By Francesca Merwin, staff writer

The room, a cement box in the middle of Thornden Park, is sweltering. I can feel myself overheating and aching for something I never knew I could miss while living in Syracuse: cold. Nevertheless, the kids don’t seem to mind. They excitedly run to their parents, a blur of bright orange t-shirts and open arms. There are a lot of these little ones — 15 or so, if I had to guess — all of them excited and energetic, reeling from the day’s events and apparently oblivious to the burning heat.

One of the children, a cute little girl with long brown hair, reminds all that there are homemade Rice Krispie treats to celebrate everybody’s hard work. A concerned mother asks if there’s anything she can do to help clean up. A short boy politely says, “Thank you, Mr. Bell” before he leaves the dark room and goes out into the summer sunshine.

Mr. Bell thanks the girl for her treats, shoos the concerned mother away, and thanks the boy before going back to work taking down signs and posters. He’s transforming the cement box from a kids’ paradise back to… a cement box. I can see him remove a sign, “Kids Doing Shakespeare Summer Camp” and character maps of Valentine and Proteus. He’s folding up the plastic chairs which line a makeshift, performance stage.

Ahhh, the theater.

The man in charge of the theatrics is Ronnie Bell, the artistic director for the Syracuse Shakespeare Festival Organization. He and the rest of his crew work to bring Shakespeare to the Salt City in any way that they can. The event I witnessed, Kids Doing Shakespeare Summer Camp, is just one of the many that leads up to the big show: Shakespeare in the Park. During the rest of the year, the organization puts on various youth and adult programs around the Syracuse area, such as Shakespeare-Under-A-Roof and the Avon Repertory Theatre. For Bell, though, no event is more important than any other.

“The most rewarding part is seeing the fact that we can do so many different kinds of programs on a small budget and reach as many people as we do,” Bell says. Shakespeare in the Park shows alone have attracted more than 20,000 people since the start of the series eight years ago. Thousands show up for each show, which takes place at Thornden Park’s amphitheater, to soak up some culture and spend time with their families.

“The atmosphere is good,” Bell notes, discussing why it is that so many people attend the festival. “The people in the first 15-20 rows are listening intently. You get further back and they’re listening, but they’re also have a picnic, drinking beer and wine, and the kids are running around. It becomes sort of circus-y.”

But it’s precisely this environment that makes people come back to enjoy a little Shakespeare year after year and has allowed Shakespeare in the Park to enter its 10^th season. I could see it on those kids’ faces after they performed, and I could tell that they were hooked. The Shakespeare Festival Organization is unique because the organization creates a familial environment for people of all ages to experience this well-known bard. “He’s a universal writer – everything Shakespeare was writing about is applicable today, and events constantly unfold like that.”

This year’s Shakespeare in the Park performance will be “Two Gentleman of Verona” and will boast a slightly older cast. The shows, which are free, will take place at 5:30pm on Thursday-Saturday on August 11-13 and 2pm on Sunday, August 14 at Thornden Park on Ostrum Ave. For more information, please call 315-476-1835 or visit the website.