Ask Carol Lehan, and she'll tell you that she loves two things: Shakespeare and the outdoors.
These passions have given birth to Howard County's first Shakespeare Festival, featuring free outdoor performances of "Two Gentlemen of Verona" tonight through Sunday at Glenelg Country School's Commencement Gardens.
The performances, by a troupe sponsored by the Olney Theater Center in Montgomery County, are expected to draw a crowd of 500.
"The carefully manicured garden made up of boxwood trees, geometrically arranged to create a sense of balance, and the 4-feet-high stone wall which creates the stage ... this locale screamed at me - `Shakespeare!'" said Lehan, the school's drama director.
The festival was made possible by the financial help of Glenelg's families, said the school's Headmaster Ryland O. Chapman, who also teaches a class on "Hamlet" to Glenelg seniors.
"With this festival, we hope to inspire young people and the Howard County community with the beauty of Shakespeare and its significance to the human condition," said Chapman.
A popular playwright
Glenelg is the latest stop for the troupe, which also is making stops in Montgomery and Prince George's counties and in Henlopen, Del., this summer.
Last week's run at the Olney Theater Center drew about 200 fans to the center's west lawn with blankets, picnic baskets, wine goblets and barbecued vegetables and meats.
"I'm not surprised by the turnout," said Chuck Benjamin, the center's director . "There is a resurgence of interest in Shakespeare. Look at the contemporary version of `Romeo and Juliet,' with Leonardo DiCaprio, and `Shakespeare in Love.' Making it contemporary and drawing mass appeal is what ... our production is aiming to do."
"Two Gentlemen of Verona" features familiar Shakespearean themes of conflict, human frailties and life's extremes, focusing on a quartet of lovers who face betrayal, masked identities and personal redemption.
"This interest in Shakespeare is an ongoing phenomenon," said Cecil Thompson, theater specialist with the Arts and Cultural Heritage Division of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. "The cold fact is, Shakespeare is the most widely performed playwright."
Access and exposure
But appeal alone is not what gets many people interested in Shakespeare, said Glenelg's Lehan.
