Joliet celebrates Shakespeare and Art in the Park

Alex Habiger of Joliet said she attended Shakespeare and Art in the Park on Saturday in Joliet, her first, to introduce her husband to Shakespeare. Habiger said her daughter had performed in approximately 15 Shakespeare plays when she was part of a children’s Shakespeare group.

Habiger said she overall prefers Shakespeare’s comedies to his tragedies and, like others in attendance, had never heard of “Coriolanus.”

“I do have two volumes of Shakespeare at home, so I looked it up,” Habiger said. “My husband was looking it up on his phone.”

“I like the costumes a lot. It’s a lot of fun, a lot of action.”

—  Kat Zinser of Joliet, attendee on Saturday night at Shakespeare and Art in the Park at the Billie Limacher Bicentennial Park Theatre in Joliet

Tamara Martinez of Joliet was one of the art vendors at Saturday night’s show. She’s also a singer and guitarist who performs folk rock and alternative country and plans to perform at New Orleans North on June 2, in downtown Joliet.

Martinez said making and selling beaded work is a new venture for her. She began making these items when her father had a stroke and wouldn’t turn to one side.

“So I put some stuff in the window to make him look,” Martinez said.

Lori Carmine, park manager, previously said Bicentennial Park’s production of “Coriolanus” features Roman soldiers in full stage combat, which may interest people who prefer action-filled plays.

“Ian Emerson and Matt Doge are certified fight choreographers,” Carmine previously said. “So they were teaching everybody … anybody that likes action movies are going to be entertained.”

Dodge, as well as Jake Thomas, are local Shakespeare devotees who spearhead and direct the Shakespeare and Art in the Park productions, Carmine previously said.

Kat Zinser of Joliet attended the first Shakespeare and Art in the Park in 2021, and was impressed with the actors’ ability to remember and dramatically interpret Early Modern English.

“I like the costumes a lot. It’s a lot of fun, a lot of action,” Zinser said. “I know people who are in it, so that’s a lot of fun, too.”

Zinser’s husband Jason Mabry Joliet also attended, his first Shakespeare and Art in the Park event. Mabry said he’d only previously seen Festival of the Gnomes at Bicentennial Park and said the language was sometimes hard to follow.

“But they’re doing a really good job; it’s really well put together,” Mabry said.

Vendor Abigail Harris of Joliet was selling her bracelets at Shakespeare and Art in the Park for the first time. But she’s been involved in theater productions at Bicentennial Park since she was 4.

Harris said she hasn’t yet named her bracelet-making business, but said she’s been making them for five years and selling them for four in order to raise money for heart-related charities.

This was her first time as a vendor at Shakespeare and Art in the Park. however, she said she really wanted to be at this event.

“A lot of my friends were in the show.”