Just before the performance started, a slight breeze blew in Westinghouse Park, sending beach balls rolling and the dragon float skittering away from the stage.“Be forewarned,” Joanna Getting announced to the audience. “If you are near a pool, you are in a splash zone. But water will be flying everywhere, so if you are in the audience, you are in a splash zone.”A moment later, Jennifer Tober, the founder and artistic director of Pittsburgh Shakespeare in the Parks, got hit in the head by a falling acorn as she was about to take the stage.This was not your typical performance of “Twelfth Night,” even without the passing train and the guy across the street running his weed whacker. It may be the first production of one of Shakespeare’s romantic comedies that included Jimmy Buffett’s song, “Why Don’t We Get Drunk and Screw.”Tober said the Shakespeare company tried the concept in April during its “Week of Will.”“It seemed like the perfect production for our 20th anniversary,” she said.Pittsburgh Shakespeare in the Parks’ beach-themed production of “Twelfth Night” is directed by Nick Hrutay.The audience reacts as Malvolio, played by Joanna Getting, forcefully woos Olivia, played by Harper York in Shakespeare in the Parks’ “Twelfth Night.” Photo by Ann Belser.In the past, the productions have included an all-female cast of “Julius Caesar,” and last year, Tober spun Shakespeare’s “The tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra” to focus on Cleopatra. The company’s “Twelfth Night” also plays with gender roles with women in men’s parts. (All of Shakespeare’s plays were originally performed with men in women’s roles).With this staging, “Twelfth Night” is nearly a musical comedy as it leans heavily on Buffett’s catalog with “Margaritaville,” “Volcano,” and “Son of a Sailor” but also includes Kenny Chesney’s “When the Sun Goes Down” and Rupert Holmes’ “Escape (the Pina Colada Song).”In Westinghouse Park, the actors had to contend with motorcycles riding by, a UPS truck tooting its horn, and one audience member — 5-month-old Ruby, a Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever — barking every time the audience applauded.“We think Shakespeare is better outside than on a stage behind the fourth wall,” Tober said. “So we’re bringing the words alive with music and dance.”Pittsburgh Shakespeare in the Parks will conclude the season at Frick Park’s Riverview Trail behind Blue Slide Playground on Saturday, Sept. 21, Sunday, Sept. 22, Saturday, Sept. 28, and Sunday, Sept. 29, at 2 p.m. It has one intermission that is announced by actor Bob Colbert screaming, “Intermission” as he runs off the stage.The post Shakespeare in the Parks goes into the deep end with ‘Twelfth Night’ appeared first on NEXTpittsburgh.