BOARD OF DIRECTORS Executive Artistic Director Kim DeLong Helena, MT Managing Director Martha Sprague Helena, MT Michael Dowling Montana City, MT Tom Henri N. Hollywood, CA Gordy Higgins Helena, MT Julie Johnson Helena, MT Scott Pargot Montana City, MT Brenda Strong N. Hollywood, CA Preserving the Past, Celebrating the Present, Inspiring the Future ...”We are such stuff as dreams are made on.” THE MONTANA SHAKESPEARE COMPANY With a company of actors from across the nation, the Montana Shakespeare Co. is Montana's resident, professional Shakespeare Co., performing full-length productions of the Bard's great works under starry summer skies in the Capital City. Founded in 1997 by Artistic Director, Kim DeLong, the Montana Shakespeare Co. is a division of Artists Group, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit arts organization. A NOTE OF THANKS TO OUR PATRONS On behalf of the entire Montana Shakespeare Company, we would like to thank you for your loyal patronage and support throughout the years. This company of players could not have grown each season without your support and your appreciation of the value of our work. We suspect that many of you may have already noticed our absence on the walking mall this summer. In simplest terms, after great consideration, the Montana Shakespeare Company has elected to "go dark" this summer, due in large part to the economic uncertainty of the times. As you know, our organization has enjoyed bringing in professional actors from across the country to work in unison with Montana talent to present outstanding classical theatre under the stars. Undoubtedly, you are also keenly aware of the continuing rise of fuel costs, which directly and indirectly affects every aspect of our organization, including our ability to bring in exceptional talent. During the past decade, the Montana Shakespeare Co., has grown with each passing season. 2007 brought us our largest and most enthusiastic audiences to date. And so it is with much regret that we inform you we will not be performing this summer, and will be using this season as an opportunity to plan and grow for the coming year. This has been the most difficult decision of our tenure, and we hope and trust that your advocacy of our programming will continue as we move ahead. We are aspiring within the next year to put into place some exciting new changes within the organization, to benefit our patrons, and hope that you will join us again for an exciting 2009 season. Should you be interested in helping to sponsor the 2009 season or an actor, we invite to look at our Join Us page, and contact us at (406) 431-1154; or e-mail at msc@montanashakespeare.org We miss being with you in the heart of Helena and thank you for your understanding and continued support. We'll plan on seeing you at the shows next summer! Kim DeLong Artistic Director Martha Sprague Managing Director MISSION STATEMENT The Abridged Version! Enriching and empowering individuals and community through great theatre! The Extended Version: With commitment to the blending of physical dynamics, poetic language and artistic collaboration, the Montana Shakespeare Company, aspires to create theatre of extraordinary quality. With emphasis upon the works of William Shakespeare, MSC presents innovative and powerful full-length productions of his plays, along with other master dramatists, in an effort to enrich, enlighten, and entertain audiences of all ages while contributing to the economic & cultural health of our community and state. MSC IN REVIEW How many MSC productions have you seen? 2007— "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare—Abridged" "A Midsummer Night's Dream" Performance Square 2006— "As You Like It" "Hamlet" Performance Square 2005— "The Comedy of Errors" "King Lear" Performance Square 2004— "Much Ado About Nothing" "A Midsummer Night's Dream" Performance Square 2003— "Twelfth Night, or What you Will" Performance Square 2002— "Romeo & Juliet" Performance Square 2001— "The Rivals" Scola Courtyard "The Star Spangled Girl" Myrna Loy Center 2000— "The Taming of the Shrew" Scola Courtyard "Cabaret" Myrna Loy Center 1999— "Macbeth" Quarry Theatre 1998— "The Tempest" Quarry Theatre 1997— "A Midsummer Night's Dream" Quarry Theatre   A BALANCING ACT by Molly Ellen Miltenberger Helena, Mont. – July 2008 The Montana Shakespeare Company (MSC) grew dramatically since its birth as Kim DeLong’s dream baby in 1997, and came to its most successful season yet last summer. Most audiences relish the enchanting evening shows held in the open-air on the temporary stage in Performance Square, a public meeting place on Last Chance Gulch. But for the performances that are “magical,” says Martha Sprague, managing director of MSC, there are others that are rained out; lines are occasionally drowned by the noise of by passing trucks, and at times, the actors have trouble breathing through wildfire smoke. “With the magic come thunderstorms,” explains Kim DeLong, MSC’s executive artistic director, “We have to balance those two things.” MSC is foregoing its usual summer productions to concentrate on its future. Martha Sprague estimates that about 2 million people nationwide travel each summer to see open-air