By Joyce Kryszak
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wbfo/local-wbfo-955332.mp3
Buffalo, NY –
There was a collective sigh of relief in the arts community when it was announced this week that three dozen groups will get some funding assistance. One of the groups that sighed the loudest is Shakespeare in the Park.
The Erie County funding cuts threatened to severely curtail if not close the festival. In the final part of our series, "Culture in the Balance," WBFO's Joyce Kryszak profiles one of the region's longest running and most beloved cultural institutions.
"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exists and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages," from the "Seven Ages of Man" speech in As You Like It. by William Shakespeare.
Delaware Park has been the stage to many ages of Buffalo's proud Shakespeare tradition. Now thirty five years old, the festival is the third oldest in the country. Veteran actor Tim Newell has performed in every one of the last ten seasons. Newell said there's nothing quite like it.
"You have to fight above the din of the rattling bags and the opening pop cans and the cell phones that go off and just the idle chatter and sometimes the heckler...." said Newell.
And then, Newell said there are those magical moments too.
"Every so often like on cue the stars will appear and the moon will rise, and there's a beautiful sunset at any one given time, and birds fly over head and you can embrace all of those naturally given elements into the words that we speak," said Newell.
For the actors and the audience alike, the thought of those magical opportunities vanishing is unthinkable. But without long-range sustainable funding, the free festival is in danger of, if not closing completely, at least losing some of its magic.
"Every aesthetic decision has a dollar sign attached to it. We can be creative, but we need a few dollar to help that creativity," said festival founder and artistic director Saul Elkin.
Founder and artistic director Saul Elkin said they lost more than just a few dollars from their budget this year. The Shakespeare festival lost 80 thousand dollars when it was zeroed out of the county budget. That is a quarter of the festival's budget for the year.
Private foundations, through the Fund for the Arts, this week announced they can restore a little over half of the funding. But only this year.
Elkin said he is determined to keep the festival alive. Elkin said he made that promise 35 years ago to the man considered to be the father of outdoor Shakespeare festivals.
"When I was working on my doctorate, Joe Papp was my mentor...and he came to town and we were sitting at the Anchor Bar and he said, 'who does Shakespeare here...and he said to me, start a festival,' and I said,'right.'"
So, with little more than inspiration and a lot of sweat, Shakespeare in Delaware Park has become a mainstay over the years. Each year, the audience on the hillside grows. The hat is passed around and the festival collects what it can.
But Elkin said, no matter how empty the hat, he will not make people pay. He said the whole idea is to make Shakespeare accessible to everyone. Still, Elkin said they might be forced to make other concessions.
"We talked about doing the plays in rehearsal clothes - we've done that before, years ago. We talked about no scenic enhancement," said Elkin. "But art is really a synthesis of the arts and works best when it is a synthesis, when there is design and music and dance and all those elements that make it colorful and interesting."
But Elkin said even if all else gets stripped away, Shakespeare's enduring words remain.
Actor Tim Newell said there is tremendous power in those words once they are lifted from the page and brought to life on the stage.
"These are situations that are 500 - years old and there is nothing more devastating than watching Juliet arise from her catatonic state to find her lover lying next to her dead...and then she picks up the dagger he's used to stab himself and thrusts it into herself....sorry, 500 years late and we still weep," said Newell.
Founder Saul Elkin said the community's response to the funding crisis has been amazing. Donations are up and local companies are donating services. There's also hope that a community-wide fund raising campaign by Artvoice, beginning March 5, could become an annual source of funding. And cultural leaders are still fighting to secure a dedicated public funding stream for the future.
For Shakespeare in Delaware Park and others, the ending is still being written.
"And then the justice, in fair round belly with good capon lined with eyes severe and beard of formal cut full of wise saws and modern instances; and so he plays his part," from the "Seven Ages of Man" speech in As You Like It. by William Shakespeare.
This summer, the festival will present The Merchant of Venice and As You Like It.