Shakespeare in the Arb presents Love’s Labor’s Lost in Nichols Arboretum every Thurs.–Sun., June 4–28. | Michelle Yanga
Love, food, frivolity … who hasn’t sworn off a vice or two only to find temptation at every turn? Just ask the King of Navarre and his oath-bound cohorts, whose celibacy and studiousness will be put to the test every weekend in June as part of Shakespeare in the Arb’s twenty-fourth season. A staple of the summer calendar, SITA brings the bard’s early comedic gem, Love’s Labor’s Lost, to Nichols Arboretum, continuing a quarter-century tradition of outdoor theater in one of the area’s most bucolic natural spaces.
The concept originated in 2000 when Kate Mendeloff, then director of the Residential College’s drama program, was unable to secure a stage for her Chekhov production. A move to the East Quad courtyard yielded surprising results. Invigorated by the freedom it afforded her, she repeated the outdoor format a year later with A Midsummer Night’s Dream, setting in motion what has become a beloved annual custom.
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Local actor and musician Carol Gray was one of the students involved in that inaugural cast. “As with other college productions we were expecting maybe thirty people at the most,” she says. “Over 300 people showed up. Kate staged it again the following year for two weekends and started charging for tickets.” The proceeds would get invested in the following year’s production.
Along with Graham Atkin, another founding cast member, Gray maintained her ties to SITA long after graduation. “I worked as both an actor and production manager until 2010, took a couple of years off, and then returned as an associate director in 2013.” When Mendeloff died in 2023, SITA’s legacy was left to her two mentees; Gray and Atkin are now its codirectors.
Closely partnered with the Residential College, SITA is unique in its reliance on mixing students with community members, fostering the school’s emphasis on experiential learning while drawing from the city’s abundance of local talent. Just as unique is its other partner. The Arb’s dramatic 123-acre expanse provides a wealth of scene-building terrain with the expectation that its flora and fauna will probably wander into the script. Cast members have shared scenes with deer, raccoons, unleashed dogs, unsuspecting picnickers, and occasional air traffic from the nearby U-M hospital helipad. Expecting the unexpected is part of the fun for the actors. “Imagine what an Elizabethan townsperson would think if they saw a helicopter fly over,” says Gray. “A giant bird? A thunder god?”
“We have access to the most beautiful stage in the world. … Environmental theater is all about using what is around you to tell the story,” Gray adds, “and inviting the audience to experience that story by literally occupying the same space as the characters.” Much of Love’s Labor’s Lost will be set in the Arb’s Magnolia Valley, which, according to Gray, is a SITA favorite, with its lush magnolia and hundred-year-old cottonwood trees.
“It’s a really fun play,” she notes, “with so many elements that signal a classic Shakespeare comedy: misdirected love letters, courtly and country love, a play within a play, and clowns jostling for status through a series of escalating hijinks.” Toss in some lively swordplay, witty repartee, and musical accompaniment for a truly transportive experience.