Macbeth visitingCannon hangar

Usually Cannon Air Force Base is known for the thunderous sound of F-16s launching off its runways. Tonight, it will be the much subtler sound of the Bard.

The Alabama Shakespeare Festival of Montgomery, Ala., will perform Shakespeare’s Macbeth at 7 p.m. tonight in Hangar 208 at Cannon Air Force Base. It is free and open to all base personnel, their families and anyone else who has access to the base, said Capt. Andre’ Kok of Cannon public affairs.

There will only be one performance at Cannon.

“We are very excited to have this because it is the first time we’ve had a major production on Cannon,” said Denise VanDerwarker, family members program flight chief.

She said there are other arts programs developing at Cannon, a children’s theater and a theatrical group comprised of about 30 airmen.

“We have around 300 chairs set up,” VanDerwarker said. “We are encouraging people to come with lawn chairs. The hangar is huge and will accommodate many more.”

This stop is one of 13 the group is making to U.S. military bases this fall, a press release from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) shows. The tour is called Shakespeare in American Communities, and was made possible when NEA teamed up with the Department of Defense to bring the arts to military personnel.

The NEA received $1 million from the Department of Defense to put on the base tour, which began Sept. 10 at Maxwell Air Force Base and will end Oct. 21 at Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo. This is the first time the NEA and Department of Defense have worked together on this kind of project, said Felicia Knight, director of communications for NEA.

The money coming from the Department of Defense allowed the company to offer free shows at Naval, Army and Air Force bases this fall.

“It’s a professional theater company, we’ve been around since the early 1970s,” said Sherry Ward, public relations manager of the touring theater company.

NEA chairman Dana Gioia went to the Department of Defense in 2003 to ask for some money to put on a Shakespeare tour, but was told at that time the budget had already been appropriated, Knight said.

Gioia made sure to get a $1 million from the 2004 Department of Defense budget to finance the tour. The NEA received the money and redistributed it to the Alabama group and a few other groups also performing this fall.

“We’ve had full houses and enthusiastic crowds,” Knight said. “The response has been outstanding.”

Now that the NEA has started pushing arts in the military communities, they would like to see this continue into the future.

“It is definitely a constituency we will continue to serve,” Knight said. “I do believe we will look for other programs in the future because they have been so well received.”

The Alabama Shakespeare Festival is one of the largest groups of its kind in the nation, Ward said. She emphasized that the company is much more than just a touring troupe.

“We build everything from sets to costumes,” she said. “We are a fully functioning theater.”

The military bases have been very good to the group, showing up in droves for performances and taking an active interest in the story of Macbeth, she said. The actors have also had a wonderful time interacting with the active service personnel, she added.

“The response at the other bases has been very positive. Everyone has enjoyed the production,” Ward said. “We’ve actually seen a lot of people bringing their families. For a lot of kids this has been their first play.”

Prior to tonight’s performance the company will host a workshop for those who aren’t Shakespeare literate at 6:30 p.m., the Mach Meter reported in the Oct. 1 edition.