Shakespeare performances. “There are a lot of people outside of Helena who are really intrigued by the possibility of seeing Shakespeare in Montana by a resident company based here.” To bring that Shakespeare-seeking audience into Helena, Sprague and DeLong have decided that MSC needs a permanent location so that the funds devoured by building a temporary stage every season can be devoted to bolstering the company itself. “Rather than just go full-steam ahead,” DeLong explains, “We want to step back, focus on our future, and build a structure that allows us to accomplish those things.” DeLong first envisioned MSC when he toured Shakespeare’s Globe Theater in London in 1996, while the theater was under construction. DeLong was on a fourteen-day theater tour of England when he was struck with the desire to bring professional, world-class Shakespeare performances to Montana. “It is really language that is written for the west,” says DeLong, citing Tina Packer, artistic director of Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Mass., “The London that Shakespeare was performed in at the time that it was written was more like Dodge City than it is like the London of today.” DeLong, a fourth-generation Montanan, taught acting for 25 years at the University of Alaska and at Carroll College, and acted in summer performances like the California Shakespeare Festival. His vision of a Helena-based Shakespeare company was shared by Sprague, his wife. Sprague has a close interest in the Helena artistic community. She has taught acting at Grandstreet Theater for 20 years, and she currently teaches tap dance at Queen City Ballet. Sprague graduated with a B.A. in Theatre from Arizona State Theatre, and has worked at the Montana Arts Council, where she coordinated a public arts program. At the time that MSC began, Sprague says that there wasn’t much classical or professional theater in Helena, and it seemed to both her and DeLong that Helena was the perfect place to plant a Shakespearean company. In 1997, they began MSC: a Helena-based organization that auditions professional actors from Montana and across the United States to find the perfect few who will make Shakespeare come alive in Helena. “We really want people to come to Helena to join in the cultural activities that are going on here,” Sprague says. This year, it is becoming a more challenging task to bring the chosen actors here. Airfare has nearly doubled from the past few years. The stipend that MSC pays its actors buys less for them. And the construction cost of the temporary stage is draining a hefty part of the yearly budget that Sprague and DeLong would like to see going elsewhere. A stage of their own could open the door for other opportunities. The season could extend from April until October, and the troupe could perform four shows instead of two, really profiting from the same round-trip airfare that brings actors in for the customary June-August season. “Now all of a sudden it’s a whole new ballgame,” says DeLong, “That’s where we’d like to be.” Safety for the actors and intimacy with the audience are essential to creating the magic that MSC is going for. “We like intimate Shakespeare,” says DeLong, “It has to be close.” Another critical factor is control over the ambiance, so that production could be held in an environment unthreatened by weather or street sounds – or smoke. The location is vital. Ideally, it would be a central, down-town area within Helena. “It’s really wonderful to be in the center of that energy, and the community has been really supportive of us… We want to give back a little [by] contributing to the economic and cultural vitality of Helena,” says Sprague. DeLong joins in: “We want to be in the heart of things.” Although both Sprague and DeLong express regret that the MSC isn’t producing a play this season, their faces brighten at the thought of the future. Their next project is Bard Days, an affordable week of Shakespearean “ ‘Act’-tivity” for children grades 3-12, held July 28- Aug. 1 in Performance Square. Professional actors from all over the country come in to introduce the students to Shakespeare from a cultural, a literary, and a performer’s perspective. Students perform iambic pentameter to hip-hop music, engage in stage combat, and learn to love the Elizabethan world of the Bard himself in what DeLong calls a “user-friendly” Shakespeare course. Bard Days and past performances have already made a large contribution to turning Helena into the “capitol of the arts” that Sprague and DeLong would like it to be; it will be exciting to see MSC’s future contributions to the Queen City’s cultural vitality. NEW ADDRESS: We haven't moved, but the County has recently changed our mailing address. Write to us at: Montana Shakespeare Company 6137 Moondance Rd. Helena, MT 59601 phone: (406) 459-4386—reservations (406) 431-1154—information   CONTACT US: E-Mail: msc@montanashakespeare.org Reservations:   (406) 459-4386 / General Information:  (406) 449-4466 Mailing Address:    6137 Moondance Rd., Helena, MT  59601 Performance Venue:  Performance Square, Walking Mall-Downtown Helena The Montana Shakespeare Co., is a division of Artists Group, Inc. a 501(c)3 organization.