Shakespeare in the Parks 'The Merry Wives of Windsor' in its 47th season

Montana Shakespeare in the Parks will tour performances of Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” in Malta on Wednesday, June 26 at 6:30 p.m., on the Phillips County Courthouse lawn.

The company will travel over 7,000 miles during the season, running from June 12 through Sept. 3 performing in 61 communities in five states -- Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho and Washington. All performances are offered free to the audience in local parks and public spaces, making them accessible to all.

Kevin Asselin, executive artistic director, will direct “Henry IV, Part I” while Chicago-based Marti Lyons will direct “The Merry Wives of Windsor” The 11 professional actors that will tour with the company were chosen out of a highly competitive pool at auditions in Bozeman, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Houston. Lyons returns as guest director after having worked at such notable institutions as the Goodman Theatre (Chicago), The Actors Theatre of Louisville, and Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

The recent centennial of WWI inspired Asselin to set “Henry IV, Part I” in that era. “The play has such a deep relationship with the true meaning of honor. Shakespeare gives us multiple viewpoints on what honor means to us as individuals. And it has a great relationship to Montana. If you look at the veteran population through the past 125 years, Montana leads the nation in terms of veterans per capita. I felt the connection would be exciting for us to explore.”

It’s a “Summer of Falstaff” as one of Shakespeare’s most popular characters features prominently in both plays. The drunken knight is a foil to Prince Hal in “Henry IV” and he figures as the catalyst for the comic action in “Merry Wives”. Returning actor Steve Peebles (seen in “Bard in the Backcountry”) will play the old, fat scoundrel.

Montana Shakespeare in the Parks is an outreach program of Montana State University’s College of Arts and Architecture. Grants, corporate sponsorships and hundreds of individual donors support the free performance.

For more information on the plays and an up to date tour schedule, visit MSIP’s website at shakespeareintheparks.org. The full tour schedule is listed below.