A Toast to 20 Years!

 

When considering how to celebrate twenty years of producing Shakespeare and other classics in Lincoln, I kept returning to the idea of honoring our roots and spreading our wings. Our plans for Flatwater Shakespeare’s 2020 season included a new approach to a classic tale, an 8-actor Romeo & Juliet that blended both Renaissance and modern feel; a summer tour of Lincoln’s parks, a Short Shakes summer tour for Flatwater Free Shakespeare, a program originally launched in 2011; and a project that acknowledged the role of our founding artistic director by having him walk the boards as Shakespeare’s troubled monarch, King Lear.

Roots and Wings.

Of course, like all theatre companies around the world, our wings were clipped by the pandemic. Romeo & Juliet had to close the night before it was set to open; the summer tour was pushed to the fall then into the new year; and King Lear was postponed with its future indefinite as we faced ever-shifting circumstances.

Flatwater Shakespeare will return to rehearsals in a few short weeks to begin work on Twelfth Night, now a year later than its original production schedule. There are still safety measures in place to protect the health of everyone involved and our audience when opening night arrives, but there is also a giddiness brewing in the possibility of creating together once again and offering our work to a live audience.

2021 brings the additional excitement of new programs and a new education director joining our team. Ashley Kobza joined FSC in February to take the helm of our education offerings as we strive to bolster that branch of our mission, and creativity and possibility are absolutely bubbling around the work being done and the plans being hatched. FSC is also launching our first ever Two-Actor touring production which will hold public performances and tour schools to bring a fast-paced, kid-friendly version of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream to hundreds of young people. And we are launching what we are confident will be the first annual UNSHAKEN Festival of Shakespeare-Inspired Solo Pieces. These projects were birthed out of the challenges of the pandemic and we believe carry a wealth of possibility. Flatwater is striving to throw the doors open wide -- bringing Shakespeare into our community and inviting the community into Shakespeare, reaching new audiences and inviting new voices.

There is a lot of excitement around the new, but we long for the packed-house-theatre experience as well. And though we fully intend to return to full-length Shakespeare in 2022 (in- and outdoors), the 20th anniversary capstone production of King Lear won’t be on the schedule. However, the intention behind the production was to honor our roots as we celebrated 20 seasons of Shakespeare. That desire remains, so we want to do that here and now.

In 2001, Bob Hall teamed up with Stephen Buhler and an ensemble of daring actors to see if an audience would show up for Shakespeare. Bob, FSC’s founding artistic director, helmed the inaugural production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at the historic Stables at Wyuka Cemetery, a beautiful, open-air, simply-Shakespearean venue. From those roots, Flatwater Shakespeare was born and officially incorporated in 2004. Bob served as artistic director for FSC from 2001 through 2016, producing thirty-six plays and directing nearly all of them. Those sixteen seasons included Shakespeare’s best known works -- Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Hamlet -- as well as other classics such as Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming, and Tony Kushner’s epic Angels in America.

The question as to whether an audience would show up that first year was answered, and you have continued to show up year after year, enduring the Nebraska summer heat and October’s early arctic blasts. You bought tickets and brought friends and helped build this small Shakespeare Company on the foundation that was started by Bob Hall, Steve Buhler, and the ensemble of 2001’s Twelfth Night.

Bob stepped down from FSC at the end of 2016, and you -- our audience -- stayed with us through transitions of leadership, through new pursuits and traditional projects. As we step into the new decade, building on tradition and exploring new territory, we are immensely grateful to Bob Hall for his 16 seasons of directorial vision and scenic ingenuity; for Steve Buhler who has been involved in all 20 seasons in one role or another (and sometimes several at once); for the outpouring of effort, creativity, and love by the company of artists who have worked with Flatwater these last 20 seasons and those who are ready to launch season 21. And to the audience, the supporters, the corporate partners, the funding organizations, and every individual who contributed to make the work possible, we extend our humble thanks.

Here’s to our roots!

Here’s to spreading our wings!

Here’s to the journey!

Thanks for joining us for the ride.

~Summer Lukasiewicz, Executive Artistic Director