All’s well that ends well

This week I fulfilled a long-time goal of mine, which was to volun­teer with the group that puts on Shakespeare on the Common every summer here in Boston. The closest I had gotten up til now had been to sign up for Commonwealth Shakespeare Company newsletter during one partic­u­larly cold day last winter, but promptly forgot about it. Then last week the call went out for volun­teers, and here was this incred­ibly easy sign-up form for me to fill out! At work, no less — I do love me a social trans­ac­tion that I can accom­plish entirely online.

So this Wednesday (and Thursday) I left work a little early, hiked up Joy Street to the Common, received a very stylish “STAFF” t-shirt, and was promptly put to work handing out programs and collecting donations.

They were long nights — two hours of working, three hours of show, and then another hour of hauling chairs and breaking down tents — but satis­fying ones. It brought back memo­ries of heading to Shakespeare in the Park with my family as a kid, and of hanging out behind the scenes at various ArtFest events.

This summer’s produc­tion of <a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All” onclick=“javascript:_gaq.push([’_trackEvent’,‘outbound-article’,‘en.wikipedia.org’]);“s_Well_That_Ends_Well”>All’s Well that Ends Wellis one of Shakespeare’s lesser-known and more prob­lem­atic plays in that it resolves itself in a rather murky way (or not at all, depending on your point of view). I had no previous expe­ri­ence with it, so I came to both the plot and the produc­tion with fresh eyes. I’m looking forward to sitting in the audi­ence next week and expe­ri­encing the whole things from start to finish!*

I was volun­teering for both a preview perfor­mance and opening night, and it was clear some of the kinks were still being worked out. It was partic­u­larly neat to watch the cast and crew after the first show, working through scenes on stage in a completely empty Common.

The one thing I did observe as a volun­teer were the impres­sive prepa­ra­tions of the audi­ence prior to the show. While several Park Rangers were on hand to make sure no one was enjoying wine on the Common, people set up the most amazing picnic feasts in the hours leading up to the show. One group had a full dining table set up, complete with cutlery and glassware!

* I won’t be going quite that far, but I am hoping to pull together some­thing cool for when I meet up with the lovely Cris to watch a perfor­mance next week.