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SummerFest has a big old hit with SummerFest's first show, Henry IV.  If you happen to be a fan of reviews, you can find ACE Weekly's review by Kim Thomas here,or the Herald-Leader's review by Candace Chaney here.  By all accounts, this is an accessible and incredibly enjoyable Shakespeare experience.  The set is stunning, the costumes are lush, and the acting is exemplary.  The experience of watching outdoor theater under the stars is really quite priceless--precious even.  I go out every night, and every night I am amazed at the sheer and simply elegant talent on and behind the stage.  The finished product always speaks for itself, that much is true.  This particular finished product certainly does.  The work that goes into turning a bucolic field into this particular finished product is staggering.  I think it's easy to overlook the fact that this summer production starts out as a beautiful patch of lawn--a pastoral blank canvas.  When the curtain closes some three weeks from now, it is all that will be left--it is a 'leave no trace event'.  Everything will be stored and recycled, down to the programs.  It is perhaps the greenest art event I'm aware of, along the lines of the Burning Man Festival.  It is as ephemeral as summer itself.  It has been a rough year for the arts.  Lexington, unfortunately, has not been immune.  I, for one, am overjoyed and fortified by each and every success story I hear.

I was an english major at Centre College.  I struggled with Shakespeare a bit.  In its READING, it is dense.  I always thought of Shakespeare as the sort of distillate of everything pure and beautiful about the english language.  It is intoxicating in a way.  Quite honestly, I find myself reading it at a snail's pace, luxuriating in the play of words, the meter, and the exuberance.  Watching it performed, as it was surely meant to be, is less immobilizing (for lack of a better word).  This production is exhilarating, plain and simple.  The acting and direction make it easy to follow.  It is by turn, comical and poignant.  It is always topical.  The setting adds the necessary languor for me.  The pre-show music tonight was sort of laid back jazzy.  I watched the people walking up with their blankets and picnic baskets one and all, each with big sunshiney grins on their faces.  They had all taken the time out of their busy days to make time for themselves--they had made time.  I can't tell you how many times I've said to myself, 'gosh, I really want to go see that.' referring to some show or venue or exhibit.  Time slips away.  I get busy with my day or my week and then the opportunity passes.  When SummerFest rolls around, I think to myself, 'How many times am I going to have the opportunity to sit down on a warm summer evening with an honest-to-goodness picnic and watch some really great theater?'  Then I get in my car and head on out to the Arboretum--with a big ol' sunshiney grin on my face.

It may surprise some people to know that SummerFest is actually the production arm of the Kentucky Classical Theater Conservatory (KCTC), or 'The Conservatory' for short.  The Conservatory is a summer intensive theater training program that provides three weeks of theater education for our actors, directors, and tech crews of the future.  Instructors come from across the country every year to participate.  The training program is encouraging and educating Lexington's future artists.  I can think of no pursuit more noble and worthy, and I say that with an absolute lack of hyperbole.  It will come as no surprise to anyone reading this post that I am a strong proponent of the arts.  To my mind, when I hear 'the arts', I viscerally translate it into 'imagination'.  To me, that's exactly what the arts are--imagination.  SummerFest takes the imagining of placing a full-blown magnificent theater production squarely in the middle of a beautiful stretch of lawn and turns it into a reality--a fully realized, meticulously crafted and flawlessly executed reality.  It's the closest thing to magic I've encountered.

To expose Lexington's children and young adults to this bold imagination through KCTC and SummerFest is meaningful.  By example, people like Joe Artz, Sheila Ferrell, and Trish Clark are teaching our city's future artists to be absolutely unafraid; they are teaching our city's young adults to follow their dreams; they are teaching them the importance of commitment and dedication.

Corporate Lexington has stepped up to the plate this year.  Businesses like LiquorBarn, Darley Farms America, and ACE Weekly have lent their support; Donna Smith at the accounting firm, Stiver's and Associates have stepped up; the Frank Jenkins Law Firm has stepped up; Morgan Worldwide has stepped up; LFUCG and council member Diane Lawless has stepped up; individuals like Lee and Patsy Todd have stepped up; LexArts has stepped up; Dr. Luis Vascello, Dr. Enio Kuvliev, Dr. Travis Sewells, Dr. Rick DiNardo, and Dr. Paul McCreary have stepped up.  These people (and many more) have all grasped the importance of what really fuels the whole endeavor--the absolute necessity of imagination in our collective lives, and the discipline and commitment required to turn that imagination into a reality for Lexington.

A lot is being said in our community (and across our nation, for that matter) regarding what is important and meaningful.  It seems that we are in the middle of a paradigm shift here in Lexington.  The discourse is invigorating and ubiquitous.  There are so many people with so many great ideas, it's hard for me to keep up.  Everything is so immediate these days.  While this immediacy may be the virtue of its vices, I find myself struggling to prioritize.  The thing that always lands on the top of my list is imagination.  That seems odd, I realize.  It also happens to be true.  I am a joyous creature.  I often wonder why.  Genetic optimism?  Possibly.  I think the thing closer to the truth is that I allow myself to daydream out loud.  Perhaps that's why SummerFest is so important to me--every single time I go out to the Arboretum, I see people who daydream out loud too.  I see the reality of their daydreams every evening out there under the stars.  I see people on blankets with their picnic baskets who have, if just for a little while, left their worries out in the parking lot.