Friedrich Spieler arrives early to every production at Schiller Park — not because he's anxious about his seat, but because he loves to watch the stage crew set up. He finds something deeply satisfying about the moment the lights come on and the grass becomes a theater.

He's seen the Shakespeare in the Park productions more times than he can count, and he still laughs at the same jokes. He still gets a little misty at the same moments. Friedrich believes theater does something that nothing else can: it gathers strangers under the same sky, tells them a story, and sends them home feeling less alone. He considers this one of the most important things a neighborhood can do for itself.

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