Courtesy Fat and Greasy Citizens Brigade.

Update: Empty Chair Theatre Company performed Hamlet last year at the Dupont Circle fountain. Much Ado About Nothing will be performed there by the Traveling Players on July 25.

Original post

When the Shakespeare Theatre moved its annual Free For All event out of Rock Creek Park and into Sidney Harman Hall, D.C. was left without an opportunity to see the Bard’s works performed outside for free.

Noting the hole, the newly formed Fat and Greasy Citizens Brigade stepped in with a Kickstarter campaign to mount an outdoor production of As You Like It. The group recently met its $2,000 goal and will perform the Shakespeare comedy this August at Grace Episcopal Church’s courtyard in Georgetown.

Heather Cipu, Fat and Greasy’s artistic director, helmed the play last year with the St. Marks Players. She said a number of those involved were talking about other projects that seemed interesting and noted that D.C. didn’t have an outdoor Shakespeare option. Cipu said they thought this was a “great thing to bring to D.C.”

Cipu said she’s never staged a play outside before. When asked about the challenges, she replied with a laugh, “There’s always the possibility of rain.” But Grace Episcopal has offered an indoor space to the group, should there be inclement weather.

There’s also the matter of setting up an entire performance area from nothing. “Anything we want to do, we have to completely setup from scratch ourselves,” Cipu said. Between 150 and 250 should be able to fit into the courtyard space to enjoy the play, “depending on how cozy they want to get,” Cipu joked.

This is the first production of the Fat and Greasy Citizens Brigade, whose name is a nod to a line in As You Like It. The group’s goal is to bring outdoor summer Shakespeare to D.C., and they don’t have any plans to branch out at the moment.