ARTFARM's third season of free ?Shakespeare in the Grove? in Middletown will feature Shakespeare's Twelfth Night July 17-27 in the Cedar Grove at Middlesex Community College. Twelfth Night is a comedy of intrigue, disguise, love, loss, and mistaken identify which is accessible to all ages. Directed by ARTFARM Artistic Director Marcella Trowbridge, this production blends fantasy, physical comedy, beautiful music, and powerful acting. At once elegant and bawdy, Twelfth Night remains one of Shakespeare's most well-loved comedies.

Performance ist 7 pm, and is preceded by a local musical headliner beginning at 6 pm. Audience members are encouraged to arrive early, bring blankets or lawn chairs and enjoy a picnic in the lovely grove overlooking the Connecticut River Valley. The show will be held indoors in case of rain.

ARTFARM's signature combination of physical theater, spectacle and realism comes alive in this provocative romp of cross-dressing confusion. This is all while journeying through sincere and timeless questions of love, perception, honesty, human emotion, and 'right and wrong'. This play, inspired by the medieval 'Feast of Fools', balances revelry and reckoning while turning status and gender on its head.

ARTFARM is a non profit, professional theater organization, founded in 2001, which cultivates high quality theater with a commitment to simple living, environmental sustainability and social justice. At the heart of the Twelfth Night cast are the five members of the ARTFARM Ensemble, an ongoing company committed to the creation of new work. The balance of the fifteen member cast is a mix of Equity and non-Equity professional performers plus three college-age apprentices.

Shakespeare in the Grove is co-sponsored by the Arts and Humanities Division of Middlesex College. The production is made possible by generous support from Liberty Bank, the City of Middletown, Pratt and Whitney, the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, the Middlesex County Community Foundation, the Aetna Foundation, the Middletown Commission on the Arts, and donations from many individuals.

Shakespeare in the Grove is offered to the public for free, but there is a suggested donation (at the event, not to Hartford Area Hiking) of $10 per person. For more information on the production call (860) 346-4390, or go to www.art-farm.org

Approximate location/directions via Mapquest (Main Campus):
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/100+Training+Hill+Road+middletown+ct/

Directions to Middlesex Community College (use Main Campus):
http://www.mxcc.commnet.edu/about/directions.shtml

Middlesex Community College campus map:
http://www.mxcc.commnet.edu/about/campus_map.shtml

Kevin S (http://tall.meetup.com/28/members/2499916/ ) is the leader on this event so please direct questions to him. He'll wait from 5:45 to 6 PM at the drop-off circle in front of Chapman hall by the big parking lot for members to meet up as a group. Otherwise call his cell (in RSVP) to meet-up. Hartford Area Hiking members will meet up with us too.

Carole King will be at Foxwoods for one show. Suzanne is organizing a group of talls to go. As of June 7, there were mezzanine seats left at $113. You'll want to get in touch with Suzanne ASAP to order tickets before they sell out.

The annual Hartford - East Hartford Riverfest, with fireworks over the river at the end. Go to www.riverfront.org and look at the schedule. Then send me a not with what you're most interested in and when we get a little closer, I'll plan an itinerary and meeting place.