Shakespeare and the outdoors have a history. After all, the Bard first produced his plays under the open skies. But there has never been a regular outdoor venue for his work in the Triangle.

The town of Cary hopes to change that this week with a three-day run of "Twelfth Night" at Koka Booth Amphitheatre. And if all goes well, it could become an annual production.

Booth Amphitheatre was conceived as a place for all the arts, according to Lyman Collins, the town's cultural arts manager. "Even though the N.C. Symphony is a key participant and the primary design was focused on musical presentations, it was always planned to accommodate theater as well," he says.

Over the years, concerts of all genres, ethnic culture programs such as the Diwali and Eid festivals, and weekly movie nights have been presented at Booth. Collins thinks now is the time - in the amphitheatre's 10th season - to add theatrical productions. He asked the town council last fall to approve funding for this first presentation.

Collins turned to Deb Royals to shepherd the proceedings. Royals was hired to start Applause! Cary Youth Theatre, which she headed for several years before going full time with her own theater venture, the Justice Theater Project. Royals is looking forward to this new era at the amphitheatre.

"Before the Koka Booth was completed," she says, "I went out with Lyman to look at the architecture. Standing there in the mud pit, it was a great thing to think about the possibilities of the space."

In the Triangle, Shakespeare has been presented in open-air facilities at Raleigh Little Theatre, Meredith College, UNC's Forest Theatre and Cary's Sertoma Park. Well-established Shakespeare festivals in the U.S. include Oregon Shakespeare Festival and New York's Shakespeare in the Park. While most of these festivals' venues seat 1,000 to 2,000 people, Booth Amphitheatre's capacity is 7,000.

The audience will be encouraged to sit as close to the stage as possible, and all the lawn seating area is available for blankets and picnics, as well as the covered area with tables at the back of the facility, 200 feet from the stage.

Collins and Royals concede that the size of the amphitheatre is a challenge, but they are confident the production can be adjusted. "With the largeness of the action and the largeness of Shakespeare's language, it will play," Collins says. Royals adds: "We have invested a lot in the sound system ... to make sure it all works well."

Perfect for outdoors

Shakespeare's plays contain a lot of outdoor settings and references to nature. "Twelfth Night," a tale of disguised suitors and romantic fools, includes scenes on sea coasts, in gardens and in front of houses. "The amphitheatre really has its own atmosphere with its beautiful setting by the lake under the trees," Collins says. "We fully intend to take advantage of the setting so that it almost becomes one of the characters."

Heading the production's creative team is director David Henderson, known locally for his stage roles and directing duties with Burning Coal Theatre, Applause! and Theatre in the Park.

Working with set designer Shannon Clark, Henderson has come up with six 35-foot sails as the main backdrop, angled to narrow down the stage to a playable space. Joshua Reaves' lighting design will use the sails for shadow effects as well as for reflective surfaces to highlight David Serxner's costumes.

Henderson's general approach in staging Shakespeare is "to tell the story and not get in the way," but he does have a specific concept for this production. "'Twelfth Night' is a Christmas time play, so I've set this production at Christmas in 1945, somewhere in a place not unlike the Aegean coast," Henderson says. "Why 1945? Something happened after the end of WWII. The world lost a great deal of innocence; no one knew what was coming next. The play isn't a full-out comedy - there is a deep underpinning of transition. All the characters talk about loss of love, of family, and of pride," he says.

The cast has two Equity actors (Steven Roten as Malvolio and Rasool Jahan as Feste) as well as locals, including Beth Popelka (Viola), Ryan Brock (Sebastian), Betsy Henderson (Olivia) and Jesse Gephart (Aguecheek). Henderson tightened the script somewhat and is working to have action not only on the stage but also in the audience.

Put up or shut up time

Much will be riding on this first theatrical presentation. Collins thinks the community will support the venture based on its strong response to other offerings at the amphitheatre.

The production's run was intentionally set to coincide with Cary's Lazy Daze Arts & Crafts Festival. Visitors are being offered hotel packages to make a weekend of crafts and theater.

Collins hopes to present a Shakespeare production annually and also plans to add at least one other production each year. Royals would like to produce musicals about Southern legends and folk heroes, and she thinks the venture could become a magnet for theater professionals, evolving into a year-round operation with classes and indoor productions.

For now, the focus is on final rehearsals and solving last-minute technical problems. Henderson expects some changes to be made but is upbeat about the project, saying: "Nothing like being the first team to mount a full-scale production in such a large space!"