Johnathan Devin - The Daily News -

Shelby Farms Park offers space for running, kayaking, dog-walking, hiking and now, live theater.
 
A new partnership with the Tennessee Shakespeare Co. will finally give the outdoors-friendly company a long-awaited amphitheater site.
 
“We’ve searched multiple sites to have an outdoor amphitheater,” said Dan McCleary, artistic director and founder of TSC. “The venue often dictates not only how we produce a show but which shows might be most conducive. We let the environment work as part of our scenic design.”
 
At the moment, though, the chosen site is a diamond in the rough. It’s an existing though little-known stage and amphitheater inside Shelby Farms Park that cannot be seen from the winding road.
 
“You have to use your imagination right now because it’s falling apart,” McCleary said.
 
“We’re going to make it safe and stable. If we decide to use it in subsequent years, we’ll make it more permanent and more beautiful.”
 
In early August, TSC signed a contract with the nonprofit Shelby Farms Park Conservancy to rent the amphitheater, which is on the western side of the park, for one year with options to renew next year.
 
The nonprofit conservancy manages both the park and the Shelby Farms Greenline.
 
In addition, TSC is investing $18,000 this month in phase one of its construction plans, which includes servicing the nearby trees, grading the seating area and redesigning the aging stage.
 
The investment was made possible by a donation from a TSC board member.
 
The improvements will be just enough for the company to stage two Shakespearian productions this season in what McCleary is calling Memphis’ first Shakespeare in the Park series.
 
McCleary is no stranger to the outdoors. Since the company was established three years ago, productions have played for sellout crowds in a field behind St. George’s Episcopal Church in Germantown and on the lawn behind Dixon Gallery and Gardens.
 
Plans for a new amphitheater in a park in Germantown have stalled due to construction bids exceeding budget, but McCleary said the Germantown option is still a possibility.
 
He approached the conservancy in November about the Shelby Farms amphitheater and the agreement developed fairly quickly; however, it meant restructuring TSC’s budget significantly.
 
“Last year, in terms of our contributed revenue and our earned revenue, we grew by 15 and 23 percent over the previous year, so what happened was our earned revenue started to match our contributed revenue,” McCleary said.
 
“From a business prospective, we’ve created a budget for this new season for a 50-50 split. This is made possible because we’ll be returning to the Dixon and we’ll be in Shelby Farms Park.”
 
Specifically, having a secure outdoors location with the capability of seating 345 people allowed the company to triple the size of its educational tour for schools.
 
“We’re increasing our budget by over 70 percent,” McCleary said. “We hope it will be a strategically aggressive season.
 
“We have a very young business plan in place that we are starting to grow out of because we’re about two years ahead of schedule, so we’re rethinking a strategic plan.”
 
At the same time it also means ramping up production costs, as TSC will have to bring in actors’ trailers, portable bathroom facilities, generators and hundreds of lights and chairs.
 
Shelby Farms provided support and advice in design and logistics, particularly with parking.
 
“We have a lot of big events at the park and our rangers are very responsive,” said Jen Andrews, communications director for the Shelby Farms Park Conservancy. “I think we can work it out. We wouldn’t let it be a roadblock to having something great like this at the park.”
 
McCleary said that parking in picnic areas, along streets and in a grassy area near the amphitheater will be used.
 
For the conservancy’s part, while live theater was not included in the park’s master plan, Andrews said the idea of staging Shakespearian plays did come up during discussions.
 
McCleary’s plan, she said, won approval because it would bring new audiences to the park, which has been financially beneficial in the past. She pointed to a large donation to improve the entry gate for the off-leash dog park, which was given by a donor who uses the park.
 
“The significance for us is that people might assume that the park and the greenline might not need money, they might be funded by government or whatever,” Andrews said. “So these partnerships that we get, the memberships that we get, bring donations for improvements. These things are all very important because the community support of the park and the greenline is going to dictate how great they become.”
 
The Daily News supports Shelby Farms Park.