City Shakes to Bring AS YOU LIKE IT to Rustic Canyon Park, 6/8-7/6

Bring your picnic blanket and tow along the kids - Rustic Canyon Park is about to get a little more mischievous this summer, thanks to The City Shakespeare Company's (City Shakes') weekend performances of William Shakespeare's As You Like It.

Founded in 2012 by Brooke Bishop and Allison Volk, City Shakes is on a mission to bring together community members to enjoy classic theater in a fun, accessible way, and there's no better venue than Rustic Canyon Park's "little urban oasis," as Bishop, the show's director, calls it. "Working in and around the Rec Center, our thespian activities become an integral part of the community, rather than something tucked away in an isolated, windowless theater," she says.

The cast of As You Like It has been hard at work the past four weeks. But "it's hard to call this work," quips Volk, who plays Rosalind. "When there's kids birthday parties smashing piñatas across the field during rehearsal, this feels a lot more like play time to me."

As You Like It, one of Shakespeare's more famous comedies, follows the story of Rosalind as she dresses up as a man and runs away to the Forest of Arden after her uncle banishes her from court (or in this production, a circus). There she encounters her true love, Orlando (Theo Salter) and must find a way to woo him without revealing her true identity. Lion tamings, live blue grass music and laughs for the whole family take the stage in this special production.

If you go: As You Like It plays Saturday June 8, 15, 29 & July 6 at 2pm. Rustic Canyon park at 601 Latimer Road, Pacific Palisades. Admission is ticketless and free. Donations will be gratefully accepted. For more information, visit www.cityshakes.org.