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"LOS ANGELES \u2013 If it\u2019s summer, it must be time for Shakespeare in the park. Cue the players from L.A.\u2019s Independent Shakespeare Company, the city\u2019s largest free Shakespeare festival which each summer makes its home at the Old Zoo in Griffith Park.\u201CShe Stoops to Conquer\u201D opened the season last night and will run through July 27. \u201CMacBeth\u201D will have its premiere on July 5, running through August 31, and \u201CAs You Like It\u201D will run August 1 through September 1.A comedy written not by the Bard but by 18th-century Irish playwright Oliver Goldsmith, \u201CShe Stoops to Conquer\u201D follows wealthy countryman Mr. Hardcastle, who arranges for the marriage of his daughter, Kate, to Charles Marlow, the son of a wealthy Londoner. Marlow is comfortable around women from humble origins, but tongue-tied among the upper crust, so Kate \u201Cstoops to conquer\u201D by masquerading as a maid to win him over.\u201CFor the last ten years, we have had the extraordinary privilege of performing free Shakespeare in Los Angeles,\u201D artistic director and principle performer Melissa Chalsma said in a statement. \u201CKnowing that we are the first experience of Shakespeare (and even live theater) for so many young people is an honor, and we feel a responsibility to make the experience engaging, challenging, and memorable.\u201DTo that end, the company offers audiences a pre-show workshop for each title, as well as a salon series of lectures and classes at the company\u2019s winter home in nearby Atwater Village.Support for the company comes mainly through donations and fundraisers like last spring\u2019s \u201CVaudeville in the Park,\u201D which guest starred actor John C. Reilly and the company\u2019s house band, Dr. Pinch and the Pinchtones.With humble beginnings in 1998, the Independent Shakespeare Company originated on New York\u2019s Lower East Side but relocated in 2001 to Los Angeles, eventually finding a permanent home in the city\u2019s Barnsdall Park. With only 14 people attending the group\u2019s first performance, crowds grew to over 12,000 by 2009, necessitating yet another move, this time to their current location.Last season the company had their biggest year yet, performing to over 38,000 patrons.Follow @BLOUIN_PA"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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