ACTORS ALFRESCO:FEW THINGS BEAT EXPERIENCING THEATER OUTDOORS AND THERE'S PLENTY OF IT TO SEE IN WINE COUNTRY

In William Shakespeare's day, his comedies and tragedies played to

boisterous audiences who ate, drank and responded noisily to the action

onstage.

They partied to the Bard, and you can do the same.

And if you're not into the Elizabethan era, that's fine, too. The North Bay

outdoor theater season leans heavily on Will's writings this summer, but

you'll also find work by Anton Chekhov, Oscar Wilde and even Jack Kerouac

performed alfresco.

Just picture yourself lounging on the lawn, picnic basket close at hand, as

you watch the players strut and fret upon the stage. In Shakespeare's day, the

rowdy lower-class ''groundlings'' paid a penny to get in the door, and another

sit down, but in Windsor, you can do even better than that.

At the Windsor Town Green, where two Shakespearean comedies open this

weekend, admission is free.

''We felt strongly it should be free,'' said director Jim de Priest, who

co-founded the Windsor Shakespeare on the Green series three summers ago.

''It's really important for youngsters to see some Shakespeare when they're

young, rather than waiting until they're seniors in high school,'' de Priest

added. ''The little 5- and 6-year-olds really think it's exciting. And it's a

family atmosphere out on the Green.''

The series took the summer off last year, but de Priest returns this season

to direct ''The Comedy of Errors.'' The play will alternate with ''All's Well

That Ends Well,'' directed by Michael Hamilton.

It's a long-established theatrical tradition to experiment with the look of

Shakespeare's classics by setting the plays in different times and places, and

de Priest and company came up with some fresh ideas this year.

''We're setting 'All's Well That Ends Well' during the time of Napoleon,''

he said, ''and we're setting 'Comedy of Errors' in contemporary times in

Havana, Cuba.''

Kate Kennedy's Avalon Players in Sonoma play around with the great

playwright's work in a different way.

''With our troupe, the thing that people really look forward to is our

improvisation,'' Kennedy said. ''Some of the comedies lend themselves

beautifully to ad libbing. Sometimes things just come up. A baby will crawl up

onstage. The audience never knows what will happen next.''

While purists may cringe at times, most audiences enjoy the Avalon troupe's

informal approach to the classics.

''People are delighted by the way you can interpret Shakespeare,'' she

said. ''It can be so much fun, and it's interactive. We're messin' with the

Bard a little bit. Kids get a kick out of it.''

After 23 years at the Buena Vista Winery, the company moved five years ago

to the Gundlach Bundschu Winery in Sonoma, where it'll perform Shakespeare's

''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' in August.

''At one point, there were five Shakespeare troupes at wineries around

here,'' Kennedy said. ''It seemed like they were springing up all over, but

none of the others lasted.''

The director is delighted with her current site, dubbed ''GunBun'' by

locals.

''It's a beautiful stage,'' she said. ''There's a gently sloping hillside

where people sit, mostly on low chairs or blankets. They bring the family and

a big ol' picnic, and buy a bottle of wine there.''

At Windsor's Town Green, de Priest loves the fact the public, including

passers-by, can have easy access to the players.

''We rehearse on the green, too,'' de Priest said. ''It's a public park, so

people are out walking with their kids. We're rehearsing without costumes or

anything, and mom and dad still have to drag the kids away. They love it.''

As co-founder of Sebastopol's Sonoma County Repertory Company in 1993 and

its director until 2003, de Priest helped establish the company's annual Ives

Park performances as a west Sonoma County tradition. The Sebastopol

Shakespeare Festival celebrates its 15th season this summer, under the

company's current head, Scott Phillips.

''I ran the Shakespeare program out at Ives Park in Sebastopol for years,''

de Priest recalled. ''Occasionally, somebody'll come by and say, 'I came to

see your Shakespeare when I was 8 or 9 years old. Now we go to the Oregon

Shakespeare Festival in Ashland every summer, and I take the family.' ''

The potent combination of live performance and a natural setting has

created a loyal following at Gundlach Bundschu, Kennedy said.

''We've got people who come back year after year. One family comes four or

five times every summer,'' she said. ''You're making memories up on that hill.

Everybody has fun.''

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at 521-5243 or

dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com.