Live Shakespeare on the Library Lawn.
Free performance.
Bring a picnic basket and your own seating.

About The Merchant of Venice
Antonio, the merchant in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, secures a loan from Shylock for his friend Bassanio, who seeks to court Portia. Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, recalls past insults from Antonio and, instead of asking interest on the loan, asks instead—in what he calls a "merry sport"—that if the loan is not repaid, Antonio will owe a pound of his own flesh.

Bassanio sails to Belmont, where the wealthy heiress Portia is being courted by suitors from around the world. Her father's will requires that the successful suitor solve a riddle involving chests of gold, silver, and lead. Where others have failed, Bassanio succeeds by selecting the right chest. Portia marries Bassanio; her waiting woman, Nerissa, marries his friend Gratiano.

Shylock's daughter, Jessica, has eloped  with Bassanio's friend Lorenzo, taking her father’s money with her. Shylock is devastated. When Antonio cannot repay the loan, Shylock demands the pound of flesh. When the news reaches Belmont, Bassanio returns to Venice. Portia and Nerissa also travel to Venice, disguised as a lawyer and his clerk. Portia uses the law to defeat Shylock and rescue Antonio.
— Folger Shakespeare Library

About GALSCO
The Great American Laughing Stock Company is a nonprofit summer repertory theatre company in Steamboat Springs, whose mission is to enhance and diversify the performing arts in the Yampa Valley region. GALSCO does theatre outdoors, in a picnic setting, through partnerships with local performers and guest artists from the finest New Zealand conservatories, to build a spirit of community. Community means theatre that touches all ages, abilities, cultures, including genres from Shakespeare to Seuss, and is indelibly printed with the values of the Yampa Valley.

Originally founded in 1971, the Company was resurrected in the summer of 2005 and has continued to produce shows each summer, as well as holding classes and workshops for local middle school and elementary aged students during the school year. Led by Stuart Handloff, a director with 38 years of theatrical experience and a master's degree from the New Zealand National Drama School.