The Heart of America Shakespeare Festival’s artistic director Sidonie Garrett thinks the world could use a little levity right about now. So for this year’s Shakespeare Festival in the park, she chose one of the bard’s earliest rom-coms, Love’s Labour’s Lost. The play follows the King of Navarre and his three companions who all swear off women in order to focus on study, fasting and self-improvement. But their plans are thwarted when the Princess of France and her ladies show up in court.
Garrett, who has been with the Shakespeare Festival for 30 years and the executive artistic director since 2011, takes cues from what’s happening in the world around her when selecting the summer play. This time around, she thought a night of frivolity and summer love might be just what’s needed.
We caught up with Garrett as she prepares for this year’s festival.
Have you always been a storyteller? From the age of six, I used to produce my own shows. My acting at the time was doing a handstand, playing the piano, reciting a long poem, twirling a baton, you name it. I was always planning a performance. It cost my family a quarter to get in. I grew up in Harrisonville, Missouri, and had a great theater teacher who inspired and encouraged me.
When did you pivot from acting to directing? I studied at MU and UMKC. One semester, I took a directing class and it became clear that I really enjoyed creating the whole project, working with the actors. The director path became clear. To begin, I self-produced, and then I began freelance directing and working professionally as a director.
What do you think makes live theater still relevant today? It’s in our nature to tell each other stories. Live theater does that in a way that no other medium can. We are the music makers, the dreamers of the dream. We get this amazing story and then other people sit there with us, in community with us, and feed their responses to others in the audience and on the stage. The audience is a part of the story. There’s great synergy. If you’re doing a comedy and no one is laughing, there is a problem. But if you get the laugh, right there in that very moment, it is very visceral. Something happens emotionally. It’s meaningful. It expands your worldview and understanding.
Why a rom-com now? I think we all need a little bit more laughter right now. It is important that we laugh together. A huge crowd of people laughing together is amazing.
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Go: Southmoreland Park (4600 Oak St., KCMO). June 17–July 6, Tuesday through Sunday evenings. For more information, visit kcshakes.org.
