This season's Shakespeare in the Park production is neither as stuffy as a high school English class nor as mind-numbing as watching Patrick Stewart in your living room. First, the $325,000-plus production, which was underfunded at the beginning of the spring, is pairing up with Brio Tuscan Grille and offering a happy hour with appetizers, wine and martinis from 6 to 7 p.m. Second, the selected play for this summer is Macbeth, the Bard's shortest tragedy and possibly his most storied. "Any production of Macbeth is assumed to be cursed," says lead actor John Rensenhouse, who plays the Scottish general. "Broken limbs, swordfight injuries, disappearing props, sound-system ghosts, lights falling; these things seem to happen more often when Macbeth is the show." See it Tuesday through Sunday for free at 8 p.m. in Southmoreland Park, just east of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Emanuel Cleaver II Boulevard and Oak Street). Slap on bug repellent, bring a blanket or lawn chair (or rent a chair for $5), then settle in for this classic tale of regicide. See kcshakes.org for up-front seating (by reservation for $25) and a behind-the-scenes look at the production.
