peer. There's such a pride to her when she's with him on-site. It's their kinship and I can only snap photos from the periphery. I am so glad, though, that I get to be there with the camera because, otherwise, how will she remember the feeling of all this?



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*Ok, they would have been driving Hummers if the local dealership had agreed to sponsor but for some strange reason they refused. Instead, the cast had to make do with a Chevy truck. Alas, for the arts when the corps can't take a joke. Like, c'mon, the whole pack 'em return to Court in the end. Capitalism wins...

** That is, when she's not over-tired and grouchy.

*** As you can well imagine, this does not sit well with him.