Fields of drama

New York Journal | Shakespeare in the park, in the parking lot, on the run... | Marvin Olasky

They'll walk out to the bleachers; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. . . . The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: It's a part of our past."

That's a famous soliloquy from the movie Field of Dreams, and it's true: Baseball is part of America. But so, peculiarly enough, is Shakespeare.

Amateur actors on wagon trains moving west staged Macbeth, and as towns grew theater groups brought Birnam Woods to prairie fields. Touring troupes put on "Beauties," famous bits and pieces from the plays.