This summer, Montana Shakespeare in the Parks invites audiences to gather beneath Big Sky Country’s skies for its 54th season of free theater. The 2026 tour features two plays in wit, conflict and questions about love and justice: Much Ado About Nothing and The Merchant of Venice.
From June through early September, the Bozeman-based company will travel to parks and community spaces across Montana and neighboring states. Its 12-week route serves 65 rural and underserved communities in five states, bringing world-class performances to towns where access to theater may be limited. Admission remains free, continuing a tradition sustained largely by grants, sponsors and donors.
Much Ado About Nothing offers one of Shakespeare’s liveliest romantic comedies. Beatrice and Benedick spar with dazzling wordplay while schemes, misunderstandings and wounded trust threaten another couple’s happiness. The Merchant of Venice pairs romance and humor with a darker examination of prejudice, mercy, money and the law. Together, the productions give audiences two opportunities to experience Shakespeare’s language and ideas in an informal, welcoming setting.
The organization’s roots reach back to the summer of 1973, when Montana State University professor Dr. Bruce Jacobsen founded a company of students and community members. That first tour presented Shakespearean scenes in 13 performances across seven Montana cities. A year later, a paid professional company mounted full productions of The Taming of the Shrew and The Merchant of Venice, expanding to 26 performances in 18 communities.
Since then, Montana Shakespeare in the Parks has performed thousands of times for more than three-quarters of a million people. It received the Montana Governor’s Award for the Arts in 1991 and expanded its mission through Shakespeare in the Schools and Montana Shakes!, programs that bring performances and workshops to young people.
That history makes the 2026 return of The Merchant of Venice especially resonant: the play helped establish the professional touring model more than five decades ago. Today’s company carries the same conviction from park to park—that Shakespeare belongs to everyone. Families can pack blankets, low chairs and a picnic, then settle in for a summer evening where community, landscape and theater meet.