Prairie Repertory Theatre Partners with SD Shakespeare Festival for Sylvan Theatre Performance

Prairie Repertory Theatre presented an outdoor show this summer for the first time since the ’70s, bringing in a seasoned partner to help pull it off.   

The company performed a total of four shows during its summer 2025 season and teamed up with the South Dakota Shakespeare Festival to elevate their production of “Romeo and Juliet” by moving it outdoors from the Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center to the Sylvan Theatre.   

The outdoor production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” took place June 18-21, with a total of four show times. Three of the shows were successfully performed outdoors at Sylvan Theatre while the fourth and final show was moved back into the Performing Arts Center due to a heat advisory.   

To successfully pull off an outdoor show and give an authentic performance, the partnership helped ensure all logistics, equipment and personnel were accounted for in production. planning.    

Artistic directors Billy Wilburn (Prairie Repertory Theatre) and Rebecca Bailey '12 (South Dakota Shakespeare Festival) had been working to bring this collaboration to life for a number of years.   

While Prairie Repertory Theatre’s show brought renewed purpose and life to Sylvan Theatre, South Dakota Shakespeare Festival staff brought their knowledge of outdoor performances with them from Vermillion.  

The collaboration between the two companies not only brought a superior performance to a different South Dakota community, it also brought bonding, workshops and new beginnings for the students and actors involved.    

“South Dakota Shakespeare Festival brought in their performers, who come from all over the United States: New York, Los Angeles and Chicago,” Wilburn said. “Their performers then gave workshops to our students about working professionally and transitioning into the professional world, and also workshops on performing Shakespeare.”   

With over 250 auditions, the final cast was made up of professional actors, some of whom had SDSU roots, one University of South Dakota student, one SDSU student and a few locals.   

“The idea to partner (with Prairie Repertory Theatre) has been something we have discussed for quite some time,” Bailey said. “South Dakota Shakespeare Festival inherently means we aren’t just serving one community. Being able to share the experience with a broader patron base and community is really important to us.”    

From checking whether there was enough cord to reach all the equipment to ensuring nearby Wi-Fi access for the ticketing system and securing proper sound equipment to project sound to the entirety of Sylvan Green, developing the show was far from simple. Not only did the cast and team have to adjust their equipment and stage setup for the outdoors, they also had to prepare themselves for the heat, which soared into the 90s that week. The actors wore costumes that were uniquely designed to resemble traditional, layered Renaissance clothing but were made of lightweight fabrics to ensure they stayed as cool as possible.    

The entire team worked together to prevent heat exhaustion. The costume designer worked ice packs into the actors’ clothing, and coolers with ice-cold water and towels were readily available backstage.    

“We had electrolytes and water backstage to keep the actors hydrated — you have to prep the body so much,” Wilburn said. “A performer is an athlete. Something we don’t always think about is how much stamina it takes to do a show. It’s really challenging when you’re running around, especially in an outdoor setting. They did phenomenal.”   

Senior SDSU theatre major and first-year PRT member Nick Forster played Paris in the production while acting in his first outdoor performance.   

“All of the elements are ones you’d expect to affect your performance, but moving on grass, dealing with the sun and lighting being biased on one side of the scene are a little strange to interact with in a performance setting,” Foster said.   

One particular advantage to an outdoor performance is how the audience essentially becomes a character in the play. In a traditional theater setting, the actors aren’t able to see the audience, whereas in an outdoor theater, they can.    

Wilburn said a Shakespeare performance worked especially well, “because Shakespeare was made to be in an outdoor theater, and a lot of the language within Shakespeare is made to directly talk back and forth with the audience,” he said. “It works really well, interestingly. You’re no longer a bystander just watching, you’re a part of the show. So, I think that was a really cool advantage that we had.”   

Bailey also described how the beauty of mother nature makes for a unique show — from the sun perfectly hitting Juliet, to the structure of Sylvan Theatre that allowed Romeo to scale the brick walls and trapeze to the top of them to get to Juliet on the balcony.    

“We had a sword fight where the actors had to step a little bit further out of the way because there was a bunny hiding,” Bailey said. “You just don’t get that in an indoor theater.”    

Prairie Rep also partnered with a few other local businesses for the production.   

“We worked with the South Dakota Art Museum for a reception on the Anderson Plaza, which was great,” Wilburn said. “We also worked with another local business, Scoops and Loops, and they served ice cream at our opening night. Those are the opportunities I feel that we’re looking for. I’m always looking for local businesses, local arts organizations that we can partner with to uplift one another.”   

Wilburn said “Romeo and Juliet” brought in crowds comparable in size to Prairie Repertory Theatre’s shows at the Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center.    

“There were all sorts of struggles, and there were all sorts of successes, and there were all sorts of things we never could have anticipated gaining,” Bailey said in reflection of the performances.   

Wilburn said the community and PRT supporters can expect to see more collaborations and outdoor performances from them in the future.

Written by Tessa Henderson, University Marketing & Communications