Saundra McDavid

If you want to see my children’s eyes light up, or my husband’s for that matter, tell them they are going to the Shakespeare Festival. I’m always amazed at how my children (who are pre-teens) analyze the play on the ride home. They get it! And it’s not even animated, electronic or televised. And not only that, it’s often in the original Shakespearian dialect. And they still get it! That is a tribute to the talented actors; some of which seem so familiar to us as we watch them play different roles in different productions. It’s always fun to hear my children exclaim: “Oh look, Mom, it’s her again!” or “Hey, we saw him in The Tempest.” The spectacular grounds along the Boise River are amazing.

What started as a romantic evening for Andrew and I four years ago turned into a family tradition. We were so impressed; we signed up the Rib Shack as a sponsor of the Shakespeare Festival and it has been a sponsor for the last three years. We’ve seen every performance during that time and we look forward each year to a new season. The children love the humorous Green Shows with their political satire and audience participation and we arrive early to ensure not only that we don’t miss the show, but that we aren’t good naturedly heckled by the actors for coming in late. (Yes I know, children and politics? I was surprised to hear my son’s choice of TV shows when he was sitting in the dentist’s chair today – it was The Colbert Report. I guess some of my interest in politics it has rubbed off on him.)

And almost as much fun as the performance is the picnic lunch which we bring with us. The Rib Shack, of course, offers great food to go, but other local restaurants do as well. Season’s Bistro provides great sandwiches and wine for an evening at the Shakespeare Festival. We’ve stopped in at Lucky 13 at its new location at Harris Ranch for a pizza to go and we’ve enjoyed the deserts provided at the Shakespeare Café which is located on the grounds of the Shakespeare Festival.

If only we had something like this in Eagle!