COLUMBIA COUNTY PLAYERS PRESENTS: SHAKESPEARE’S AS YOU LIKE IT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

SLAM & BAM! Shakespeare (with a kick) is back in Columbia County

This summer, The Columbia County Players, our county’s own newly designated not-for-profit community theatre, kicks off July rehearsals with stage combat training in preparation for their FREE fully mounted 90-minute production of Shakespeare’s pastoral romp: As You Like It.

Performances run August 25TH – 28TH at the stunning Churchtown Dairy.

Thanks to the generous hospitality of Abby Rockefeller, who for a third year in a row is opening the doors of her extraordinary winter cow barn, the Dairy will once again be transformed into our own Church town Dairy Globe Theatre. Scenic designer Spencer Olson has conjured the 17th-century court and Forest of Arden using only brown paper and upcycled cardboard, a poetic nod to making something out of “nothing” and a reminder that imagination, not budget, is the true fuel of good theatre.

“This year, we chose As You Like It because it reflects that very movement we’re all living through, from court to forest, city to country,” says the Players’ founder and Artistic Director Carol Rusoff. “It’s all about laughter, love, and transformation in the Forest of Arden.”

Once again, June’s open auditions revealed a wealth of local talent, with first-timers and seasoned performers now working side by side to form a vibrant ensemble. All performers and crew are paid, as the Players continue their commitment to accessible, inclusive, community-rooted theatre, onstage and off. Columbia County Players strives to offer new opportunities for those living and working in the Hudson Valley by creating integrated theatre audiences as well as diverse casts and crews, all sharing the communal experience of theatre from both sides of the curtain.

Free tickets will be on available at www.columbiacountyplayers.com starting August 1st.